What To Pack On An Around-The-World Adventure

Figuring out what to pack for a long trip can be stressful. Personally, I love it. But then, I’ve gotten a lot of practice at it. I flew over 73,000 miles last year, hitting 15 countries over 8 months, several more than once. I’ve spent most of this year in the southern hemisphere: Australia, New Zealand, and Brazil.

Figuring out what to pack when you’re gone for weeks or months on end, sometimes through multiple countries, is a fun challenge. Here’s what I bring.

Before we start, there are a few things I’m not going to be talking about: toiletries and electronics, mostly. I haven’t used shampoo since college, and you know way better than I what soap and stuff you need for your visage and jiggly bits. As far as electronics go, check out 8 Long Flight Tech Tips or if you’re really hardcore, 10 Tools Of The Digital Nomad (As In, Work From Anywhere).

As I talked about in my Why You Should Always Pack Light guide, there are two key edicts to keep in mind for packing for any extended trip:

1) You can’t bring everything.

2) You can buy it there.

So in other words, you can bring WAY less than you think. I’m going to add a third:

3) You can do laundry just about everywhere. And you totally should.

Pack light. Really light. It’s freeing. It will change how you travel. I fit everything in a 40 liter pack, plus a 15 liter daypack. I still manage to overpack. This is about half the size of the "normal" pack you imagine backpackers hauling around. The 40L is overhead bin carry-on sized. The 15l is a little larger than a kids school backpack. That's everything for extended travel of indefinite length, plus all the gear I need to do my job (laptop, camera, lenses, etc.).

But yeah, you'll need to do laundry.

- Laundry -

Unless you’re gone for just a week or two, you’re probably going to have to do laundry. Embrace it. If you know you’re going to have to do laundry, you can pack WAY less. Why bring 3 weeks of clothes for a 4 week trip? Why not just 1 week of clothes. Who’s going to know/see/care that you wore that shirt last week (or hell, yesterday, though even I don’t do that).

As I mentioned in the Packing Light guide, I bring, at most, 5 shirts with me. My longest trip so far, before passing go and collecting $200, was 4 months. I could have stayed out indefinitely. 5 shirts, 5 pairs of underwear, 5 pairs of socks, two pairs of shorts, and a pair of jeans. Depending on the climate of where I’m going, I’ll add in a Smartwool baselayer or two, and a Smartwool pullover (seriously, I love Merino wool, there’s a whole section below about it).

- Synthetics are your friend -

I’m going to talk about underwear. If that weirds you out for some reason, skip ahead.

Cotton underwear is horrible. Lets be honest, wear it for a day, and I don’t care who you are, but it’s going to smell. Maybe not bad, but certainly not good.

Check out synthetic underwear. If you’ve tried these in the past and hated them, don’t rush to judgement. Modern blends feel amazing, and are frickin’ magic. Seriously, when the company says “odor resistant” they aren’t kidding. You could, if you so chose, wear them multiple days without anyone noticing. Then, you can wash them in the shower with some regular soap, and have a fresh clean pair without doing a full load of laundry. They dry fast.

I’m not that hard core. They roll up small, so I bring 5 pairs with me. They’re practically indestructible. I like the Ex Officio boxers and boxer briefs. They make briefs as well, if your boys need a home. They’re 94% Nylon and 6% Lycra Spandex.

Even if you won’t wear one pair for multiple days, the pairs you have worn won’t stink up your bag. Phrasing that sentence so it was minimally gross was a challenge.

They make women's underwear too, and I imagine they’re equally great, but I have, understandably, not tested them. There are other brands as well, I’ve just used these for a year and a half and think they’re great. They get washed once a week and other than the logo wearing off, they're just like new.

I also like synthetic socks for all the same reasons. I buy Wrightsocks by the bulk. They last well, but they’re white socks so they discolor easily (it doesn’t help that I’m not exactly careful where I walk while wearing them).

- Shirts and stuff - 

I’ve tried shirts “designed for travel” from REI, Columbia, and others, and I’ve found that they don’t hold up, at all, to abuse and repeated washing. Like, shockingly poorly.

For the same money as a fancy travel shirt, I’ve found that Banana Republic fitted non-iron dress shirts not only look good, but hold up amazingly well. Plus, you can wear them on a night out and not look like a backpacker. To each their own, of course.

