13 Jan Our Packing List
One of the things I quickly became obsessed with when planning our trip was packing lists, I just can’t get enough of them. I’m fascinated by what to take travelling and have searched out as many backpackers’ packing lists as I can find. They’ve really helped us decide what we need to take with us and have been invaluable in the travel planning process. So, here’s a look at our travel packing list.
We’ve been slowly buying all our gear over the past year to spread out the cost, which you can read about in our pre-trip costs post. Now, seven weeks before we leave, we’ve collected everything and have even had a trial packing session (I know, we’re keen!). So here it is, the complete packing list for our travel adventure.
Our Round the World Packing List
Here’s our complete list of what to take backpacking. If you want to find out more about travelling light, check out World Travel Family’s how-to guide about travelling with a carry on bag only. Here are some of our more recent packing list posts:
Changes to our list after six months of travel
Packing for the Everest Base Camp trek.
Preparing for our trip to South America: visas, vaccines, insurance and packing.
Packing
2018 UPDATE: Amy has updated her backpack after over five years and is now using the women’s Thule AllTrail 35L. It’s really comfortable and full of useful pockets and openings too. Andrew now has a 34L Thule Subterra Travel Backpack which we use as a full backpack and day bag.
2 Eurohike compression sacks
2 Vango small compression sacks for our underwear
Vango large compression sacks for the rest of our clothes
Eagle Creek packing cube to store our toiletries and medicines
25L dry sack (to keep our electronics safe)
25L Regatta pack-away day bag
Electronics
Panasonic Lumix GF3 Camera (which we used to take this picture), case and charger
16gb and 8gb Sandisk camera cards
Acer Aspire 11.1 inch laptop
2 Kindle PaperWhites, cases and chargers (second one not pictured)
2 iPhones and charger
External hard drive (not pictured)
Epilator and charger
Amy’s Clothing
1 pair of linen trousers
1 pair of ¾ length running/exercise trousers
3 pairs of shorts
1 pair of running/exercise shorts
10 tops
2 bikinis
2 sarongs
1 pair of swimming shorts
1 scarf
Regatta micro fleece
Montane featherlight marathon jacket, which packs away into the tiny case pictured
1 long sleeved shirt
Underwear x 10 (not pictured)
Bra (not pictured)
Socks x 4 (not pictured) including a pair of Heat Holders, thermal socks which have been really useful for me while travelling in colder places like the USA and Europe.
Andrew’s clothing
2 pairs of linen trousers
1 pair of Bluffworks Originals relaxed fit trousers (pictured) which are great for whatever our plans, be it teaching in a school or hiking the nearest mountain.
2 pairs of long shorts
1 pair of running shorts
1 pair of swimming shorts
6 t-shirts (1 not pictured)
Long-sleeved top
Regatta micro fleece
Montane Singletrack jacket, which packs into the tiny case pictured above
Long-sleeved shirt
Short-sleeved shirt
Hat
Buff
Belt
Underwear x 6 (not pictured)
Socks x 3 (not pictured)
Footwear
2 pairs of trainers
2 pairs of Havaianas flip-flops
Toiletries and medicines
Seven month supply of contact lenses for Amy
Contact lens case and travel-size bottles of solution
Amy’s eye glasses
Ear plugs
Eye mask
Moon cup (I’ve been using this for about a year already and I love it; it saves money and is eco-friendly)
Somerset shaving oil
Toothbrushes and guards
Toothpaste
Hairbrush and hair bands
Lush shampoo bar and tin
Face wash
Shower gel
Sponge (not pictured)
Razors
Tweezers
Nail clippers
Scissors
Deodorants
Ibuprofen
Cystitis medicine
Amy’s migraine medicine
Travel sickness pills
Diarrhoea medicine
Dulcolax
Plasters
Antiseptic cream
Antibacterial hand wash
Travel wash (for hand-washing clothes)
Travel accessories
2 Trespass microfibre towels
Skross PRO PLUS World Adapter
2 cotton sleep sacks
4 combination locks
Head torch
Clip torch
Swimming goggles x 2 (I need them for swimming with contact lenses)
Two pairs of SunGod Classics2 Sunglasses. We love these because they’re lightweight, stylish, have flexible frames and polarised lenses – perfect considering we spend so much time in the sun!
