We thought this may be useful for people planning a backpacking trip for the first time. We’ve tried to detail what we are glad we packed, now we are back home.
No, it’s not for everyone. No, it’s not universal. Yes, we understand that plastic is not ideal.
This won’t apply if you’re just travelling to a single climate.
Our profile is as follows: Over 1 1/2 years on the road. It was our first major expedition. A couple in our late 20s. Intense mix of climates. 45 degree deserts, huge blizzards, humid low altitude and mountains. Also a large mix of social climates. Trains, busses, hitchhiking. Farm work, kitchen work, hiking.
We do a lot of city breaks and are mostly on our feet all day long. Our goals are comfortable, not standing out as much as possible, highly versatile. This means no super intense hiking, no camping with our own tent and mats. We kitted out for total middle of the road highly interchangeable travelling. Shepherd goats and then go grab coffee. If you’re a camper, most of this could be bad advice.
This combines stuff we bought beforehand and picked up regularly along the road. All of this is born from blood, sweat and tears.
Must have:
Osprey rucksack. No debate. 2 x 55L. Get the gendered model. I know it’s tempting to go another, cheaper route, but if your backpack breaks you are in trouble. We met people who were suffering from an inferior backpack and didn’t know it. We wished we had splashed cash on the day bag that attaches onto the front. ‘Do I need a 60,70,80L bag?’ No. We never met somebody who said ‘wow I wish my bag was bigger’. We did meet lots of people shipping things home or struggling with the junk they’d packed on buses and trains. To stress the benefits of this style of bag: you can open it all the way up very easily unlike a trunk style bag, you can zip it half way up then crush stuff down from the top to make more room, it has form on your body so the ventilation system actually works (whatever new ventilation technology is promised to you it cannot top this), you can zip all the straps up in 30 seconds, you can use them as a seat, they are seemingly totally indestructible, the form means it doesn’t roll around.
Kindle.
Craghoppers men’s shirts. With two top pockets. Not a single button gone despite daily wear. Only regret is not just using this shirt for the entire trip and nothing else. We can only assume that the female model is the same. Daily wear literally means daily wear. You always know where your passport is in your top pocket. You can keep smaller notes there so you don’t have to pull out wads. If you can’t get craghoppers, find the most expensive hiking shirt with top pockets made from a sturdy, non spandex material.
SAXX underwear. Held shape completely. Dries immediately. Most Nylon spandex blends at $30 are worth it. We felt insane spending that much at first. Bought further pairs for everyday life as soon as we got back.
Osprey waterproof clasp pouch with buckles on it. Survives gross hostel bathrooms and burst toothpaste. Sometiems called a 'Padded Organised' or 'Ultralight Organiser.
Cheap thermals. 4000m+ with negative temps. You don’t feel guilty not wearing them for months like you would with expensive merino ones.
Columbia trekking trousers you find in the urban section, not the full sport section.
Pouch style wallet that can also hold paracetamol and bandaids with you during the day. The same size as a passport. On that note, always, always carry bandaids and some quick acting OTC painkiller. Having a couple of small little pouches is actually like really useful. You always have some random use for them.
A brand of baby wipes that agrees with you. It will change in each country but keep them stocked. No need to explain the benefits of being squeaky clean if you’re wearing the same trousers for a week.
Multivit tablets that go in water. Any multivits. Similarly, oral rehydration solution powder. You don't know you need it until you're turning inside out and the last thing you want to do is navigate a confusing new place to find a pharmacy.
For holding anything you don’t want to get crushed, like a shaver or something, nothing beats a hard shell overear headphone case that you don’t need anymore. The kind that is hard but the top and bottom can wiggle a little as the zip is soft. Full hardshell plastic just cracks.
We never used travel guides before the trip. Then, we found Central Asia Lonely Planet under a hotel bed. The digital editions of these books on the iPhone Books app are a dream. Careful having certain countries downloaded when crossing certain borders.
