We’re finally on the road! After almost three years of staring longingly at other RTW trippers post photos of themselves posing with their backpacks, we’re doing it for ourselves. So we thought we’d put together a packing list for the blog – yes, it’s a travel blogger cliché, but one that we rather like.

Admittedly, we’re both backpacking for the first time, so I’m sure we’ve brought way too much with us (this was confirmed when we first tried our loaded packs on – aouch), but we’re learning (which means ditching as much as possible along the way).

Gimp 1

Gimp 2

We both bought ourselves the Osprey Farpoint 70 Travel Backpack, Charcoal Gray, Small/Medium, which comes with a detachable daypack and cost us £120 each from Blacks in the UK. Our priority was to have a panel loading pack – what that means is that instead of traditional backpacks that are top loading, this one unzips much like a suitcase so you can access your clothes a lot easier. When you need something that’s at the bottom of a top loading pack, you have to pull everything out in order to get to it – nightmare!

We also bought packing cubes from Muji in Dubai Mall. When you’re going to be living out of a backpack for the foreseeable future, it’s important to have some sort of organisation otherwise you’ll go mad. Well, I will anyway; usually after six days of living out of a suitcase I go a little crazy because I can never find anything, so I just had to buy these to maintain some order (and sanity).

I got myself two medium ones that have two compartments each. In one I have all my tops in one side and all my bottoms and a dress in the other side. In the second one I have all my underwear and a bikini, while in the other side I put my dirty laundry. Genius! I’m also using a small one for all my toiletries, as well as an even smaller one for all my electronic wires, as they can get all messy and easily lost if you don’t keep them in one place.

The Farpoint 70L is like a suitcase that you can wear like a backpack

Ankit got himself two large ones – one for his tops and the other for his bottoms, one small one for his electronic cables, and one for his toiletries. He’s also using the large one that I didn’t need as his ‘laundry basket.’

I’m happy to say that after just six days of being on the road, we’re SO glad we got these. They help you to keep things super organised and tidy. We highly recommend them to anyone who’s travelling, whether that be long-term or just a short trip.

So, what else is in these backpacks of ours? Let’s take a look.

His

Tops

4 tank tops

5 t-shirts

4 polo neck shirts

1 light zip-up top

Ankit’s bottoms

Bottoms

2 shorts

1 pair of jeans

3 tracksuit bottoms

Other clothing

10 underwear

4 pairs of socks

Shoes

1 pair of loafers

1 pair of trainers

1 pair of flip-flops

Ankit’s smelly shoes

Toiletries

Deodorant

1 Lush shampoo bar

Toothbrush

Aftershave

Toothpaste

Razor and beard trimmer

Ankit’s trimmers

Other miscellaneous

Starbucks traveller coffee mug

Velbon DF40 tripod

Electronics

Macbook Pro 13”

Nikon D90 camera

50mm 1.8g Nikkor lens

70-300mm Nikkor lens

18-105mm Nikkor lens

Nokia Lumnia 1520

iPhone 4s

Travel adaptor (we both use this)

Travel chargers

Bose headphones

2TB external hard drive

Loads of chargers and cables

Sea to Summit dry bag

Ankit’s dry bag

Hers

Tops

5 tank tops

3 short sleeved t-shirts

1 black hoodie for when it gets chilly and for travelling on buses, planes etc

Andrea’s tops

Bottoms

One long black comfortable trackie bottoms

Two pairs of shorts

Two pairs of ‘hippie’ trousers (good Lord, I hate that term)

Two light, long skirts

Other clothing

A plain black dress for when I want to be slightly dressier

One bikini

Two colourful scarves

10 pairs of underwear

2 black bras (one of which is falling apart and I plan to throw away very soon)

1 nude bra

1 sports bra

Andrea’s bottoms

Shoes

One pair of flip-flops

Trainers

One pair of sandals

Andrea’s shoes

Toiletries

Shampoo and conditioner

Veet

Deodorant

Nivea SPF 30 sunscreen

Loads of hair grips and bands

Elastic Alice bands from H&M to put my hair back in funky styles

Toothbrush

Soap and Glory Scrub of Your Life exfoliator

Face wash

Razor

Boots nail polish remover pads

Rosehip oil

Tweezers

Andrea’s many toiletries

Makeup/beauty

Clinique superbalanced makeup

Clinique high lengths mascara

Black eyeliner

Face powder

Juicy tubes lip gloss

Eyeliner

Emery boards

Miniature Chanel perfume samples (perfect for sprucing myself up on the go)

3 pairs of earrings and 2 chunky necklaces

Andrea’s makeup bag

Other miscellaneous

Packing cubes from Muji

One extra large travel towel

Two journals

Incense sticks for when I want to make a room feel homely

Hair straighteners (quickly realising that these are pointless and I plan to ditch them in Cyprus later this year)

Sea to Summit dry bag

Electronics

13″ Macbook Pro

Nikon D60 camera and 18-55mm lens

Kindle Paperwhite

LG G2 phone

1TB external hard drive

Sony headphones

Loads of different cables and chargers

Andrea’s electronics

First aid/meds (we share these)

Andrea’s iron and vitamin D tablets

After bite medication

Antiseptic cream

Activated charcoal tablets

DEET insect repellant

Eno for the stomach

Boots effervescent powder for stomach and headaches

Migraine tablets

Anti-histamines

Just some of our first aid items

So, that’s all! This packing list is appropriate for Southeast Asia, as the weather is generally warm. When we visit India in a couple of months, I imagine we’re both going to have to add a few warmer items to this.

What do you think of our packing lists? And what’s in your backpack? Any tips for us for future reference?