What to take with you on a trip: a backpack for traveling, a list of necessary things on a trip

Our heroes have traveled halfway around the world with one backpack. Over the years of traveling, they have accumulated a lot of useful lifehacks, which they are ready to share with you. Experienced travelers tell us how to fit the vastness and pack all the things correctly.

Inhoudsopgave

How to properly pack a backpack and what to take with you?

Olga Narinskaya

experienced traveler

My rules for packing a backpack are very simple: first, take with me what I really can not do without on the road. Secondly, from interchangeable things, choose those that are the least in weight and volume. When the backpack is almost assembled, I advise you to once again make sure that there is nothing unnecessary in it.

The most important thing to remember to take with you, according to Olga, is:

money (card and cash) and documents;
a minimum set of gadgets (for example, a phone and a tablet, or a smartphone and a spare button phone, or a smartphone and a camera);
chargers, adapters and spare batteries;
comfortable non-marking change of clothes: spare jeans, a couple or three T-shirts, universal flip-flops, which can be worn in the hotel, and on the beach, and on a walk around the city in hot weather.

And to be sure not to make a mistake with the choice of things, we recommend to determine the number of days of stay on vacation. In the material below calculated the ideal number.

Continuation of the list:

personal hygiene items – it is better to take them in special “travel” packaging (shampoos of 100 ml or in single sachets, toothpaste in mini-tubes of 5-25 g, etc.);
ideally take with you a universal product that replaces both shower gel and shampoo, without the need for conditioner;
all containers with liquids and creams additionally wrap in a plastic bag, so that in case of leakage they do not stain anything.

Olga: A personal first aid kit may come in handy when traveling, but you should not pack all the available medicines in it. I usually take only what may be needed urgently: painkillers, antihistamine (in case of insect bites), plasters and antiseptic in a compact marker. You also need individual medications that you use regularly. I, for example, take more nose drops, as they help me to reduce the pain in my ears when landing an airplane, and migraine pills, which are difficult to buy on the way.

Our other hero – Roman – always takes a small snack with him: nuts, dried fruit, fruit. But he takes few things and packs them in separate bags – for clean laundry and for dirty. Usually it is three or four pairs of socks and underwear, a few T-shirts, a baseball cap (from sun and rain), sports pants in case he wants to run or train. In addition to his passport, he takes his driver’s license with him so that he can always leave the country.

Roman Fedosov

psychologist, business coach, experienced traveler, has visited 27 countries.

I am always guided by the fact that a light thing is always cooler than any other. The lighter, the better. For example, my laptop weighs about 900g. It is always with me, and, of course, its charger. From the equipment I have with me my phone, chargers, watch and a powerbank for 20k amperes (you can charge your phone four times) – the heaviest thing in my backpack, but necessary. I recently got a cosmetic bag, which has proven to be very handy. In it I keep manicure scissors, razor, soap, toothbrush (although hotels usually give disposable ones if you ask), deodorant, perfume (I’m a romantic), antiseptic and wet wipes. These things are useful for everyone.

Roman: I always have disposable things from hotels like shampoos, shower gels, tea in my backpack too. But what if the next hotel doesn’t have tea? Or the shower gel runs out? Sometimes I take slippers from hotels – they are lightweight and comfortable to walk in. I also keep disposable forks and spoons. You don’t have to cook or go to a cafe – you can buy something in the supermarket and eat it on the go. If something happens on the road or there’s a short break, you can always have a refreshment. It’s fun to sit on a beach in the Mediterranean and eat an apple from home.

Useful Lifehacks

From Roman

Buy a thermal mug. This is a godsend from last year. It’s very convenient to have a mug and tea with you – you can always ask for boiling water in any cafeteria for free. Voila! You are drinking not the dust of Indian roads, but a lovely rich floral and herbal flavored drink from the Celestial Empire.

Leave your backpack in your room. My backpack weighs about 6 kg, which is quite a lot. It’s not easy to walk around with it all day. That’s why I usually drop the main things in the hotel or in the apartment and go for a walk further with a lighter version of the same backpack. Many travelers carry several bags with them.

From Olga

Throw away the packaging from medications. I choose a minimal prepackaging and throw away all the extra boxes, instructions and other packaging. This allows you to significantly reduce the amount of space they take up, and sometimes even combine the “medicine cabinet” with a cosmetic bag.

Put small things in the middle pocket. Small things that you need to get often or quickly (phone charger, map, wet wipes) is most convenient to put in the middle outer pocket of the backpack, if there is one, or in the main compartment on the very top.

Less essential items should be stowed at the bottom. When stacking essentials in the backpack, I leave the last thing I need at the very bottom (for example, spare jeans). Then the heavy items. Light clothing can be stowed last in the remaining free space. I put documents and money in a separate small pocket.

Leave some free space. The main thing – try not to fill the backpack “under the strain”, leaving a free space in it. It will definitely come in handy for a bottle of water bought on the road, a sweatshirt taken off or a favorite souvenir.

Take a road map. I always try to take a detailed paper map of the highways of the country or part of the world I’m traveling to. But for tourists who prefer public transportation, it is not necessary.

Take only the essentials. Do not forget about the probability of losing your luggage on the trip or not getting it in time at the destination airport (and this happens very often). In the last “pre-travel” year of 2019, 25 million suitcases were lost worldwide.

Imagine if that luggage happens to contain something crucially needed to continue traveling. Such a loss could make your life very difficult or ruin your travel experience. If there’s nothing in there that you need, why bring it all with you at all?