Virgin Traveller

I am 24 years old and have given up a good job, rented my house out and bought a backpack and am going travelling for a year with a friend. We are doing the normal route round of Thailand, Malaysia, Singapore, Australia, New Zealand, Fii & America.
I leave in 3 weeks and am now starting to face the fact that I need to pack! I have read books I have been given that list endless items that are suggested you take, but have just been completely baffled by what is essential & what is just over the top!
Can anyone help me from their experience with what I really do need to take & what I should leave at home! (Well, in my mum & dads loft!!)
Thanks, Leza. Reply to this

Hi Leza...basically half your pile of stuff and you wiill still have too much. The last thing you want is a heavy rucksack that you can't find anything in and can't carry! Certainly don't take those GHD's or stilhetto's...the thing most people seem to forget is that THERE ARE SHOPS ALL OVER THE WORLD THAT SELL EVERYTHING YOU NEED!! it might take a bit of finding sometimes but looking at the places your going to you should have NOOOO problem. I would advise you to take one pair of flip flops, you will wear them to death...when they break buy a new pair. Take the token denim skirt, good for all eventualities, night and day. A pair of comfy trousers, like linen, or combats...its hell wearing uncomfortable clothes when travelling on a bus for 10+ hours...Make up is useless, as it will just melt off, besides within a week you will have a tan!. Take a few t shirts, vest tops, shorts, your fave jeans...I assure you though you will buy more clothes and end up having to throw away what you bought with you. Asia is very cheap for clothes, especially Bangkok. The islands sell really funky retro clothes....girls heaven. I wouldn't worry about that first aid kit your mom is probably making you take...pharmacy's do exist where your going! just make sure you got travel insurance. Apart from this a good camera, ipod or similar, adapter, and a few bikinis...

even after you taking all this into account you will still take too much! ha! us girls can't pack light!
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Hi Leza,
You need passport, any visas necessary, and money - and a secure place to carry them. Everything else is superfluous. However I do suggest heavyduty sunblock - start wearing it from DAY 1 and build your tan over a month - you won't regret it, coming to the tropics from the UK.

Laura's clothes advice is right. You buy more as you go along because:
* it's cheap
* it's appropriate for the location/climate, and looks good
* it looks cool in the pics you get taken along the way
* it turns into some of your most loved souvenirs at the end of the trip

The main baggage to sort out is mental. Pack a sense of humour, plenty of patience and acceptance, and a careful blend of caution and risk-taking - you need both to make the most a year on the road. With the right frame of mind you can have a ball for a year with hardly any possessions at all! .

Be warned this kind of travel gets addictive - I took a year travelling when I was your age, and I still can't give it up...plenty here that can vouch similar stories. Reply to this

i've been traveling in asia for 10 months now, nearing the end of a 1-year backpacking trip through india, nepal and southeast asia. i won't list off the clothes stuff, since that's well-covered above (although i fully agree--take half of what you think you need!), but here are a few more things i would really recommend... we've sent home/given away most of the rest, but these few things we've hung on to:

- a good combination padlock, so you can use your own lock on hotel room doors. (dont bring a key lock or you'll lose the key...)
- a sarong or small cotton sheet or, best of all but most expensive, silk sleep sack (folds up really tiny)... in some places the sheets aren't so clean, or there aren't any sheets at all, so it'll be nice to have. you can definitely just buy this when you get over to asia too.
- a plastic universal sink-plugger thing... hard to explain, but basically a suction cup that fits over any sink drain... that is, if you plan to wash your own laundry. you can also have it done for pretty cheap almost anywhere in asia, but if you prefer to do it yourself you'll find that few sinks have plugs. i just use bar soap, but you could bring a tiny bottle of clothing soap too... or just buy the little packets of clothes soap here.

anything else you either don't need or can buy here! DONT bring large sizes or more than one of any toiletries (soap, shampoo, toothbrush, contact solution, tampons, etc) because you can buy any and all of it here and there's no reason to carry extra around! i brought a full arsenal of medicines, and i haven't used any of them except for a few bandaids, antibiotic ointment, tylenol and ciproflaxin for belly troubles (a life-saver, really!) and you can get whatever else you might need over here too.

well, hope that helps! have a great trip :-)

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i started my trip with a pacsafe thing, which sounds like the same as the exomesh... it was like a wire net that can be locked around a bag to prevent anyone from being able to get in. i realized pretty quickly, however, that it was a bad idea... basically, it's like wearing a sign that says "I HAVE VALUABLE STUFF IN HERE!" In the end, after a year of traveling, almost all of the theft stories i've heard from other travelers have been a result of carelessness: they left their camera in the restaurant and it was gone when they came back, or they left their hotel room open while going to the shared toilet with the wallet on the bed, etc. the few bag-slicing stories i've heard have been on trains or buses when you're not paying attention to your bag... i suppose the exomesh could help with that, but on the other hand, if someone does see a mesh cage on your bag they will know for certain there's something valuable in there, and be more likely to just grab the whole thing and take off. i carried mine around for about 6 months, then finally got sick of having the useless weight in my pack and sent it home.

on the other hand, i've seen travelers wearing one everywhere they go, so i'm sure there are other opinions... but if it were me, i would go without.

happy travels!
laura Reply to this