Travel - Packing
Under Construction
Belongings #
My general philosophy is:
- Carry as few things as possible
- Select items that are replacable
In the past, I’ve bought specific “travel items” that make the optimal travel fit. It ends up being kinda stressful, because you really don’t want to lose your special lightweight travel doodad while abroad without a real permanent address.
Buying a Backpack
My current philosophy is that travel backpacks are too technical and heavy; if I just carry less stuff, then a backpack with less features is just lighter and more comfortable. I do prefer rolltop backbacks, though. Easier to pack-out, and can expand for groceries. My current backpack is a Fjallraven. It’s nice, but I wouldn’t buy it again, just because of price. Also, the yellow one picks up stains super quick, so definitely go dark if you buy this bag. But Fjallraven has been super nice about repairs in the past, so that is some piece of mind.
Clothing
I generally have one raincoat, one midlayer, 3-5 shirts, 5-ish underwears/socks, 1-2 trousers, 1 pair of black tights, 1-2 pair of shorts. I also carry 1 baseball cap, because it can keep rain from getting on my glasses when it rains. I lose baseball caps almost as much as I lose wireless earbuds.
Other tips:
- Dark trousers and backpack. Even if you wash your clothes often, traveling tends to be dirty enough that they will inevitably just stain.
- Prefer the raincoat to be brightly colored, for rain/snow visibility. I wear a bright-red Patagonia Torrentshell, I found at a used-gear store.
- Prefer midlayer to be semi-nice looking, so you don’t get turned away at London’s experimental cocktail bar when it’s cold outside and only have a bright green lookin’-like-a-mountaineer Patagonia midlayer.
- For the same reason, unoffensive and passable-looking shoes are helpful.
- Avoid white where possible for ease of wash
- Avoid clothes with weird wash requirements. It’ll feel bad if you find a place with bedbugs, and you get to melt your $300 techical jacket in a super hot dry cycle for your own sanity. Although I’ve generally found wash requirements on clothing to be super conservative anyways.
Some brands I use right now. None of these are cheap, but that’s mostly because I have zero brand-loyalty when it comes to cheaper products. These ones are the reliable brands I turn to for specific things:
- Oliver’s Apparel – sturdiest merino wool shirts I’ve found. Also have 1 pair of each of their all-over shorts and passage pants. This is the only brand I go out of my way to buy between traveling (hard to get while traveling).
- Uniqlo - If I can’t replace Oliver’s stuff, Uniqlo is a brand that’s much easier to find worldwide, so the consistency is nice. Some of their fits are slightly weird on me, though. For men, their AIRism underwear is compact and easy to handwash/dry. Most other mens briefs are weirdly and unnecessarily bulky.
- Lululemon - Still has great tights. And their t-shirts are nice. Their trousers are too bulky for me.
Consumables
I can avoid putting quite a few things on my “packing list”, because I buy things on arrival. Sometimes I’ll carry them with me, but I DEFINITELY don’t try buy any “travel” versions of these things:
- Soap, Shampoo
- Toothpaste, toothbrush
- Razors
- Isopropyl Alcohol (I have a little sprayer. Spray alcohol is useful)
- Lotion / Sun Lotion
- Nail Polish Remover
The Packing List