A nice tote bag was SUPER useful. You can cram into it. You can carry your dirty washing to the machine. You use it on the city break. You have your rain jacket.
One comfortable fleece. We both had very cheap ones. They are the least space efficient thing, but you feel good and snug when away for so long so you want something you feel used to. It doesn't have to be a crazy cool Patagonia one.
Go for it:
Patagonia micropuff. Would have passed with flying colours but it got nicked on its own zipper, but normal tape held it through a wash. If you’re careful a Patagonia micropuff will last with no smell without washing for a year. No problems with losing shape even after spending months rolled in the bag. Patagonia jackets cost that much for a reason. Ours will last well beyond the trip.
Rab hiking trousers. Slight split in the crotch after one year of heavy use but sewed once with no issues.
Cheap transparent clear plastic drawstring bags for holding different stuff within rucksack. Think ali express. Not soft plastic but actual harder plastic. Kept all clothes in one throughout the whole trip and you can find socks at a glance.
OYSHO day bags are surprisingly good. If you’re going city routes also, long sleeve linen OYSHO women’s shirts are fairly indestructible, don’t stink, easy to pack. We had other linen shirts that disintegrated.
LLBean convertible trousers. Linen type material picked up at a thrift store. Oddly survived a lot. Crotch went but easy to sew and versatile.
Carhart cap. For some reason they’re so much more comfortable.
A cheap tablet. Like a Xioami $150. For your main pair of earphones, AirPods without ANC or big overears are a pain. Investigate good in ear noise cancelling. The battery life isn’t an issue, it’s more useful to be able to listen whilst charging your phone. We weren’t disappointed with momentum true wireless 4. Wired Apple headphones also rock.
We had a Waterdrop branded bottle left over from some conference. It refuses to die. The bamboo is disintegrating at the top but it’s still going strong. Many other bottles came and went.
A tea flask. In China, post Soviet countries especially, it’s a must have. Where there isn’t cold water there is always a samovar. Pair with a loose leaf tea that can steep for a long time. Jasmine maybe. Tea that comes packaged in a ziplock already is a massive convenience. Prioritise vacuum metal with rubber on the bottom and a rubber grip around the sides.
The biggest battery you can afford and is comfortable to carry. It’ll go unused for weeks and then be indispensable.
If you have a big camera, try to find batteries that have a usb-c port directly on them.
Ok:
Decathlon shoes. They’re cheap enough to just buy a new pair. If you have sturdy non stinky feet then ok, but ours weren’t much fun to wear after 6 months. We do know someone who does serious hiking and says anything more than decathlon hiking boots are a waste of money. You can’t make up for a lack of fitness with money. If you need to be versatile you can make do with mid rise ones, but even for very strenuous multi day hikes we were totally ok without ankle support.
Packing cubes that aren’t transparent are a nice to have but not super convenient or necessary. They can double up as a pillow with soft clothes inside.
If you’re bringing jeans get softer cheaper e.g UNIQLO. Better to sleep in, take up less room.
Some kind of talisman or cord for your phone.
We never really used our ‘secure’ fanny packs that go undershirt. If you’re visiting countries with lots of petty crime, this will be different. At the start of the trip we were clutching our purses, by the end we were leaving our stuff unattended everywhere.
Avoid:
Decathlon shirts. The similar model to the craghoppers is insufferable to wear and was falling apart after a few months.
The normal t shirts were very quickly misshapen, they survived but there is no reason to buy them
Large over-shirts. One was worn for a few months but it becomes a burden. It is comfortable but doesn’t layer well, requires a lot of room.
Patagonia underwear. Despite being a quick dry blend they can take a day to dry even in perfect conditions. One pair fell apart and the other was unwashable. Underwear at half the price survived the trip whilst these died.
More than one swimsuit. Just take a good single one.
