Hi Guys
I have asked very similar questions on here but I am now looking to buy the clothing for my trip and even though I have been researching for what seems like forever, I am totally at a loss as to what clothes to bring etc. So, I was hoping you guys could list what you carry in your packs e.g. how many t-shirts, trousers, shorts pants, shoes etc. Are they tech t-shirts or cheapies from Primark?Have you got a travel washing line or head torch?
A packing list of what you take would be brilliant!
Thanks
Reply to this Hi,
It depend largely on where you going, for how long and in what season. If you are going to Asia where it is probably going to be hot, i think you only need two pairs of shorts, pants etc. If you need more clothing Asia will provide it for you at a very cheap price. And of course, take your cheapest t-shirt. Well, it all depends on what kind of travel are you going to do. Are you going to visit slums and dirty, poor places of just sights? So, more details on what kind of trip are you planning to do would be helpful.
Reply to this One week I may be on the beach in Northern Peru and the next in Ushuaia, Argentina, so I carry clothes for all seasons, including a full lenth riding coat that takes up as much room as my sleeping bag. At the Panama domestic airport customs decided to search my gear. All the other passengers couldn't believe what came out of my pack. Many said it was like a clown car with more and more stuff coming out. They were even more surprised how easily I got it all back in and, you can see in my photo, it is not a large pack Much practice!
Reply to this Two pair of zipper pants that can turn into shorts
one sweater
one sweat shirt
three t-shrits
one collared shirt
One long sleeve shirt
swim wear
comfortable walking shoes
Teva sandals
1 rain coat
3 pair socks
three washable underwear
1hat
Travel washing line
Calculator
Flash light and compass
sunscreen
bug repellant
Kindle or books (just had our first trip with the Kindle and wish we had it for the around the world adventure)
Camera
Small external hard drive
Reply to this Essentials: Passport, camera, a change of underwear and shirt.
Desirable: Netbook and external hard drive, swimming trunks.
Nothing else is essential and can usually be bought on the road.
That actually describes my packing list for my most recent short trips of a few weeks each to Bali, Sulawesi and Sumba. When I travelled around the world for 3.5 years I took far too much and found myself dumping stuff along the way. It sometimes meant I had to re-buy stuff but that was better than carrying too much. So, my advice is carry as little as you personally feel is the absolute minimum.
Reply to this Oh yes, we travel with a 13inch MAC
We have dumped things in the past also.
Reply to this When we left Australia 2 and half years ago we had the minimum we reckoned we needed. Both of our packs were over 20 kg and we both had day packs as well. We have shed a lot of things along the way and picked up others. The overall weight of our gear has dropped considerably and we carry one less bag.
The suggestions others have listed look pretty reasonable except I wouldn't carry a T-shirt unless it was on me. You will pick them up easily anywhere and they are good souvenirs. I carry 2 quick dry (but cheap) long sleeved shirts and currently have one short sleeved one. A pair of jeans - you do get sick of travel pants quickly - but I still have 2 pairs. I pair will be ditched shortly and will not be replaced. One pair of shorts. I have found that in most countries we older men cover our legs so I tend to follow suit. A sweater/fleece and a jacket - you can get away with a good rain jacket most of the time. A hat, walking shoes, sandals, undies and that is it for clothes.
We carry travel towels but have dispensed with sleeping bags as we are now travelling on buses and such rather than camping.
It is the other stuff that builds up. We have a netbook each - because we are lousy at sharing. An e-book reader is the smartest thing we have added to the load reducing our need to carry heavy paper around. Cameras, a couple of walking poles, a little battery charger for rechargeable batteries, head torches, a little alarm clock, a variety of pills (and these probably depend on where you are going) and a couple of external hard drives. We need 2 because we have a rule that we store our photos in 2 places.
Of course, depending on where you are going, you need only pack a few of those things when you leave home. You need a few essentials but I think it is more sensible sometimes to travel for a while and build your kit according to your needs.
And we dump stuff regularly when it is surplus to requirements.
Reply to this Hi;Thats a great question,I would suggest going to a site called one bag.com.As my wife and I had traveled through the years we carry less and less ,between security,waiting for your bags at the airport and just to much weight.This site is a mixed bag so to speak it gives a lot of tips for all types of travel.On our last two trips one to Preu for three weeks with a variation on climates Amazon to Lake Titicaca the 2nd to Southeast Asia for 5 weeks,We did it with one carry on bag each and a personal bag.
I can list just a few things we have learned:
1.The clothes you wear to travel are considered a set that you do not have to pack.
