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September is the backpackers month on TFG and we’re going to take a look at the different items a traveler might need when planning long term travel.
How to Pack for Long Term Travel
If you’re going on a RTW trip you probably be visiting the top destinations around the world and want to participate in a range of activities. For indefinite travelers, you may never know where the wind might take you.
No matter what your plans, one thing is for sure: you have to be prepared for everything.
How I Pack for Indefinite Travel
I’ve been traveling for over 6.5 years. In 2010 I took a 9 month round the world trip and since July of 2011 I’ve been an indefinite traveler. Packing for both types of travel has some similarities, but the main difference is knowledge of planned activities
On a RTW trip you have a planned itinerary. You know what countries you will go to in advance and can thus plan accordingly. Follow the tips featured in this post on traveling for a long time.
For indefinite travel packing is more challenging. You may just book a one way ticket and have no idea where you’ll be going after. You may be tempted to pack numerous “just in case items” and end up over packing.
This happened to me the first time around.
Cancun was my first destination in my new life as a permanent nomad and I packed 18 painful kilos of useless junk. I packed too much of the wrong everything completely clueless about a packing strategy.
Choose a Packing Strategy
To avoid this from happening to you, make a packing strategy
- Pack one outfit for every occasion
- Pack as if you’re going a RTW trip
- Pack for your interests
Pack One Outfit for Every Occasion
Using the principles to create a capsule wardrobe, plan to mix and match a variety of clothing, but focus on creating one outfit for every occasion:
- One outfit for Trekking
- One outfit for Sightseeing
- One outfit for Visiting Religious Sites/Museums
- One Outfit for Going Out
- One outfit to travel in/work out
Pack as if You’re Going on a RTW Trip
Use this RTW packing list to help guide you in creating a capsule wardrobe of clothing you can mix and match. This set should be about half for warm weather and half for cold weather.
Follow the principles featured in this packing video and keep in mind that all your clothing should be versatile and suitable enough to be worn in various scenarios.
Pack for Your Interests
Now that I’ve been traveling indefinitely for over 3 years, I’ve adopted this packing strategy. I pack for my interests, which are beaches and scuba diving.
This strategy helps me streamline what I pack and I just buy any items I need along the way.
You may not know your destination but you do know what you like to do:
- Volunteering
- Active Travel (trekking)
- Water Sports
- Nightlife
- Culture and Museums
- Study/Work Abroad
If you like doing all of the above, then use the RTW packing list as your guide.
Packing List for Indefinite Travel
I use the Maximista Packing List to help guide me in my packing and find that it’s way more than enough clothing.
I ditch things along the way if needed and buy new things when I get tired of wearing the same items.
Stay tuned when I reveal my personal packing list for indefinite travel.
Final Packing Principles
No matter which of the above packing strategies you choose, remember these principles:
- Pack 2-3 warm jackets/sweaters you can layer over all your clothing.
- Know that you might have to buy things along the way.
- Pack a set of comfortable clothing for travel days.
- Try to pack shoes that match with all your clothing.
- Be prepared to make mistakes, but learn and adjust as you go.
For more tips and ideas on long term travel packing, please read the following:
- Long Term Travel Tips: Transitioning from Hot to Cold Weather
- What Travel Shoes Should I pack for a Round-The-World Trip?
- Packing List for RTW Trip: 5 Steps to Choosing Toiletries
Hi! Thank you for the article. Your website is definitely informative for me. My husband and twin 11 year olds will be spending the summer in Europe next year! I am so excited I can hardly stand it and am already looking into ways to prepare! I went to Austria, Switzerland, Italy and a little Germany last month with a tour group and fell in love with those countries! Especially Austria! So…Austria will be our base this next summer but we will also be visiting England for 7-10 days and Norway for about two weeks and taking many day long, or several day long trips to other neighboring countries. I love to buy European clothes. I love their styles! So I am trying to figure out how to pack, knowing that I will buy things while I am there, clothes, shoes, etc. Should I pack about 7-10 days worth of clothes and mix/match as you suggest and buy what I want to add to it, or less? I know for Norway I will need warmer clothes for sure, we will be visiting Nordkapp, the furthest north point of Norway! Thankfully though I think we will leave that as our last destination before returning to the states in August. I would love your input! Thank you!
