Packing List for Holiday

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The Essential Packing List
for Your Holiday
&
The Best Way to Pack
Your Backpack

A few days before we travel comes the time to start packing the necessary things we will need for our trip and there would be lots of questions come to our mind.

What should I bring? A backpack or a luggage bag? What size, smaller or bigger?
How about clothes? Shoes? and the list goes on…

We wish to make things easier for you and it’ll take away your stress… :b

Which Backpack is Better?

We always travel with backpacks because is more comfortable and convenient for us to ‘travel light’. We usually bring one big backpack each and a small day-pack for our snacks!

Some people prefer to travel with suitcases. Most probably because they have back problems or simply because don’t like the backpacks or rucksacks. But this is just a personal preference.

If you want to travel with a backpack is very important what type of backpack you are going to choose. A bad choice can injure your back or shoulders and this can be a travel nightmare.

In recent years the technology applied to backpacks has improved a lot and we can find a big variety of them in specialised shops.

So … what aspects should we take into consideration when choosing a backpack?

• Size and design of the backpack. It’s not the same if you are woman or man, or if you are taller or shorter.
• Belt + lumbar support. It’s one of the most important aspects because this is the support for our back.
  
• Compression, adjustment and pectoral stabiliser webbings.
  
• Frame / Back and Shoulder pads.

We went with the 50 and 70 Litres backpacks which are Quechua® Forclaz 50Litres Backpack or the Quechua® Forclaz 70L Backpack.

We bought both backpacks in Decathlon, the sporting goods store. This was one of our favourite brands and we bought most of our travel (and Harris’ fishing) stuff in this shop. They offer a big variety of supplies to travel with good quality for the price.

Also be sure that the backpack has a protective cover from rain and potential damages. We recommend using the protector as much as you can.

If the backpack you’ve purchased didn’t come with one or you’ve never had one before, we would highly recommend you to get one for your trips. Its a great piece of investment as they are inexpensive these days 🙂

And… how much should the bag weigh?

We try our best not to exceed 10 kgs as we don’t like paying for check-in baggage for flights. Although I recognise that this can be very difficult to work with sometimes… 🙁
but believe me that your ‘back’ is going to thank you!

At least try not exceed 12 kgs on a trip longer than 3 days and 8 kgs on a trip shorter than 3 days for the big backpack or rucksack. And the small day-pack should be about 3-5 kgs.

On one of our trips to Cambodia, Harris did carry 11-12 kgs in his backpack and didn’t like it after walking around for 3-4 hours. But he didn’t have much choice as it was quite a long trip.

Packing List for Holiday : What Should We Really Bring?

Regardless of whether you travel with a backpack or suitcase, the list of essential things is pretty much the same for every trip.

We have divided it in a few sections to make it easier to review the list and not forgetting anything at the time of final-checking before stuffing everything in the backpack.

Clothes (If the trip is to a warmer region):

• T-Shirts ~ 3 to 4
• Light Sweater or Jumper or Jacket ~ 1
• Jeans or Long Pants ~ 1
• Shorts / Skirts (for ladies) ~ 1
• Swimwear / bikini (for ladies) ~ 1 to 2
• Underwear ~ 3 to 4
• Socks ~ 2 to 3
• Sports Shoes (Trainers) or Trekking Shoes or Sandals ~ 1 worn
• Flip-flops ~ 1 in backpack
• Optional : Sunglasses ~ 1 worn

Clothes (If the trip is to a colder region):

• T-shirts (normal or thermal) ~ 1 worn + 1 in backpack
• Sweaters or Jumpers ~ 1 worn + 2 in backpack
• Jeans or Long Pants ~ 1 worn + 1 in backpack
• Pyjamas or Nightwear ~ 1
• Underwear ~ 3 to 4
• Socks ~ 1 worn + 2 in backpack
• Lined Boots or Sport Trainers or Trekking Shoes ~ 1 worn
• Coat or Jacket (Insulated) ~ 1 worn
• Just in case : Gloves, hat, beanie or scarf (depending on the season)

Sometimes its better to over-dress in colder climate than struggle to keep warm. If its too warm, simply peel of the layers of your clothes.

Bathroom or Toiletries :

• Medium Sized Micro-fiber Towel ~ 1 for shower use
• Light Toiletry Pouch ~ 1
• Toothbrush and Small Tube of Toothpaste ~ 1 set
• Small Shampoo and Small Body Wash ~ 1 set
• Dry Stick Deodorant ~ 1
• Disposable Shaving Blades or Battery Powered Shaver ~ 1 to 3
• Silicone Cup / Tampons / Sanitary Pads (for ladies) ~ about enough
• Optional : Hair Brush / Small Scissors / Clipper / Small Tubes of Perfume / Make-ups

Micro-fiber towels dries faster than the regular cotton ones. It helps when you’re on-the-go. If possible, get the combined shampoo and body-wash as 2-in-1, it saves space rather than having 1 each.