Our SunGod sunglassess
Money belt
Notebook and pens
Wallet with bank cards in
Zipper bags for the following documents:
Passports
Driving licences
International drivers permits
Vaccination cards
Indonesian visas
Passport photos
Photocopies of our passports
Print outs of our first bookings
Pin Me!
Did we miss anything essential?
*There are affiliate links in this post and we will receive a small commission if you buy any travel products through these links.
Patti
Posted at 21:42h, 13 JanuaryI can’t imagine packing for an indefinite time and for all weather! Just packing for 4 weeks gave me grief because I wanted to keep it to 2 bags but still have some variety. I realized today it didn’t really matter because we have our jackets and scarves on every day so no one can tell (in photos) what we’re wearing anyway! The only thing I didn’t noticed in your photos, maybe I missed it, was gloves and hats for cold weather, and some kind of lightweight boot?
Amy
Posted at 22:35h, 13 JanuaryHi Patti, yes it was definitely difficult to narrow down what we needed. We aren’t really taking any cold-weather gear as the places we’ve so far planned to visit should be warm, although we still packed the micro fleeces and rain coats in case. We would have liked boots but sadly we just didn’t have room, hopefully our trainers will be good enough for the kind of activities we’re planning.
Charlie
Posted at 20:39h, 15 JanuaryLove the organization! I find packing so stressful, trying to be strict with what I pack while tormented by the fear of leaving something essential! Looks like you’re on it though. OK, it’s not by any means essential, but what I felt I was missing while traveling before was one nice outfit to wear when going out. Wasn’t so much of an issue in Asia but when in Oz and heading out to clubs/bars/dinner with people we’d met, I felt proper scruffy in my shorts and Converse! Ended up having to go shopping for something so I could get in to certain bars and clubs and walking round identical shops, missing all the sights, really isn’t what you want to be doing in a new city!
Amy
Posted at 21:45h, 15 JanuaryKnowing that we’ve got everything organised on the packing-front has definitely eased some of the pre-trip stress! Thanks for the suggestion, shamefully though, I never get dressed up to go out at all in London so I’m probably not likely to while we’re away – a semi-decent top is about as good as it gets for me! If I feel really out of place I guess I’ll try and get something a bit smarter on the road though.
Steph (@ 20 Years Hence)
Posted at 01:49h, 16 JanuaryI am seriously so impressed that you are getting all that stuff into your tiny little bags! Our’s aren’t much bigger, but that extra 10 – 15L, I can’t imagine going without! 🙂
Just remember that pretty much anything you need, you will be able to get wherever you go! It’s scary to leave home thinking you forgot something, but when you travel long-term inevitably you have to buy something you didn’t foresee!
Amy
Posted at 09:39h, 16 JanuaryThanks Steph – I’m pretty amazed it all fits too! We don’t have much extra space at all though so I expect most of the time we’ll have to use the day-pack as well. I’m sure we’ll have to buy things along the way, we’ll just have to make sure we swap something old out every time we get something new to make room for it!
Juergen
Posted at 04:57h, 17 JanuaryYes, you missed that photocopies should never go together with the originals! 😉 It certainly sounded like that in your list. Ah, and wallets, cash, credit cards… Or are you going without? Then I’ll be really curious!
All that “special & brand new travel gear” must have set you back a fortune. BTW: a couple of large waterproof zip-lock bags are always handy, for example on boat trips, to keep electronics and passport dry. I’ve been on many transfers in small speed boats where water was splashing in and my backpack on the floor was soaked with water, and in Thailand somebody dropped my pack into the ocean. A raincover for the backpack comes in handy, too, depending what your destination is. A larger padlock to keep cheap beach huts secure is sometimes helpful (but can be found in almost every shop around the world), and I don’t travel anymore without a light mosquito net and some string to hang it (so many bungalows have ‘holy” mozzie nets…).
Enjoy the trip!