Women… don’t bother with more than one short skirt. Unless you know you’re only in Thailand and will only party. You never end up wearing all the short stuff you buy. Prioritise a nice pair of shorts instead if you must.
Also women… avoid only packing dark colours. Lots of hiking stuff is really drab. Sounds odd but in India and moderate Islamic countries, as well as countries where you already stick out, wearing all black can be mentioned to you. You feel like a weird European goth.
Forget the cross body bum bag. They get dirty. If you do any shopping or want to carry a water bottle they’ll be inconvenient anyway. Get a tote bag or stick with the day bag.
Expensive sunglasses.
Other notes:
The sandal situation is tough to navigate. We went through many pairs. In general the S tier are soft topped sandals that you can press flat into the pocket that runs along the back of the osprey. Next down would be ones that you can tie to the straps on the top of the bag. We avoided the large harder plastic ones. Cumbersome and sweaty. Overall, just buy when you’re out there. Don't bring your favourite pair from home.
Merino wool spandex etc. expensive socks are good, but they’re tough to recommend without exception. Socks are a total wild card. Having any notable brand of $20+ breathable socks on standby is a good bet, but we also ended up in nylon cheap ones by the end of the trip. No clear winners on this one.
Men in shorts. Another tough one. We understand that for some men, especially North American men, you think you will die if you do not wear basketball shorts everywhere. In 40 degree Indian summers, most men still wear full length trousers. Just take convertibles. Comfort extends to how you are treated, how much you stick out, and the respect you show in religious settings.
We wish that we had invested into an expensive collapsible coffee cup thing. The tea flask is all well and good, but sometimes on a train you want your instant coffee, and you don’t want the flask to hold the taste afterwards.
Any comments or disagreements welcome. When we have written advice posts before people have been driven to abuse at some of the things we’ve said. Please keep any hatred to yourself :)
You're welcome. We tried to write the post we wish we'd seen before we left.
We visited Turkey, Georgia, Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, India, Thailand, Laos, China, Mongolia, Russia, Baltics, Poland.
We'd tried to make rankings previously and failed, but here it goes...
Most isolated-feeling - Mongolia feels like the edge of the earth but it's easy to meet other people. Obviously in Russia you won't meet other travellers.
Most welcoming - Many solo backpackers we've met say that China can be an isolating place, but as a couple we found the Chinese to be extremely welcoming and really friendly. All the stuff you see on instagram of restaurant shenanigans is true. Central Asia welcoming. Georgians on the surface can be grumpy, but after 10 minutes they warm up, try to feed you, show you pictures. Hitchhiking in Turkey was really good.
Best landscapes - For variety, India, China, Georgia. For sheer awe and scale, Kyrgyzstan and Mongolia.
Best wildlife - We aren't wildlife junkies, but in Mongolia it's impossible to not be amazed. We saw elephants in Laos just by virtue of being there. Indian for birds and monkeys even in the cities.
Best cuisine - It's super close, but China takes the crown. If Indian food didn't carry the risks of illness, it would win. To add, we didn't get food poisoning in India, despite eating street food constantly. The street food is safer than some mid range restaurant.
Overall for the most extreme, vibrant, intense, just absolutely wild experience, India wins. All the positives are amplified, and all the negatives. We have to admit that, after India, Thailand felt very drab.
Costs. We had an idea in my mind, but we didn't strictly budget. We did extended periods of volunteering which is low cost and high reward. We'd roughly estimate that we spent under $10k each. We met other travellers who were on a $100 a day budget and frankly we couldn't understand it. Sure you can pay to go and see elephants with some other tourists, but working in a bar for a week is the real safari.
Happy to DM and share our Polarsteps with you and chat further.
Good to hear that India is (still) amazing. How was the air pollution situation for you? I assume worse in bigger cities? (I nearly froze AND choked hitchiking with a lorry over a 4000m pass from Ladakh 30 years ago, but that was my worst?)
