His & Hers Packing List for Long Term Travel
You’ve decided to take the leap of faith, leave everything behind and embark on this new journey you’ve been dreaming about and planning for ages! But what is next? Packing!!!! Where do you even begin??…One thing is for sure, you will spend countless hours and days thinking about what you want to take on your trip. As much as you try preparing yourself for this long term trip, you will never feel fully prepared. To help you out, below you will find the list of items we packed along with some tips.
LORENA'S LONG TERM TRAVEL PACKING LIST 2.0
I had to think about this long and hard! I packed, unpacked and repacked many times. There will be some favorite things you will have to say goodbye to, trust me you will learn to live without them…hairdryer, straightener…let’s just say I was happy to be able to fit my hair brush. You’ve got to set your priorities straight here… you will be the only one carrying your backpack and trust me…you will feel EVERY single ounce on your back. We were lucky enough to go home for a few weeks and I reconsidered everything I packed initially. So, below you will find my new and revamped packing list! Let’s get started:
CLOTHING
Keep colors neutral (mix and match your outfits, making it seem like you have more clothes than you actually do)
8 -10 tops
5 - 6 shorts
2 pairs of jeans
1 2 pair of leggings (if doing lots of outdoor activities an extra pair will come in handy)
10 pairs of underwear
4 pairs of socks
2 bras, 2 bralettes, 1 sports bra (laundry cleaning service available all over the world)
4 swim tops, 4 swim bottoms
1 2 sweater (bring an extra one if you are doing more outdoor activities)
1 North Face Lightweight Jacket
SHOES
White Converse
Nike athletic shoes
Walking sandals (my first pair was very useful, but not necessary. I was able to do everything I needed in flip flops or the “nice-er” sandals)
“Nice-er” sandals (if had to trade mine out twice during 19 months of travel)
Flip flops (to use in hostels, the beach or for easy indoor use. THESE ARE INDISPENSABLE!)
Heels (which I only wore once!) (You won’t need these, you are traveling the world! Not wearing heels for a few nights out will not kill you!
Leave the heels at home! If you really need some sort of heel, opt for comfortable wedges or booties. You will be walking/standing for long periods of time and also keep in mind, the streets/sidewalks are not always nicely paved.
ACCESSORIZE, ACCESSORIZE, ACCESSORIZE
Earrings, necklaces and bracelets (they help play up/down any outfit. Just remember to keep it simple and leave the chunky accessories at home! )
4 Small neck scarf (accents any outfit)
1 Scarf/Sarong (had multiple uses: as part of an outfit, made it into a bag to carry items, a beach towel to lay in, a mat to work out on, when hiking to keep me cool, keep me warm on a chilly nights)
Sunglasses
MAKEUP
I recommend you take what you are comfortable with. I kept it simple & took the basics:
Face moisturizer, foundation, concealer, highlighter, blush, small eyeshadow palette, mascara, black liquid eyeliner, chapstick, lipsticks (I use different colors to accessorize outfits, I also mix colors to create new ones.), face wipes bar soap for face (I found all natural made bar soap which took up less space)
Dr. Jarts SPF 45 (I can’t live with out this specially since it has a high SPF. I highly recommend!)
Neutrogena Healthy Defense Moisturizer SPF 50 (I always have a very hard time finding SPF for face since they are always greasy and make me break out. This was recommended by my dermatologist and fell in love with the product.)
OTHER ITEMS
Hair brush
Boddy pins
Hair Ties
Diva Cup (this changed my life! It also helped me save money and space.)
RICKY'S LONG TERM TRAVEL PACKING LIST 2.0
For once, I think I knew what girls go through on a daily basis! 🤷🏼♀️
CLOTHING
Keep your colors neutral
7-8 t-shirts
4-6 tank tops
4-5 shorts
1 sports shorts
2 jeans
1 sweater
8-10 pairs of underwear (you never know when you won’t have a washing machine handy)
8 pairs of socks
2 swim trunks
1 Bass Lightweight Jacket (Awesome for chilly weather)
SHOES
Bring comfortable shoes!
