Jack & Cari’s packing list

 

Very Useful Items

• pocketknife with corkscrew – We didn’t have a corkscrew on our Swiss army knife and so we had to buy a bulky one in France.  We also ended up buying small scissors, so I suggest a knife with those as well.
• collapsible water bottle – These are great because they take next to no space when they’re empty and less and less space as you drink the water.
• sun sleeves or sun gloves – Not everyone shares my penchant for staying out of the sun, but these are handy and a good use of space compared to long sleeved shirts.
• spork – Spend the money to get the titanium version rather than the plastic version which can easily break.  This was key for eating grocery store yogurt throughout our trip.
• eReader – They are compact and essential! You can catch up on your Project Gutenberg classics.
• packing cubes – Even with the packing cubes, our stuff often ended up in a pile, but at least it was a slightly organized pile with the clean(ish) clothes separated from the dirty ones.
• good pants – In six months with a small wardrobe it’s amazing how fast things will wear out.  Between the two of us, the only pants that made it through the whole trip were Jack’s expensive North Face zip-off pants.  They were worth every cent!
• small daypack or bag – I used a Baggu backpack and Jack used a Baggu shopping sack.  They held up really well and pack down to a miniscule volume.
• sliced up guidebook – We bought a Rick Steve’s Europe book, which had about 20-40 pages for various major places in Europe. For planning the trip, you might want more detail, but once you’re actually at your destination this is about the right amount of information. We sliced the book into relevant sections (Paris, Florence, Vienna and Rome), taped the spines and then threw them away after we used them. They were very useful and compact and Rick Steve’s is the way to go for Europe, I think.
• difficult to find cosmetics – Toothpaste and shampoo are easy to find, but I’m picky about sunscreen.  In Costa Rica a few years ago, it was impossible to find proper chap stick (with SPF 15) rather than lipstick.
• metal water bottles – These were great gifts from a few years ago which are bulletproof.  They had the added benefit of working as hot water bottles when we were cold.
• Water purification – We got some sort of silver ion drops in Vienna, but they’re labeled in German so I’m not sure what they are.  We used then in parts of Morocco and other places where we didn’t trust the water.  Having something like this is good for peace of mind.
• the right backpack – Ours were by Prana and they were 42 liters, 2 lbs. 5 oz., and 25 x 15 x 11 inches with a good flat laptop compartment next to the back.  When they were packed they were between 22 and 27 lbs. (10 and 12 kilos).  I liked that they were easier to pack than real backpacking packs.  They’ve held up well and they have the advantage of being dirt colored.
  

Probably Useful, but Underused

We recommend bringing these items, because when you need them, you really need them.

• silk sleep sacks – We used ours at three wwoof farms and our first catastrophic couch surfing night, but not at any hostels or hotels.  I think it depends on where you go.
• back pack rain cover – we only used ours twice in the whole trip, but I think we were really lucky with the weather.
• medicine – It was tough to plan the Asia portion of the trip 6 months ahead of time so we ended up with more malaria medicine than we needed.  A lot of people skip travel medicine, but that’s not my M.O.
• international driver’s permit – These were 15 USD plus a passport sized photo from AAA.  We ended up not driving, but I think they’re a good idea, especially if you don’t speak the language of the country you’re driving in.

Often Recommended, but Not So Great

• sink plug – We didn’t bring one and we found that most places had a drain plug or a bucket and even without one you can still wash your clothes.
• travel towels – I was previously a fan of travel towels, which are really absorbent and fairly quick-drying, however, I no longer think they’re the right thing for a long trip.  A reasonably sized one won’t be big enough to cover you up, so you’ll still have to wear clothes to the shower in a hostel and, most importantly, the synthetic material starts to stink.  For example, after swimming in the Dead Sea, both of our towels stunk for weeks until we got to our next washing machine, because hand washing just won’t get rid of the odor.  I think I’d go with a small cotton hand towel and an extra bandana if I were to do it again.
• quick-drying (ExOfficio) underwear and socks – These are popular items on packing lists, but we have some harsh reviews.  They are certainly durable, but like the travel towels, they smell worse than cotton and we got sick of wearing them.  The reality of a trip like this is re-wearing socks so it’s a big deal that these smell more and earlier than plain cotton.  As far as the quick-drying part goes, I’m not impressed.  I think cotton boxers dry faster and slightly thicker cotton dries only marginally slower.  We both traveled with four pair of underwear and so we could usually allow a full 24 hours for it to dry, which is necessary for all materials unless you have wind and sunlight.  In rainy cold weather (like we had in Jerusalem) NOTHING will dry, including the quick drying ExOfficio stuff.