When you’re young and care free traveling the world with your life in a backpack can seem like an ideal way to spend the summer. Moving from city to city on a whim, staying in youth hostels, meeting new people, taking in different cultures… it is without a doubt an experience worth having. But packing for such an adventure isn’t quite as easy. When you backpack through a foreign land - be it Europe, South America, Asia or somewhere else - you need to be prepared for the unexpected while at the same time packing very, very light. So how do you do it? How do you pack so that you’re fully prepared without having to carry a heavy burden?
The key is to remember these three things:
- You can always wash things even if you have to do it by hand,
- You can wear things more than once between washings, and
- When you think function over fashion you can always buy what you need while on the road for fairly cheap.
- One week’s worth of socks and underwear,
- A bathing suit,
- A towel,
- 3 t-shirts,
- 3 tank tops,
- 2 long sleeved tops,
- 1-2 sweaters or sweatshirts,
- 1 pair of track pants,
- 1-2 pairs of jeans or long pants,
- 1-3 pairs of shorts (if you’re a girl include skirts here),
- 1 pair of runners,
- 1 pair of flip-flops or sandals,
- 1 warm jacket,
- 1 hat and/or head-covering,
- Rain gear and/or a windbreaker,
- Sunglasses in a hard case,
- A pillowcase,
- Toiletries.
- Toothbrush and toothpaste,
- Anti-bacterial hand gel,
- Soap (that can be used to clean clothes if necessary), shampoo, and conditioner (if needed),
- Hairbrush or comb,
- Hairstyling products and items like hair elastics,
- A waterproof bag for laundry,
- A roll of toilet paper in a waterproof bag,
- Sunscreen,
- Lip balm,
- Eyedrops,
- A disposable plastic razor,
- Nail clippers (but NOT nail scissors) and a rounded edge wooden nail file (NOT a metal one),
- Medications you have been prescribed (make sure these medications are in their prescription bottle and carry a copy of the prescription with you if possible),
- If you wear contacts you should have your contact kit,
- Minimal make-up (for girls),
- A small first aid kit in a waterproof container with band-aids in a variety of sizes, cotton, gauze, medical tape, anti-bacterial cream, alcohol wipes, tylenol, gravol, allergy pills, tensor bandage, q-tips, tissue, and safety pins.
- A water bottle,
- A book,
- A travel guide to the country you are going to along with a book of common phrases to help you navigate in a foreign language,
- A camera,
- An mp3 player or other music source with charger,
- A cell phone with charger,
- Adaptor for the electrical outlets in the country you are traveling to,
- A hairdryer, curling iron or flat iron (only if you use these things more than 4 times a week while at home and in smaller travel sizes if possible).