I tend to try to pack items that have multiple uses. So all my shirts could function on a night out, and most work either as a top or bottom layer with other shirts, if the weather goes cool. After all, if you’re only bringing 5 shirts, they need to fit all uses. It’s probably easier if you’re a t-shirt and jeans kind of person.

I can’t give you more specific advice for shirts, really, other than to say if you limit yourself to just a handful of clothes, you figure out quite quickly what are your favorites, and how to make things work in your style.

- Merino wool -

I love Merino wool. Doesn’t even matter what the brand is. It’s soft, regulates temperature and moisture perfectly, and somehow, magically, is also odor resistant. One year, I gave my entire family Smartwool socks for Christmas. So comfy.

I’ve mentioned Smartwool a bunch because most of their clothing is a blend of Merino wool and a synthetic material. The advantage to this is it’s a little more rugged. With most of their stuff you can put it in the dryer (not all, though, check before you buy). This is makes living with it a lot easier, especially on the road.

After 3 months in the heat of Australia, I flew to New Zealand and froze. The Merino wool I bought from Kathmandu in Queenstown was great, but when I accidentally put it in the dryer, it came out a little tighter fitting than when I bought it. Look, I’m sure everyone wants to see my midriff, so I guess it’s OK.

The clothing item I like the best is my Smartwool half-zip pullover (image above), which looks stylish, and is the perfect amount of warmth for everything but a cold winter night.

- Travel Chargers and Useless Voltage Converters -

Fun fact! You don’t need a voltage converter. Nearly every charger sold or included with a product in the last few years automatically converts the voltage and frequency to whatever the device needs. Take a look at the fine print on the charger. It will say something like 100-240v/50-60Hz. In other words, it will work with US 120/60Hz and the UK’s 230/50Hz and just about everything in between.

Instead, all you need for most gear, are different plug ends. I bought these and love them.

Also, the “universal” adapters so lauded by travel sites are overly bulky and usually overpriced. You’re much better off getting a couple plug ends for the countries you’re visiting. They’ll take up way less space. That first link shows what design each country’s plugs are.

- Toiletries -

OK, I lied. I do have one thing to say about toiletries. You can buy anything you need on the road, as I’ve mentioned throughout. So you don’t need to bring 3 months of Pert Plus.

If you’re staying in hotels, they’ll all have soap and shampoo, though the quality certain varies a lot.

Liquid soap and a loofa are infinitely easier to travel with than a bar of soap in a little container, not least because the former lasts longer, and is way less messy.

Travel bottles help a lot. I’ve tried the cheap plastic $1 ones from Target and they don’t hold up. Over a year ago I splurged on the silicone GoToob that used to be recommended by Wirecutter. I think they’re great, but there are some liquids you shouldn’t put in them though (most mouthwash, for example. They recommend these instead.

- Packing Cubes -

Last item. Packing cubes are amazing. They seem superfluous, but they’re not. You can put all of one thing (underwear for example, or shirts) in one cube, and then they always stay in one place. You can sort through your luggage for something with just one or two pulls, instead of minutes of digging. Over the course of a trip, this kind of organization makes everything that little bit easier.

I have both Eagle Creek and eBags. They’re a little different, but in use they’re about the same. The Eagle Creek bag is holding up a little better, the eBags is fraying on the inside a bit. Wirecutter recommends both.

You can see what these look like and do at the top of the image that started this article. That's what my pack looked like when I started travelling, by the way, I travel with even less now.

- What Not to Bring -

Iron: The hotel or hostel will have one (and yes, I met someone who carried one).

Hair Dryer: Chances are it won’t work anyway, or burn itself out on the weird voltage/frequency. This is an exception to the charger rule above. Small travel ones are probably ok, but every hotel and most hostels will have one. If you use one every day, consider buying one in the country where you're going, and just leaving it there when you're done. It will work better anyway.

Basically, don’t bring anything you look at and think “Well, I might need this.” No, you won’t. And even if you did, it’d be better to buy it there then haul it around on the off chance you’ll maybe, possibly, could be, need it maybe one night.

Conclusion

So many people I’ve met feel they could “never” pack as little as I do. Guess what: I used to be one of those people. Dragging an enormous rollybag through China for a month made me decide “never again.”

If you want even more reading, check out Gunnar Garfors guide. He packs even lighter than I do, and has been to every country on Earth.