Amy
Posted at 09:36h, 17 JanuaryThere is a wallet in the last picture but I forgot to add it to the list; thanks for pointing that out! Yes, we do have a couple of zip lock bags and are planning to keep the copies in a separate pack from the originals; we’ll also split my contact lenses between packs. We also have the dry-sack that’s mentioned to keep electronics and our most important stuff dry although we do need to get new rain covers for our packs (the ones we have are a different brand and don’t quite fit). I’ll look into getting an extra padlock – think I’ll leave the mosquito net though until we get to Asia. Thanks for the tips!
Juergen
Posted at 00:34h, 20 JanuaryIKEA has some of the cheapest light nylon mozzie nets (the ones with the plastic ring – take the ring out and bin it), rolled up they take up as little space as a pair of shorts, and they need hanging form one central point only, unlike the box-shaped nets preferred in asia, which you need to hang from all four corners.
Amy
Posted at 13:06h, 20 JanuaryThanks Juergen – maybe we can squeeze in a trip to Ikea before we leave!
The Guy
Posted at 18:09h, 17 JanuaryIt looks like you’ve planned well and covered a lot of the key essentials. It should be a great trip!
Amy
Posted at 19:25h, 17 JanuaryThanks – I’m sure it will be!
Kristin Thomas
Posted at 09:54h, 03 FebruaryY’all make me feel like we packed everything but the kitchen sink for our travels! Haha! Nice job on downsizing. I can’t imagine narrowing down to so little, but it will be nice to carry less weight.
Amy
Posted at 12:57h, 03 FebruaryYep, one of the reasons we’re taking so little as that I’m not physically capable of carrying too much weight comfortably. We’ll see how it goes once we get out on the road!
Chris
Posted at 07:05h, 28 FebruaryGood stuff, do you have total respective pack weights?
Andrew
Posted at 14:02h, 28 FebruaryWe don’t have them right at this moment, but we can let you know soon; when we do a final pack we’ll try to weigh them.
Barry
Posted at 23:06h, 18 JulyGreat list guys, thanks for sharing!
Amy
Posted at 14:15h, 19 JulyThanks Barry, hope it was useful!
Sarah Robinson
Posted at 16:11h, 19 AugustHi, thanks so much for this post, I’m trying to get an idea of how much stuff we need to pack, and whilst I’ve read many blog posts, yours is the first with pictures (really helpful to get a visual) and yours is the first blog I’ve found from fellow Brits!!!! There must be other Brits out there travelling surely! It’s so nice to read packing and planning ideas that contain items I’m actually familiar with and brands I’ve heard of!
I just wondered how you were finding your packs now that you’ve been using them a while? And also how big are your day packs? I’m very impressed that you’ve managed to pack so light, we’ve got two kids, so going to have to bring a bit more, unfortunately!
Andrew
Posted at 14:22h, 20 AugustWe spent so much of our time trawling other bloggers’ packing lists before our; we got really excited about finding new ones too! There are a few out there with pics too, have a look at our top travel blogs page – there are a few there with pics of their gear (one at least is british too) and we were inspired by them too.
We’re finding our main packs really well so far. We did throw some of our cold weather gear out when we reached Indonesia to reduce weight and volume. We only have one day pack, it’s a 25l packable one with no shape or support whatsoever – we are looking for a replacement at the moment (loads to choose from in the markets in Thailand).
Renee - RambleCrunch
Posted at 02:33h, 13 DecemberReally interesting to see what you’ve got with you. Amy, I love your travel tops! 🙂
Andrew
Posted at 05:00h, 13 DecemberThanks Renee!
Paul
Posted at 20:43h, 15 AprilHi
Great to see your list.
Just a question, we are going around the world in November this year, how have you managed to broad flights with the scissors and razors? And the toiletries which appear to be over 100ml?
We are going to take a checked rucksack with a detachable day sack to enable us to carry these essential items.
Amy
Posted at 15:11h, 16 AprilHi Paul, thanks for commenting. For our initial flight out from the UK we only had travel-sized toiletries so that was fine and we just kept our scissors, razors and tweezers packed away. Since then we’ve never had any problems with the razors etc, even when we travel with carry-on luggage, we just keep them packed away. We’ve had some bottles of water taken away from us but that’s it.