2.Tech fabrics ,light weight ,dry fast,convertible pants long to zip off leg for shorts (they are like a two and one garment)and a bottle of camp suds to wash your clothes.Camps suds or a product like it can be used to wash your hair and body also.
3.Very important layers lots of layers,for example ,2 long sleeve t shirts,3 or 4 short sleeve T shirts,3 pair of covertible pants,4 pair of socks,4 pair of underwear(I found some pants with a built in breif so no underwear to take=less weight)a hat,rain jacket with hood(taped seams if possible),for cold weather only a poly fill jacket that compacts maybe about a 1lb in weight,swimwear, water shoes and your hiking shoes.Don't forget if you forget something you can buy it along the way.You can rent sleeping bags and poles for walking in most areas where trekking is a main stay,and places like nepal and india they are pretty cheap.
3.Pick the right bag for yourself,we like soft luggage (with no wheels they up packing space)it's easier to put into small overhead compartments and no corners or hard shells to break.We found a bag that has not only a hand grip and shoulder strap but has way to convert it to a back pack.
I could go on but and I can give you brand names that worked for us but I don't know if thats right thing to do on this site.If you want you can email me for more info,no problem i'll be glad to help you.Safe travels
All the best Stanley
Reply to this Stanley,
You can give brand names as we know you are a real blogger and not someone from the companies who are just advertising their products. We snip things like brand names and URLs from people we suspect are advertising/spamming.
All the best
Kate
Reply to this I agree very much with Stanley,the tech fabrics are great keep their look and shape very well and wash up easily and dry quickly,T,shirts ,propershirts and fleece tops are my major clothing items.I also always have a windproof /waterproof breathable jacket that is an absolute must pack item,if it is cold you can layer stuff underneath.Fleece tops instead of heavy woollen sweaters are my prefered option for a warm layer,you can have 2 or 3 fleeces for the same weight of a woollen sweater and can layer them up depended on the temperature (I tend to travel in cooler climates or am walking in hilly mountainous areas)
Treking trousers/pants with or without zip off legs are great,lots of pockets with zippers and these also wash and dry easily without the need to iron them.
I do think it is worth investing in some of the tech fabric clothing and just keep them for your travels,thats what I do and the stuff has lasted for quite a few years.
Reply to this If I can pipe up with the brand names thing - when we were travelling we each had an Under Armour t-shirt and absolutely loved them. Super lightweight material, pulls the sweat away from your body (brilliant in Southeast Asia!). Also I *swear* by lulu lemon pants. The quality was amazing (another special "fabric" or whatever, where sweat and moisture are pulled away from your body). They really held up to a year of wear and tear and no "special" treatment. I also had a few lulu tank tops and Trevor had a pair of lulu shorts, and even though it's a more expensive brand, we both would recommend them to other travellers in a heartbeat.
When it comes to travelling clothes, I know people say you can buy whatever you need on the road ... but we found that it's best to take what you need with you - because anytime we bought stuff on the road it always turned out to be shoddy quality. I remember buying winter stuff in Turkey (it was way colder than we expected it to be and layers under our raincoats didn't work as well as we'd planned), and tons of tshirts from Asia (Thailand, Cambodia, Malaysia...) All of them ... crap. Everything feel apart, stretched out of shape, or shrank in the wash. I suppose if you were purchasing from a good store in those countries (like, MEC or Coast Mountain in Canada), then you'd be okay, but as far as markets go, I wouldn't recommend them for picking stuff up. With the exception of one pair of pants from Cambodia, everything else we've bought from markets has been thrown out. Such a waste of money 😞
Reply to this
from our trip last year. I think we mailed half of it home a few hours later.
It was a constant rotation though, I have a habit of picking up a few too many items when we find a good market. I think we sent home 4 boxes in 10 months of travel last year (over 25 KG's each).
I'm a horder in the making :S eep
brand wise? I LOVE MEC in Canada. another new favorite that I discovered when we went home for Chrismas was Atmosphere (new store, it used to be called Coast Mountain I think),
I have to add amazon.com in here. We had on average 15 books at all times with us. I'm a big reader (and have a hard time leaving a good book behind). we have since opted for a kindle, more books, less weight. I'm a happy camper 😊 (as is Scott's back)
Kristy
Reply to this We are new converts to the Kindle and can't say enough about them. It is great not having to lug the weight of books around. I love knowing I can re-read the books if I want and I don't miss turning pages!