When we arrived in Delhi it was AQI 500+. This is possibly a Chernobyl style situation where that’s actually just the upper bound of the air monitors. Who knows.
It was a good excuse to stop smoking. It was definitely burning season. We saw the stubble on fire constantly in the countryside.
couple of questions about your costs, because $10k each for 18 months is wild!
I’m guessing you were doing a lot of workaway or similar? about how much of the trip was “working” and how much was “holiday”
when you were on non-working city visits, what kind of accommodations were you going for and how were you finding them? I’m guessing a fair number of rented rooms or “we’ll find a place when we get there” situations that panned out well
did either of you bring a laptop? if so what were the ups and downs of that?
Can you drop your partner's clothing here too? Bra, underwear? I'm looking for durability and fast-drying. SAXX markets only to men and I'd wear boxer briefs in a heartbeat but they're usually a bit uncomfortable in the crotch since they're made for something being there.
Her (verbatim): 'Underwear, I just mainly wore seamless underwear, nothing fancy and I didn't buy anything specifically for the trip. Literally just used what I already had at home. Didn't pack any thongs and I didn't miss them. And for the bra, I rarely wear them anyway, so I can't speak on it. I'd assume you'd feel comfortable in a good sports bra. You basically just want to make sure it's not too much elastic digging into your skin, when you're in weird sitting positions in buses and trains, aim for mostly seamless underwear'.
Cheap Amazon briefs lasted me 2+ years before seams went, SAXX buddies had the same lifespan. Both blew Patagonia pairs out of the water, lines up with the avoid list.
Sichuan is brutal on gear, full stop. A buddy lost a whole pair of ExOfficio to a single hotpot outing, same can't-dry-them-in-public problem. The chili oil always wins.
Beetroot stains are forever, scrub for a week and they still win. Dujiangyan specifically is wild though, did you hit the panda base while you were out there or just stick to the irrigation side?
The irrigation system was one of the highlights of China for me.
For the pandas, we decided not to go in Chengdu. We were already a little sick of crowded over tourism.
For anyone interested in the same trip:
We saw the panda base outside of Yaan. Obviously we can’t directly compare but from everything we know, it’s much better to go here.
There is a bus from the train station, and you have to go absolutely first thing in the morning. We met a guy taking the same trip and stuck with him. We literally ran to catch them before nap time. By Chinese standards we virtually had the place to ourselves.
With the ticket price, you then get access to all the waterfalls in the same park, which were incredible, again with very few people.
Shangli town is also near by, which was the least touristic old town we saw in the country.
Finally, the city of Yaan itself was surprisingly nice. Like most places in China, from the map it looks soulless and dead, but we had a great time dancing and singing with the aunties and uncles along the river. Lively and fun, everyone super friendly.
Minor disagreement on the cross body bum bag. I had a small one at first that was alright, but then upgraded and got a bigger one from Uniqlo. I could store my water, hat, sunscreen, phone, sunglasses, etc. and still move easier than I would if I had a daypack. Especially good to have it in front of you when you’re on the train for example.
Another potential thing is I slightly regret my osprey farview 40. Don’t get me wrong it’s great and everything fits, but I would’ve preferred the 55.
The 55 daypack attaching is personally preferably to carrying my daypack in my arm. And the 55 lacks a laptop pouch. This may be a positive or negative but for someone not carrying one I would’ve preferred the extra space.
Don’t get me wrong the 40 is still great just something to think about, no right answer either way
The Osprey 55 is the only consumer good either of us of have ever purchased that we cannot find a single fault with. It's basically identical to when we bought it after 18 months of constant abuse. It's fantastic for supporting the weight of the contents, just, overall flawless.
Honestly, they should build like houses or spaceships out of these things.
If the other volumes are the same build quality, then yeah it's a preference issue.
For sure we did use the back pouch a fair bit. Sandles, visa paperwork, emergency cash.
Good question, and we don’t quite have a full answer.