CeeCee
Posted at 14:41h, 02 SeptemberHi Amy and Andrew!
I’ve been following your adventure for a few weeks now, since we started considering this crazy idea of leaving everything and travelling around Asia… Yours is a great blog and your detailed preparation posts have been very enlightening! Thanks for those! 🙂
Could I ask Amy, how did you manage your migraines during the trip? Only triptans work for me and I have several migraines per month (sometimes more than a week in a row). Did you ever run out? Do you know how easy it is to find migraine specific medication in Asia?
Thank you!
Amy
Posted at 04:14h, 04 SeptemberHi, thanks so much for reading and commenting, it sounds like you have an exciting trip planned! I’m lucky, I only have migraine attacks a few times a year so I just took a good supply of tablets with us at the beginning and then I stock up again when we’re back in the UK. I’m pretty sure that you could stock up in Asia too though, you can get most medicines over the counter from a pharmacy, particularly in Thailand. I would take as much medicine from home as you can and a prescription to show pharmacists in Asia. Let me know if you have any other questions 🙂
Caroline
Posted at 11:05h, 12 MayHello Amy and Andrew. Your blog is great, I am always reading it! 🙂 My boyfriend and I are leaving the UK in July to travel around Asia and Australia. The one thing I am really worried about is … suncream!! I burn within 5 minutes in the British summer!! I didn’t see you mention it above in your packing list. Is it easy to find in Asia? I am worried that it might not be easily available or it might be extremely expensive…Thank you.
Amy
Posted at 12:05h, 12 MayHi Caroline, thanks for reading and commenting, I’m glad you’ve found our blog useful. You can definitely get good quality suncream in Australia, but it will be at least as pricey as in the UK, probably more as everything is more expensive there! As for Asia, you can also pick up suncream in most places; we normally stock up in big cities and touristy places to make sure we have enough when we’re travelling in less touristy destinations. You’ll also find that lots of creams and beauty products in Asia have whitening agents in them, so beware of that! Let me know if you have anymore questions.
Caroline
Posted at 10:54h, 17 MayHi Amy, oh good. That’s fab! I feel more at ease now. Thanks very much for the advice. Enjoy your travels! 🙂
Amy
Posted at 21:22h, 20 MayNo worries, good luck and happy planning 🙂
Alyson
Posted at 15:45h, 12 MayHow are the clothes going now Andrew and Amy, several years down the line? Everything worn out and replaced or some items still going strong? Still using the same methods, stuff sacks etc? Or have you found new ways?
Amy
Posted at 17:51h, 12 MayOur packing list is quite different now, perhaps we need to publish an update! Our clothes have changed a lot because for the last year we’ve been in colder climes in Europe/the USA, we also have one much bigger laptop now as well as our original Acer. We carry a new daypack which isn’t as flimsy as the foldable one and I always carry Marmite, teabags and sachets of Coleman’s cheese sauce these days! We are heading back to Asia in August so we’ll have a summer wardrobe again then 🙂 Oh, and we carry some smarter work clothes along with us as well as our degree, master and TEFL certificates and UK police checks incase we need to look for teaching work when we travel.
Darwen
Posted at 21:17h, 08 JuneHi Amy and Andrew,
I noticed you didn’t take much of a med-kit. Is this just an omission from the site or have you managed without one?
The travel clinic has advised a £50 med-kit including hypodermic needles, antibiotics, gauze amongst many other items. We are a little unsure whether it is really required or it is a sales pitch, can you shed some light?
Also the diarrhea medication you took, is that imodium type or the antibiotic?
thanks
Amy
Posted at 14:22h, 09 JuneHi Darwen, we have managed without a med-kit, we only take the basic supplies I’ve listed here. In fact, these days we pretty much just carry painkillers, my migraine medication, cystitis powder, a few plasters and cold medicine. Obviously it’s up to you what you feel comfortable carrying with you, but I’d say that you don’t need to spend £50 on a kit. Where are you going to be travelling? In most places we’ve been, including Asia, it’s easy to get hold of medical supplies should you need them. It was just Imodium we took with us at the beginning.