Above: doing it all wrong
When we started full-time travelling back in 2014 we really didn’t know what we were doing. It felt like everything we owned was stuffed into our backpacks.
Over the years we learned. Lugging our stuff around was just too much work and the airlines were starting to get strict about overweight baggage. It just wasn’t worth carrying around clothes we weren’t wearing and having to pay $250 for overweight baggage (which happened a few times).
We now travel with 2 carry-on suitcases and 2 backpacks. We don’t ever check anything in so you’ll never see us at a conveyor belt at the airport.
In this post I tell you what we ditched and what we pack. We’ve substantially changed our packing list over the last 10 years.
Toiletries and Personal Care
Let’s start with this category because it’s where we (and many people) go wrong. A simple change here makes for a lot of extra room in your suitcases.
The thing is that toiletries are bulky, inexpensive and easily replaceable – it’s not worth packing suncream, body lotion, shampoo, conditioner, deodorant…it all takes up a lot of room and can spill/explode when stuffing it in your bags. Plus you have to sort it separately when going through airport security. We reached a very simple solution when it comes to toiletries: buy it when we reach our destination. It’s a no-brainer.
Perfume is one exception: Lissette likes to pack a perfume from her favorite NY brand (see the Dossier Review page). A perfume you like is hard to find, comes in small packaging and brings a whiff of class to even the smelliest bus – so it’s one exception to our no-pack rule.
So what else do we pack?
- Toothbrushes (they don’t take much room)
- Floss (because it can be uncomfortable having something stuck in your teeth for 12 hours)
- Toothpaste (a very small, traveller-sized tube)
- Vaseline (for dry hands, face, lips. Again, a small traveller-sized jar)
- Baby wippies (because planes/trains/buses are unhygienic)
That’s it.
Clothing
When it comes to clothing, we’ve switched out quantity for quality. Our favorite brands are North Face and Colombia. I’m still wearing North Face shorts from 25 years ago as well as a Colombia shirt I bought 10 years ago in Ukraine. They’re lightweight, easy clean/easy dry, comfortable, easy to mix and match, and they fold small.
What we pack:
2 pants each
1 pair shorts each
3 t-shirts each
1 long-sleeve (thin) shirt each
2 collar shirts for me (one short, 1 long-sleeve)
2 nicer “girlie” shirts for Lissette
5 pairs underwear each
5 pairs socks each
1 thicker hoodie each (which we wear on the plane)
1 pair of shoes for me, 2 pairs for Lissette
1 kimono (which Lissette bought in Japan. Useful for lots of things)
1 shawl for Lissette
1 cap for me and my balding head
1 thin, flat sheet. You’ll be surprised by all the uses: as a curtain, as a cover for a couch of table, or just to use on a bed (you get a lot of poor-quality sheets when you travel. One great quality sheet makes a big difference)
As I say, for all the above we buy good quality. Anything else we might need along the way we buy: sandals, flip-flops,rain jacket, cheap winter jacket…
Computers, Photography & Smartphones
1 HP laptop each (Lissette just upgraded to a smaller, lighter model. Mine is a bit antiquated and I’m looking forward for it to die so I can also upgrade)
Computer accessories: 3 storage boxes (we have to put it all on the cloud at some point), mice, mouse pads, USB sticks, small earbuds…
1 large Cannon camera (Lissette). It’s too big and I’m trying to get Lissette to exchange it for something small and compact.
1 Sony ZV-1 (me). I bought this camera last year and I love it. Small, good zoom, video is just as good as photos. Exceptional.
2 Samsung Smartphones (although Lissette just bought a Google Pixel 7a as an upgrade on her old Samsung)
Accessories to all the above: chargers, adaptors, extra USB cards…
Misc Other
- A folder stuffed with our important documents.
- Plastic sandwich bags (always handy), a few notepads, pencils, 2 pairs of glasses each, eye masks, reusable shopping bag, a few bandanas…
I’m sure I’m missing a few things but they’re all inconsequential and take up very little room.
How do we pack it?
Suitcases
2 Samsonite carry-on sized suitcases. We cram everything in our suitcases and the zips (always the weak point) have never popped.
Backpacks
I have a Patagonia backpack which I’ve had forever. Excellent quality.
Lissette has a Crumpler backpack (an Australian company). Also excellent.
Daypacks
We have bicycle slingbags made by Cocotte (a Quebec company). We’ve both had them 30 years and I still haven’t found anything better. I don’t like sightseeing with a backpack and having to take it off every time I need my camera. That’s why I like these slingbags.
When not being used, they fold up pretty small into our suitcases.
Conclusion: travel with less
The basic idea for us is to pack high-value, compact things that can’t be easily replaced (ie. the essentials). Everything else that we need, we buy when we get to our destination.
It’s meant changing our habits. We’ll often wash clothes by hand since we have less clothing. You learn to make due with less which, surprisingly, is uplifting. We never realized until we changed the way we packed and travelled how much we didn’t need.
The benefits? Carrying around less stuff when moving from place to place, saving money on planes (on basic tickets…and on overweight baggage) and saving money on taxis because you can now take your stuff on public transport. It pays to travel with less.
Related: Our Top “Travel Experiences” over the last 10 years
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