8 Month, 8 Countries Packing List

After a wonderful and relaxing holidays spent with Mia’s family in New York, we’re headed back to Colorado (briefly) to pack up our lives again and hit the road.  We are headed to Washington for a couple weeks of house sitting in Winthrop (more on this in a future post). Then we’re headed back to…… Bali! Mia has an incredible opportunity to do a month long intensive training to bridge to her RYT500 hour yoga teacher certification so we will be taking a mid winter break by going back to the Yoga Barn in Ubud.  Here we go again!

After some fun conversations with friends over the holidays and lots of questions, we’ve decided to revisit our packing list and share a few things we’ve learned in the past eight months.

Here is our general packing list for living out of our backpacks:

Baretrax 8 months, 8 countries, 8 climates packing list:

Clothing

  • Hardshell jacket/ rain jacket

  • Rain pants

  • Puffy jacket

  • Puffy vest

  • Fleece or ¼ zip

  • Base layer

  • Sun Hoody (Larry loved this to prevent sunburn and bug bites)

  • Shirts (3)

  • Softshell hiking pants

  • Shorts 

  • Dress (Mia enjoyed the versatility- great for getting fancy or hot days at the beach)

  • Swimsuit

  • Underwear (5)

  • Socks (5)

  • Long underwear/ tights

Clothing Accessories 

  • Hats - beanie and baseball hat

  • Buff - doubles as a headband

  • Light gloves (for the bugs and the cold)

Shoes

  • Hiking shoes

  • Hanging out shoes - toms

  • Adventure shoes - Chacos

  • Running shoes - if you’re in to that (Mia loves Earthrunners running sandals) 

  • Flip flops or shower shoes 

Accessories

  • Waterproof bag for important documents

  • Sunglasses

  • Outlet adaptors (we bought these when we got to most countries)

  • Cash (convert ahead of time if possible)

  • Credit cards

  • Insurance cards

  • License

  • Passport

  • Packing cubes (Mia swears by these to organize gear/clothes)

  • Glasses/contacts if you’re vision challenged like Mia

  • Charging block (Nice for days hiking and long travel days between places to stay)

Gear

  • 40-60L pack - depending on if you’re trying to carry on

  • Waterproof pack cover

  • Collapsible day pack

  • Hiking poles - if big hikes are in your plans

  • Camera

  • Phone/Computer and chargers

  • Map/compass (Mostly used our phones for maps- make sure to download your offline maps ahead of time!) 

  • Yoga mat - if that’s your thing - Mia uses Manduka eKO yoga mat

  • Sleeping bag

  • Sleeping bag liner/ travel sheet

  • Water filter (We used the Sawyer Squeeze- bring extra bags.  The ones it comes with aren’t the most durable.)

  • Steripen (Bonus: Pick up some rechargeable AA’s to power it)

  • Water bottle

  • Head lamp (We really liked the rechargeable Black Diamond Revolt)

  • First Aid Kit/ Medications

    • Customize it but keep it simple.  For medications we had the basics… Advil, Benadryl, Imodium and a couple doses of antibiotics for if our guts needed a complete reset.  Tweezers came in handy. Medical tape found many uses. Mia has become a big fan of After Bite. 

  • Small Repair Kit (Duct Tape always comes in handy- wrap some around a pill bottle.  Bring a needle and thread for basic sewing repairs. It could have saved Larry from trekking for two weeks with a blown out crotch in Nepal.)

  • Travel Tupperware/bowl

  • Spork

Toiletries

  • Mini versions of your favorites - lots of countries won’t have what you’re used to

  • Toothbrush/toothpaste

  • Deodorant (this was hard to find)

  • Sunscreen (very expensive in other countries)

  • Lunette cup/reusable pads for the ladies 

  • Medicine/vitamins 

  • Razor

  • Nail clippers

  • Essential oils (we used tea-tree and lemon for bug bites and to make our clothes smell nicer!)

  • Toilet Paper/ Hand Sanitizer- (Take this everywhere! TP wasn’t a thing many of the places we visited)

  • Travel Towel (Microfiber towel… works well enough and very packable or a sarong for the ladies - it can double as a dress, shirt, or skirt too!)

Entertainment

  • Music/ headphones

  • Book

  • Journal/ Pens 

  • Snacks… (Never get separated from your snacks, your water bottle or your TP) 

  • Coloring books or drawing things if you’re into that - Mia loved her travel watercolor kit

...Fit it all in a backpack…

Extras...

  • Sleeping bag/ sleeping pad- We had sleeping bags for our trek in Nepal. Soooo glad we had them for the cold nights.  We rarely used them after that and they took up a lot of space in our packs.  

  • Reusable grocery bag- super useful as a makeshift carry on and for saving on single use bags when getting groceries

  • Meal kit- small pan, utensil, mug, reusable straw… 

  • Heavy Duty Trash Bags- great as a pack liner, rain cover, dry place to sit, door gap bug blocker… add a couple to your pack with the duct tape

  • Travel Insurance (We used it when the airlines went through our bags and lost one of Mia’s Chacos.  Some credit cards have some awesome travel benefits that are worth looking into) 

Other Things We Brought… For Some Reason…

  • A Guitar- It was fun. Then it broke.  Bring a harmonica instead

  • A laptop- It helped us stay productive but it was a lot to carry.

  • A tent- we had a tent for part of our trip.  It was great when we used it. A lot to carry the rest of the time.  We will consider renting a tent/ sleeping bags/ other bulky gear when we need it on future trips.

Our packing list is always adapting and we’re getting better each time we travel. Download a printable version of this packing list here.

Happy Travels!

Larry Lacerte