Air Jordan Eclipse Off Court Shoes
Under Armour Walking Shoes (Had to replace with Nike Athletic Shoes)
Flip Flops (I hated them at first, but now I wore them a lot)
Aldo casual wear shoes (I use these to go out and wear them with jeans and a casual look with shorts) I decided to leave these behind once we headed to Asia. People don’t really dress up to go out. They were sneakers and flip flops to the bars.
Aldo Espadrilles Shoes (This became my daily flip flops once the others ripped)
OTHER MUST HAVE'S
Hair Clippers and Trimmer (I purchased the WAHL Cordless Designer hair clipper which operates in 110V and 220V. Very convenient for all the countries we have visited. The trimmer is the WAHL G-Whiz and it is battery operated for convenience.)
3 spare AA Batteries
Sunglasses
OTHER ITEMS WE BOTH USED
Packing Cubes (a must to keep you organized and help everything fit!)
Make sure to roll up your clothes for more space!
Refillable & Foldable Water Bottle (save money and contribute to keeping Earth green)
Microfiber Traveling Towel & Face/Hand Towel - Ricky Bigger Size (replaced our loofah with the face/hand towel)
Microfiber Traveling Towel & Face/Hand Towel - Lorena Smaller Size (replaced our loofah with the face/hand towel)
Carabiner Clips (they will have various uses on your travels)
Vitamins (to stay healthy through out your travels)
Emergen-C (not easily found everywhere but helps when you are feeling weak or starting to get sick)
ZZZQuil (for those nights when you can’t fall asleep)
Dramamine (for motion sickness)
Laundry Detergent Pods (A 32 pod pk lasts us for months. This was only useful in Europe, Asia and Latin America has laundry services)
ELECTRONICS
Travel Adapter (one of the best adapters out there! We've used it in all the countries we've been in and it’s lasted 19 months and still going strong)
GoPro Stick
128GB Memory Card
Portable External Hard Drive (helps store all your pictures)
MacBook Air
Iphones
TOILETRIES
Toothbrush
Toothpaste
Dental Floss
Cotton Ear Swabs
2 sun tan lotion bottles (very expensive in other countries)
2 Bug Spray OFF! (very expensive outside the U.S.)
8 razors (for both of us)
3oz bottles from Target for shampoo, conditioner, body wash, lotion. (Our favorites because they never spill. We place a small piece of plastic bag under the bottle cap to help avoid spills. We wrap the bottles in a plastic ziplock bag and an additional plastic bag just in case.)
WHERE DID ALL OF THIS FIT?
I am sure you are asking yourself were in the world did all this fit?! After much research, we bought an Osprey Farpoint 55 with an attached daypack. Believe it or not, everything fits perfectly! Best of all, almost all European Low Cost Airlines allowed us to use it as a carry on, so the bags traveled for free saving us tons of money! Make sure you get fitted at an REI or outdoors store for the right size to ensure comfort. We bought it on Amazon and saved ourselves $30-40 off from the regular price at stores. Click link above to purchase on Amazon.
HOW DID WE PACK?
You might have to pack and unpack a few times until you get the hang of how you can best fit all your things in the bag.
Sending a box full of clothes back home after the first stop.
Packing cubes were of huge help with organizing and making sure our clothes would fit. (below you can see the small and medium sized packing cubes)
Roll your clothes, don't fold. We tightly rolled our clothes to make more fit.
Fill every space you have. We filled our shoes with socks, underwear, etc.
Bring Ziplock or plastic bags. They are very useful with just about anything!
Don't overpack! You don't want to be like us sending a box home after our first stop realizing we had packed way too much.
We pack all of our valuables in the daypack and always carry this in front of us and the big backpack on our backs. This helps distribute the weight and makes it easier on your back. Our bags weighted no more than 12-14kg (26-30lbs).
Leave your bulky items at home.
We leave you with one last tip....make sure to do your homework and prepare for the weather you will experience. We went from chilly London to dammm hot Ibiza! We hope our lists help you or at least give you a good start on how to best prepare for your trip.
We want to know!
Do you have any other tips or tricks for packing we might have missed?
Comment below!
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