So you’ve made your decision, booked your flight and planned your route, but you still need to pack. Packing for a week abroad can be daunting, let alone for a long-term trip. There are certain items you just can’t do without when traveling, items that won’t be easy to find in local shops at your destination. Read until the end to make sure you don’t miss anything!
A Top-Quality Backpack
When you are going to be living out of it for a period of weeks or months, you need to invest in your backpack.
It might be tempting to get a wheeled suitcase for convenience, but trust my word, you will regret it. At some point you will be dragging this suitcase down a dirt track in the mid-day heat, a wheel will fall off and you will be re-evaluating your life choices that led to this moment.
What size backpack should I take?
This really depends on you, how many clothes you think you will need and how much you are willing to carry around.
For my last trip, which was 6 months in Latin America I took a 70L backpack that I had filled to the brim. With hindsight, I know I should have taken a smaller bag, perhaps a 40L pack that I could use as hand luggage on flights to save time at the airport.
What should I spend?
This is something you should spend the extra money on, having a sub-par backpack will make your life hell.
Before I went to Nepal to hike the Annapurna Circuit (40 miles at 2700-5400m altitude), I bought a very cheap backpack for about £40. On my first day hiking, one of the shoulder straps ripped and for the remainder of my trip it got worse and worse, it really put a downer on what was a once-in-a-lifetime trip.
You should only buy a backpack from a trusted brand with thousands of positive reviews unless you want to end up like me. Expect to pay £150-200 for a top-of-the-range bag. Personally, I recommend Osprey, their line of 40L carry-on bags is very popular among travelers—and for good reason!
A High-Quality Waterproof Jacket
Another item that is a must, is high-quality, low-profile waterproof clothing. Even if all you want to think about is glorious sunshine on a paradise beach, it’s best to be prepared.
Given that space will be at a premium in your luggage, make sure you pick a waterproof that packs away into a pouch. Always buy a brand that you trust, trust me on this, you don’t want to be caught in torrential rain with a waterproof that isn’t waterproof. They aren’t typically expensive unless you buy Gore-Tex, so you can get a good one for under £50.
Trespass Unisex Qikpac Packaway JacketUniversal Travel Adapter
When you are going to multiple countries on a single trip, you really can’t go without one of these.
A lot of hostels have USB ports for charging nowadays, but a lot of the time these either don’t work well or don’t work at all. Plus, most hostels on the cheaper side will only have single power outlets for each person.
Most of us take more than one electronic device, so you will need a travel adapter that allows you to charge multiple items at once.
Worldwide Travel Adapter with USB3.0
A Good Camera
My biggest regret about traveling is never investing in a decent camera. Sure, I have taken some lovely photographs over the years, but I also have a lot of terrible ones.
Should I take a DSLR, Smartphone, or an Action Camera?
There really isn’t a correct answer to this, it is all dependent on your budget, what you will use the camera for and if you need commercial-quality photos.
For the average person, I would recommend just taking a high-quality smartphone, it really is incredible what you can do with an iPhone nowadays (the below photo was taken on an iPhone 12). Plus it means you will be carrying less and you won’t constantly be stressed about if your DSLR is damaged, lost, or stolen.
Compression Packing Cubes
One of the hardest things about long-term travel is keeping your clothes organised, clean and wrinkle-free. Packing cubes are the answer to this, they’re versatile and allow you to, for example, put your t-shirts in one cube, underwear in another and trousers in—well you get the point.
Compression cubes will also help you to pack more into a smaller space; this could help you to stick to hand luggage only on flights, which I strongly recommend. Check out the link below for the packing cubes I used.
From my experience, these are the five items I simply couldn’t do without on any trip. But there is so much more you need, check out my complete packing list coming soon!
