We have been traveling for most of a year in planes, trains, and automobiles (and one ship). We have walked over sand dunes in the scorching sun, and we have trudged through waist-deep snow—and we have done all of it with only the gear in our backpacks.
Bring Less and Carry It All
Packing for extended travel is all about compromises—some things you’ll regret not bringing, but even more, you’ll regret bringing everything.
Packing rule one: bring less. When in doubt, leave it out. You need a passport, a credit card, and some cash. Everything else is optional.
Bringing less stuff means less weight, less bulk, easier un/packing, and simpler living. I can’t emphasize this enough. Bring less.
Bring a backpack, possibly with a daypack that fits inside for transport. Don’t bring anything with wheels. We feel bad for people with wheels as we walk around them on stairs, cobblestones, up and down curbs, etc. Sorry, but it’s true. Nowhere interesting is perfectly flat. Tough-up and carry your stuff.
Your daypack, if you choose to have one, should fit inside your primary backpack, so you never have to worry about two bags at the same time. In and out of trains, planes, taxies, etc. you are much better off with only one item.
The Bags I Used and Intend to Use
For this last leg of the journey, I had a 60-liter travel pack from Eagle Creek. I’ve had it for a decade, and I’ve been pleased with it. However, for the next leg of our journey, I’m going to go smaller. The same company now makes a 40-liter clam-shell style backpack that I intend to try.
For my daypack, I’ve been using a slash-proof, lockable flack sack from LockTote. The idea was that I could lock up our valuables in apartments, hostels, and trains. I liked it pretty well. It looks nice and is comfortable if you don’t overload it. However, in reality, through a half-dozen countries and many more train rides, I only bothered to lock it a couple of times, and it’s somewhat heavy for our kind of travel. For our next journey, I’m going to get something lighter.
Electronics Are Worth Their Weight In Silicon
If you’re anything like me, most of your weight will be in electronics. For this leg of the journey, I traveled with two laptop computers (to share with the whole family, but I ended up carrying both of them for some reason), a kindle e-reader, a gimbal video camera, a phone, a portable speaker, and a whole bag of chargers.
Make some hard choices—and ideally better choices than I made. Don’t bring things that you won’t need, and think dual purpose—don’t carry two devices when one serves.
Don’t bring a big camera. There are so many reasons not to bring a big camera. Perhaps the most important is that we lump people with big cameras in with people with wheeled suitcases—we feel bad for them. They are heavy, take up lots of space, and they aren’t necessary anymore: modern camera phones are amazing. All pictures of this website have been taken with my phone. Bam.
E-readers are heavy but so much lighter than a stack of books. If you like to read, they are a must for extended travel. That said, for the next leg of our journey, I intend to ditch my e-reader and use the kindle app on my phone instead.
With regards to the two laptops: I’m replacing one of them with a newer, lighter version. The other I’m doing away with by getting a tablet and a bluetooth keyboard and tasking my eldest son with carrying then.
I think we’re going to leave the gimbal behind. It takes impressive videos, but, again, it is a little redundant, and we’re going to stick with our camera phones from here on out.
A portable speaker, however, is worth its weight in gold. It turns a hotel room into a home. We used a WonderBook from Ultimate Ears. That said, for this next trip, we’re going to the JBL Clip 3. The sound is not quite as good, but it weighs half as much.
Annoyingly, on this leg, we had two different laptop chargers and a mix of micro-USB and USB-C. My new laptop will charge on USB-C and going forward, I won’t buy anything that doesn’t.
Get an international USB multi-adapter. Ours has been excellent, it works in almost all outlets around the world and spits out four USB plugs. Huge win, and highly recommended.
Five Backpacks Family Pro Tip
Water Bottles and Filter
There are some interesting corners of the world that lack drinkable water. Though this fear is very often overblown (tap water in most countries is pretty okay), a bit of caution is never a bad idea. Thus, one can either buy (and throw away) an embarrassing quantity of disposable water bottles or one can do as we do and suggest, which is to travel with a camping filter.
During this last segment of our trip, we used a Sawyer Squeeze filter. It’s an ingenious device with no moving parts; you simply squeeze water out of a collapsible water bottle through the filter into whatever receptacle you like. I’ve used it very successfully when traveling alone, but for a family of five, it has been a bit slow. We considered some other filters, but the going plan is to get a better receptacle and backflow system and stick with our current filter for another go.
Get suction cup toothbrush covers. They are particulary handy in places with really small sinks–or no sink at all.
Five Backpacks Family Pro Tip
Clothes Do Not Make The Man Or The Woman
Regarding clothing, the first point is the same as our main first rule: bring less. Nobody cares what you look like. Nobody cares if you wore that shirt yesterday. And within some pretty wide bounds, nobody really cares what you smell like. So bring fewer clothes, re-wear them when necessary, wash them when you can.
One thing to consider is material type. You can get quick-dry materials and plan to wash everything in the sink daily. But be warned, quick-dry materials begin to smell terrible. The best materials are the same ones your grandparents used: cotton and wool. Wool is highly odor resistant and available in light and heavy weights so as to be suitable for all seasons. However, the lightweight merino wools aren’t very durable. Cotton isn’t quite as resistant to odors but will hold up better. I use a mixture of cotton and wool, and this time I’m trying two pieces from SmartWool, which is merino wool with some nylon for durability.
Packing cubes are kinda awesome. They let you organize your bag and un/pack in seconds. That said, the clam-shell bag I intend to get makes them somewhat redundant, so I’m not sure what I’ll do next month.
Get a small spray bottle, fill it with rubbing alcohol, and your favorite essential oil. It works as a deodorant, clothes freshener, aftershave, antiseptic, etc. Spray it on everything. If you pick cedarwood, citronella, lavender, lemongrass, spearmint, or some others, it will also repel mosquitos and other bugs.
Five Backpacks Family Pro Tip
Gear Matters
Though my wife likes to make fun of my obsession with getting the right gear, she doesn’t mind the convenience that it brings to our lives.
- Thoughtful consideration is strongly recommended, extended travel (even short-term travel) provides a variety of terrains and weather situations (even on the way to a tropical beach, the airplane is going to be uncomfortably cold). Consider all segments of your travels and make sure you have everything you need.
- Cost matters, of course. But if you only own one jacket, its probably worth it to get the right one, regardless of cost.
- And despite those recommendations, don’t overpack. Less is always more. Every extra pound and every extra bag is an inconvenience that you would prefer to live without.
There is much more to share, but that will do for now. Please let me know what you are most interested in, and I would be happy to share everything we have learned.
Have a great trip(s)!
Note: We do not receive any kickback if you decide to buy any of these products. Because Holly told me that would be tacky.