Packing for a year RTW trip (men and women)

Packing for a year long trip may seem like a daunting task when you first think about it.  Trying to fit your whole life into a small bag, and having everything you need for the whole year? A little overwhelming.  But thanks to other travel bloggers out there we were able to find a lot of great recommendations of what has worked best for them, and from that we began to form our strategy. Everyone’s packing list for a Round the World (RTW) trip will be slightly different since we all have a different definition for what we deem as ‘essentials’ in our lives, and have varying preferences. We knew immediately that we wanted to backpack our way around the world since we’d be traveling to so many different places. We wanted our travel to be simple and inexpensive.

Our challenge: How many quality items could we fit into the smallest amount of space possible, while keeping a modest budget?

This became a game as we started planning for the trip, and we researched hundreds of different items to decide what would make our final list. And now, (drumroll…) you will see what has made our packing list ‘final cut.’

The List:

Packs
Clothing
Shoes
Toiletries
Electronics
First Aid
Documents
Miscellaneous

1. Packs

There are hundreds of different pack options, and this is by far the most important item you choose for your trip.  Many different factors will count towards your final decision (cost, reviews, brand, size, weight, quality, etc).

Here are the packs we chose for our RTW trip:

• Marissa’s pack: Osprey Women’s Kyte, 45L
• Josh’s pack: Osprey Men’s Atmos, 50L

We chose the Osprey packs because they met our main qualifications:

• Must have good consumer reviews
• Extremely lightweight pack
• Must have good support for back
• Must have a rain cover
• Small enough to ‘carry on’ all flights/trains
• Large enough to fit everything into one pack (each)
• Easy to organize the pack
  • Pockets/sections that help make packing efficient

2. Clothing

Do no over pack! It’s really easy to over pack the clothes you ‘need’ to bring, since there are always more occasions that can be thought of where you might need the extra sweatshirt, or that white cardigan. Since you will be carrying everything that comes with you, pack only what’s essential.  Ladies- it’s definitely a struggle to come to grips with the fact that you will be wearing many of the same clothes over again, and you might get sick of them.  But when you get down to brass tax, you don’t need as much as you think you do.  A lot depends on the weather you will encounter. Remember that you can always buy something and discard it later.

We knew we would be chasing the warm weather most of our RTW trip, but we also knew we’d be doing some hiking in places that got colder, so we packed according to the weather we’d encounter on the trip. Our other goals were as follows:

• Multi-use items for varying weather
• Have quality items that will last the trip
• Lightweight clothing / easy to make small
• Plain clothing choices to help us ‘blend in’ and not look overly ‘touristy’
• Clothes that breathe well to re-wear
• Quick drying & comfortable
• Water resistant where possible

3. Shoes

Shoes can add up quickly when you are packing for various occasions, but they are also bulky and awkward to pack (especially men’s).  We decided to go as simple as possible with our shoes, making the ones we took multi-purpose. We went with shoes we could run, walk, hike, swim, shower in, etc. And also shoes that were lightweight, supportive, easy to pack, and could dry quickly.

Marissa’s Shoes:

• Pair of black flats (mossimo)
• Pair of minimalistic cross training Merrell shoes
• Pair of Merrell sandals

Josh’s Shoes:

• Pair of minimalistic cross training Merrell shoes
• Pair of TEVA sandals

4. Toiletries

If you are traveling as a couple some things can be shared (shampoo, soap, etc.) which will help cut down your pack weight/size.  The key is to bring the bare minimum of what you’ll need right away and pickup what you can for a reasonable price along the way. We wanted to carry our bags onboard planes the whole trip, and if this is the case then it’s important to meet the airline liquid rules. Consider getting a shorter haircut like we both did to cut down on the hair products needed as well as prep time. For women- short hair can also be helpful to eliminate hair dryers, curlers, etc. Only bring the makeup that is absolutely necessary. The lighter the pack= easier it is to carry.

General toiletries:

• Shampoo, soap, lotion (1 travel size each)
• Nail clippers, tweezers, nail file
• Chapstick, vaseline (travel size)
• Sunscreen (2 travel size)
• Toothpaste & floss (1 travel size each)
• Needle & thread

5. Electronics

There is a lot for this section, but we brought items we though we would use for a different purpose each. We wanted a computer so we could continue writing and making our videos, so we went as lightweight with that and everything else as we could:

• MacBook Air computer (& charger)
• MacBook Air case
• Computer mouse – travel size
• 1 iPhone 4 with cracked screen, WiFi only (& charger)
• 1 iPhone 5, WiFi only (& charger)
• 3 headphones (2 skull candy, 1 dual port)
• small portable speaker set (& charger)
• iPod shuffle (& charger)
• 128GB USB
• Portable USB charger (charges all USB devices)
• Kindle, basic version, WiFi only ( & charger)
• Digital camera, waterproof (& charger)
• 2 GoPro cameras (& charger)
• GoPro accessories: headband, extended tripod, 2 extra batteries, charger, remote, instruction manual
•  1 screen cleaning towel
• Packing cube, medium size

6. First Aid

• Medicines (in travel doses)
  • Dramamine, Aleve, Ibuprofen, allergy meds, vitamins, probiotic, Imodium, sleeping pills, Alka-Seltzer tablets, cold medicine, cold sore gel
  • Prescription pills needed for the year

• Visine (travel)
• Glucose tablets (2 packs)
• Burn spray
• Hand sanitizer (travel)
• Hand wipes
• Tissue
• Band Aids (various sizes)
• Travel cube

7. Documents

• Passports
• Plane tickets (and all other tickets purchased along the way)
• Printed copy of passports and IDs

8. Miscellaneous

• 2- Stopwatches (1 mens, 1 womens)
• 1- Day pack (Sea to Summit Ultra-Sil, 20L )
• 1- Traveler SteriPEN (purifies water)
• 2- Water bottles (Klean Kanteen)
• 2- Travel adapters (for all countries)
• 2- Padlocks
• 2- Carabineer clips
• 2- Workout hats (running, water resistant)
• 1- Sun hat (ladies)
• 2- Headlamps
• 1- Travel flashlight
• 1- Portable clothesline
• 1- Travel towel
• 1- Travel soap (washing clothes)
• 1- Travel duct tape
• Set of disposable bags
• Earplugs
• 2- Eye masks
• 2- Women’s sunglasses  (1 workout, 1 general)
• 1- Men’s sunglasses
• 2- Small notebooks
• 2- Large notebooks
• 1- Deck of cards
• 2- Pens
• 1- Wallet
• 2- Credit cards  (zero international fees)
• 2- Debit cards (zero ATM / international fees)
• Currency
  • Some USD and some local currency
• 1- Money belt (Eagle Creek)
• 6- Cliff bars
• 2- Packs of gum
• Emergen-C
• 2- Travel cubes

Pack Final Weight:

Believe it or not, all of this fit into our two packs, and they have a little room left!

• Marissa’s Pack weighs 21lbs
• Josh’s Pack weighs 24lbs

Hopefully they stay this light all year.

Happy Packing!