Hey! Great post! I found this very interesting and really helpful. However, I’m wondering why and how you travel so much? It actually sounds pretty great! What are the pros and cons of that kind of life?
Hi Elizabeth! Thanks for your comment!
I started traveling in 2008 and I fell in love with travel. After a while it just sort of became my way of living and I never went back to a “regular” life back at home. It’s like an alternate reality and not very easy to readapt to the previous way of life.
The pros are the freedom to LIVE and experience the most of your life which for me is the ultimate pro. The cons are not having the ability to maintain friendships as easily due to constantly moving around; missing the comforts of having a “home”; and missing loved ones.
Do you have any other questions? Thanks for asking 🙂
Hi, love this website and all the articles. I was wondering which pack you used for your round the world trip? I can see its an osprey and I think it says 55L on it? Could you confirm this for me? Do you recommend this pack? Thanks!
Hi Diane, I used an Aura for my RTW but recommend the Farpoint featured here: https://travelfashiongirl.com/farpoint-osprey-packs-the-best-travel-backpacks/ Thanks!
Thanks for laying all this out!! I love traveling, hate packing lol I will put it off and put it off as long as I can! I’m also not really a fan of unpacking either. But I guess there’s not any way you can help me with that, now is there? 😀
Unpacking is definitely no fun but it does start with a trip to the washing machine 🙂
Hi Alex! I love your website, it has helped me a lot towards becoming a lighter packer! Unfortunately so far I´ve made so many mistakes with overpacking… But after finding your tips, I have really high hopes for my next trips! 😉
Anyway, the question that came up to me after this post is: you said you´ve been traveling non-stop for the last few years. But it seems that you own a lot more “stuff” than what it´s in your backpack (I say this because you´ve shown so many examples of what to pack, and each time is a different set of clothes). Is this true? If yes, where do you keep your “other stuff” when you´re not actually on the road? Or I´m mistaken, and you carry all your bellongings with you at all times?
I remember reading recently that you´ll “settle” somewhere for the next few months. In this case, do you stick to your tips on this post? Or do you allow yourself to grow a larger wardrobe and ditch some items the next time you move on?
Thanks so much for all your tips, and keep inspiring us to be lighter travelers! =)
Hi Nina, good question. I am constantly buying new things and replacing items. Since I’m on the road as a lifestyle I get bored with my things easily. Also, my home town is Los Angeles so it’s the perfect stop over for trips between Asia and Central America.
My boyfriend’s home town is in England so whenever we pass through these places temporarily we replenish our gear and store our old items if possible. I usually replenish my clothing per region. For example, if our travels take us to Central America I buy a new wardrobe (or mostly new wardrobe).
If we go to Asia I buy a different one. Generally it seems we spend our time between 2-3 “regions” per year so I buy new wardrobes only 2-3 times per year. It may seem like a lot but I could buy this many clothes a few times a month when I had my regular life before 😉
These posts also talks about it a bit more:
https://travelfashiongirl.com/long-term-travel-tips-transitioning-from-hot-to-cold-weather/
https://travelfashiongirl.com/packing-tips-and-travel-clothing-for-multi-season-trips/
https://travelfashiongirl.com/how-to-pack-for-multi-season-trips-based-on-your-travel-itinerary/
I think I’ll create a new post just on this topic. It’s a good point 🙂 Hope this helps!
Great post and so relevant to my travel plans. My upcoming trip next year will see me volunteering in Sierra Leone, living and training in Montreal for a few months, city hoping the USA with my partner as he seeks hip hop collaborations, exploring cuba, then living in the UK with family and seeing some of Europe from there. Being a super varied trip I was worried I would struggle sticking to even the maximista capsule, but after reading your blog for the last two months I am super determined to stick to it. Thanks for working so hard on this blog that we always have something new to read every day. I really appreciate it 🙂
Thanks Bonnie! Don’t worry you’ll do just fine. It always works out. I hope you have a great trip 🙂