Reply to this Thanks all for this. I am still really unsure how much stuff to take though. 5 tshirts or 2 tshirts?, that kinda thing. So I thought if you listed what you had in your backpack I might see a pattern I could roughly follow. I love the pics with the stuff laid out on the bed. I just wish each item was labelled cause I can't work out what it all is!
Reply to this Words of advice: Do not over think this.
What ever you take will be a good place to start. Each person is a bit different and will want different things. You will add a couple of items and throw away a couple of items or send them back.
It takes a few trips to get this right....plus each trip is a bit different because of the temperatures you will encounter.
Reply to this For me its not about what you pack but how you pack it - I keep my gear compartmentalized within my pack in waterproof tupperware containers. One contains all my electronics- cameras, cell phone, chargers, converters. Another tray-style one for my medical kit, contact lenses, sewing kit, etc. all the small stuff.
I take a large container for the big miscellaneous stuff, books, snorkel, laundry kit (clothesline, pins and small plastic bottle for detergent). This one is about 12"x16"x6" deep. It doubles as a washbasin for clothes, perfect size. It is also good for keeping larger souvenirs I pick up along the way safe from getting wet or crushed.
I use a waterproof compression sack for my clothes, this reduces all my clothing down to the size of a soccer ball.
Backpacks get abused no matter how careful you are with them, they get dropped off the bus by handlers, buried under a mountain of suitcases in a ship's hold or a plane, and you get caught in the rain. I don't like to carry a big heavy poncho around so this allows me to not worry if my pack gets a little wet, everything inside is protected and sorted. It also deters prying hands, if someone wants to find out whats inside they have to fully open the pack and pull out the containers, not something that can be done furtively.
I find myself taking less and less each trip. One thing I am surprised about is how few fellow travelers do their own laundry. Its part of my morning routine, if you do it every day its really not a chore, a couple of shirts and underwear and occasionally a pair of shorts or jeans. The cost of having it done really adds up over the course of a long trip, then you have to wait once you put it in, and they don't always do a good job. Doing it yourself allows you to take far fewer clothes.
Reply to this Dominick shares some great advice. We use the ex-large freezer storage bags to compartmentalize all of our things. We can stash several extra in the bottom of the backpack so when they wear out they can be replaced easily. I had not considered Tupperware, which we use for everything at home. We'll give that a little thought and will more than likely switch over. You are right that things will be thrown and dropped Tupperware would offer more protection.
Once in Hanoi, we sent the laundry out and it came back smelly. I imagine the river they selected was not .....fresh. Dave developed a rash that last two weeks. That cured us of sending out the laundry.
Reply to this Same things that are always in there :-) ...giant has started packing for our next trip and asked me exactly whats in my divebag/ travel bag..
1. BCD
2. REGS/Mask/Fins
3. Poker/Prodder thing
4. Sarong
5. Bikini
6. WETSUIT
7. 2 pairs undies, bra, 2 x tank tops
8. 2 x Dresses - thai silk,hippy sorta style, can be rolled up and worn out most places.
9. 1 x travel pants..3/4 length adidas cotton - bought 1988 in HK at a sweatshop for 10 cents AUD..still going strong.
10. 1 x Dive Tshirt - bought for 50c a couple of years ago locally at a factory clearance, has all the places ive dived scrawled on it
11. Camera
12. Contact Lenses
13. Passport
14. Cheesecloth embroidered long sleeve overshirt given to me in 1988 in Kashmir by a lovely old lady selling flowers to keep bugs away..was once purple, now faded to white.
Thats it, its how it stays unless im going somewhere cold which doesnt happen often.
Everything else can be bought.....or traded for. Giant is the organised one who packs things like medication and battery chargers and extra memory cards all in labelled seperate freezer bags.
Reply to this Aside from clothes, undies and footwear
1. Swimwear
2. A scarf or sarong that can double as a towel/blanket
3. Goggles for swimming
4. Noise cancelling earphones. Necessary for dorm type hostels
5. Mobile phone
6. Flashlight
7. Bandages
8. Wet tissue and regular tissue
9. Toiletries
10. Sunscreen
11. Cap or hat
12. Alcohol disinfectant
13. A small purse for your wallet, camera, passport etc
14. Ipad or ipod touch or iphone where you can store LP, read books, watch movies, skype, browse the web, write notes, record voice and videos etc
Reply to this i have
a flashlight
a pair of jean shorts
a pair of jeans
underwear x2
tshirts x2
a towel
a pocket knife
soap/toothbrush
and socks
this is for a one night camping trip i'm going on tomorrow at 4am. GINNIE SPRINGS!
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