Dry Stick Deodorants are great for flights as you’re not allowed much LAGs (Liquid, Aerosol and Gases) on an airplane. Click HERE for a list of restricted hand-carry items by AirAsia.

Beware, don’t bring any long scissors or a ‘cut-throat’ shaving blade for a flight. Or even a big bottle of moisturizer (true story) as they may be confiscated by airport security at the scanners.

First Aid Kit:

• Anti-Histamines Pills or Analgesics
• Anti-Diahorrea Pills
• Band-Aids or Plasters
• Mosquito Repellent (If you don’t have problem with the bites try to buy one natural like citronella or lavender, if else you’ll need one stronger with DEET)
• Antibiotic ointment (this is very good if the mosquitoes repellent is not enough)
• Needle & Lighter

As for Mosquito Repellents, the lighter ones are made of Citronella or Lavender but the stronger-repellents are made with DEET. The stronger ones are for people with major issues with mosquito.

Most of our friends or family that are from Europe going to Asia (warmer climate) have problems with mosquito bites. Get some to spare, its better to be prepared.

Documents:

• Passport & ID
• Visa (click HERE to check if you need one)
• Flight Tickets & Transport tickets like buses, trains, trams, ferries etc.
• Attraction Tickets like museums, rides, attractions etc.
• Credit / Debit / Travel Cards (see our useful Travel Money Card post)
• Cash and Foreign Currencies
• Travel Insurance (if you’ve got one for the trip, otherwise click HERE)
• Vaccination Card (click HERE to check if you need one)
• Driving License + International Driving License
• Itinerary (If you have prepared one)

Electronics:

• Mobile Phone and Charger
• Laptop / Tablet and Charger (optional)
• Headphones
• Photography equipment (optional)
• Adapter Plugs (according to your destination country)
• USB Power-bank or Spare Batteries

Other useful stuff:

• Tissues
• Small Umbrella or Disposable Poncho
• Sleep Mask
• Ear Plugs
• Sun Lotion
• Flashlight
• Numeric Padlock
• Notebook & Pen

Harris brought a bunch of cable-ties (zip-ties) and got confiscated at an airport once. You’ve been warned lol.

And of course…. some SNACKS!

We always bring some Snacks in our Backpacks to avoid not starving the first few hours of the trip!! 🙂

Snacks like fruits (bananas or apples), peanuts, pistachios, nachos, biscuits and water. Sometimes we also bring breakfast-bars or muesli-bars. They are fast energy foods that can tie-you-over lunch or sometimes even dinner.

Bring a disposable mineral water bottle, empty it before a flight security check-point and refill it after at the water fountain as most airports have those.

This is also a great idea to avoid paying big money for drinks from the boarding-lounge shops. The TSA or airport security allows empty bottles when passing through the scanner.

How to Pack Everything in the Backpack?

Once we have the packing list for holiday ready, it’s very important to put everything inside of the backpack in the right way. Doing this we can take better advantage of the space and avoid possible damage to our back.

Try to put all the stuff according with the sections that we have explained above. It’s important not to mix everything. We save time when we have to package and when we need to pull something out of the bag.

We normally place the heavy items in the lower-center of the backpack and as close as possible to your back to avoid damages, such as electronics and photography equipment.

Our tip :

You can wrap this heavy or hard items with some clothes to avoid them poking or rubbing on your backs 😉

Place the softer items at the top, such as clothes, shoes, towel… And put the underwear, socks and swimwear in the sides.

Most people roll up their clothes before to put it in the backpack trying to save space. But we use packing-cubes arranging clothes in one, toiletries in another one and so on.

In the top, we always put the toiletry bag, first aid kit, and of course, things that we could need to use frequently, such as sun lotion, sunglasses, snacks! (to eat something in the first hours of the trip). Also don’t forget to bring water in a disposable mineral water bottle if is possible.

When we bring a hand bag, we put in here the documents, purse with the money and credit cards, mobile phone and charger, glasses, tissues… Or else, we could put all of these in one of the exterior pockets on the top of the backpack.

And that’s it!! We are ready to go!!



🙂

If you are going to travel, don’t forget to buy a Travel Insurance. You’ll never know what could possibly happen! We recommend you “World Nomads“. They are specialised in insurance for travellers or backpackers who wish to travel around the world without any worries.

If you need extra information on this, do send us a message clicking HERE.