The Write Way Around: Traveling Tales

One of the many questions I am usually asked by friends and family back home is how I go about packing my life into a backpack, especially when I do not know exactly what I am packing for.

I still do not consider myself the best packer of all time, but because I am traveling solo straight from the start, I knew I had to have my bases covered.

My backpack is a 60Litre Osprey Wayfarer backpack that I am in love with because unlike the toploaders, which many backpackers use and curse themselves for, my bag unzips all the way around. People traveling with a toploader basically need to dump everything out their backpack to reach anything that is not directly at the top of their bag.

Additionally, my bag has to side zipper pockets with outside access to them where I keep chargers and other loose items. There are also two zipper compartments on the inside of top flap where I keep my underwear, swimmers and bras. It makes it 8 million more times easier to be organised.

I also carry around a day pack, which I wear in front of me sort of like those baby bjorn things. My dayback is just 15Litres and the bag I never want to leave my sight. This would be life-threatening if I lost it.

What’s in my daypack?

• My Canon DSLR camera
• Canon Zoom Lens
• My MacBook
• My money wallet containing my important documents
• Spare deodorant
• Playing cards
• My wallet
• My journal
• Face wipes/antibacterial wipes

My big backpack bag currently weighs w heavy 14 kilograms, and I reckon that I will knock off at least one kilo as I eat all the food I have packed in it.

New Zealand was a tricky one, because unlike Asia where I traveled around in the sweltering heat for 10 months, I knew that the temperatures would drop in NZ and I would need warm weather clothes, which take up the most space.

What’s in my backpack?

• One long sleeve shirt
• Two short sleeve shirts
• Two jumpers/sweatshirts
• Two tank tops
• One “going out” shirt, which is literally just a black tank top that has a high-ish neckline and cost me 15$ from Supre in Sydney.

• Two running shorts for climbs/hikes/outdoor activities
• Two pairs of jean shorts
• One pair of 3/4 leggings
• One pair of Underarmour long pants
• One pair of pajama shorts

• Six pairs of socks
• Two sets of swimmers
• Underwear, bandeau tops, one real bra

• Thick scarf and a beanie for glacier climbing in NZ
• Three packing cubes to organise loose-end necessities
• Camera related electronics and lens-cleaning supplies
• Scuba diving mask
• Food: granola bars, granola, noodles, peanut butter
• A cross-body bag with a turn-lock closure
• A hard drive for storing photos and USB sticks for extra back-up
• An extra journal
• Quick-dry travel towel
• Rain cover for my big backpack
• A pair of trainers (which I usually am always wearing)
• A pair of thongs (too cold in NZ at the moment to wear them early in the morning or late at night)

   

 

 

Clothes never take priority in my opinion, because you can buy most anything you need as you travel.

Instead, first aid supplies, personal items, cosmetics and medicines to me are the most important, because those are things you can not always find. I learned my lesson when I was trying to find tampons in the Yunnan province of China.

This time around, I bought some one set of three packing cubes from Kathmandu, an outdoors store, for $30 to help me stay a little more organised.

So far, I am obsessed with them and the ease they are bringing my life. One packing cube is strictly shower-related things (I am trying out solid shampoo and body wash that I found in Kathmandu for ten dollars), another is for medicines and other female-necessities and the last contains things like contacts, nail clippers and polish and the little bit of make-up I have brought with me – mascara, eyeliner and my bronzer (I hope I do not lose my bronzer because it is brand new.)

For the most part, I did okay, but I do have some packing regrets – mainly that I did not pack properly for cold weather.

• Warmer pants. Every morning so far when we have woken up, I have silently cried and died inside when I reach in to my bag and pulled out a pair of 3/4 leggings. I do wish I had packed some warmer pants because right now I am bloody freezing come morning.
• Jeans. Again, I came from Asia and wearing jeans was not on anyone’s radar. Even my backpacking trip around Europe in the summer time meant no jeans, but everyone and their mother in New Zealand has a pair of jeans. Good for going out to the pub at night.
• Jacket. I wish I had invested in a wind jacket, and I am still contemplating buying one. At first I saw it as pointless, as I planned to head to Indonesia after finishing up here in NZ, but I will be hiking in Indo and I think it is a good investment for future travels. We will see how I feel come Queenstown

Other than that, I am relatively proud of the way that I packed and fit everything in to my bag. I packed and re-packed 800 times, gradually downsizing to what I currently have with me. I know that there are things I want to chuck away, and at the end of my NZ trip I will toss away or try to donate some of my clothes (long sleeve shirt, a jumper, leggings, scarf, etc.), but for now since I am traveling via bus each day, it really is not terrible to have my bag weigh the amount that it does.

What do you think? How do you think you would go backpacking a backpack for an unpredictable amount of time?