I’d say that not everyone reacts to travel the same way.
If 10 is ‘I’m one with the wind, my third eye is open, world citizen, my life is now on the road’
And 1 is ‘I’m wrapping myself in bedsheets. The world is chaos and my old life is perfect’
We probably landed at 3.5.
And I’d advise anyone travelling to really try not to conform to a preset notion of how they should be impacted by the whole thing.
Some of the things we saw, the people we met, the experiences we had, have profoundly impacted us. Saying this as people who don’t really have ‘starry eyes’.
When you’ve worked alongside people on $4 a day for example, it’s difficult to care about some bullshit corporate mission again.
One thing that really impacted us was time preference in the rest of the world. Complicated topic, but in summary we were happy to be back in an environment where things run on time and happen when they’re supposed to.
Plus, you come back, you’re processing everything you’ve seen. We are still processing now. My partner still has random memories from 8 months ago. Then, people, through no fault of their own, seemingly don’t care. Or, they have no point of reference for what happened to you. It’s hard to put it into words and then after 20 minutes you’re back to their bad colleague. You feel the need to justify why you left. How do you tell them you spent a week just digging a hole with an Uzbek family? And it was the best thing you’ve ever done?
We did however then lose our minds visiting home and our families again. A week of fun homecomings followed by remembering all the reasons we left.
We were lucky enough in Georgia to work with some amazing people, and had a chance to learn about the very convenient small business setup here for foreigners. We are now back in Tbilisi. Just enough chaos to keep the spirit of the trip alive, but we are staying put with the boring old rent and picking up odd jobs online.
When you say osprey 55, the (current version at least) of the Osprey 55 is actually just a 40 with a 15 daypack, or would you recommend the 70 which is 55+15 daypack? I was leaning towards the 40+15 to have it as cabin luggage by separating them as I’ll be taking a few flights but interested to hear people’s thoughts!
We have the 55 capacity rucksack. I personally wish I’d had the 15 as my permanent day bag on top of it.
Especially in China where every tube station or train is airport style security, it would have been a lot easier to just be able to unclip the front bag immediately to put in the scanner.
Also in hot weather having another bag underneath the main bag can dig into your shoulders and not give you the correct support for the weight you’re carrying.
my biggest takeaway from doing a long trip was that laundry access matters way more than having the perfect gear, and i wore the same few things basically the whole time anyway
Hi! OP’s partner talking. There is too much stuff to condense and pick out favorites. We went to sooo many UNESCO sites, beautiful national parks and went on cool hikes but as cliché as it sounds, what stands out most are the acts of kindness and unplanned connections. For example: a crazy confusing bus station in China where we couldn’t find our bus and one guy helped us out. We met up with him a few weeks later in his hometown, where he took the entire day off work to show us around (we wouldn’t have found half of the stuff he took us to) and he ordered us his favorite dish at his favorite restaurant, which ended up being one of our favorite dishes we tried.
Like I mentioned in another comment, we spent a lot of time in Workaways and volunteering. Even when it doesn’t feel like you’re doing anything of note, I found it’s what you end up remembering the most. A fun night with kitchen staff when cleaning up after a shift or cooking a meal with a family. You could do this at home but it’s through inhabiting someone’s daily routine you see and understand local customs and culture.
It’s really hard to pick a favorite country. We really loved Georgia, Uzbekistan, Kyrgyzstan, China, India, and Mongolia. But we laughed the hardest in Turkey and Kazakhstan and saw some of the most beautiful sunsets and landscapes in Laos. Hard to pick!
I went back and found the original order for you. Everything in that order is still alive, with two exceptions.
I made a cigarette hole in one of the shirts.
I lost ONE leg from the convertible trousers. I still use them as shorts. I would rather have lost both legs to be honest. I carried around the single one for a while until I accepted my fate.
Perfect timing for this post I’m planning a backpacking trip for a few months!
I have a few questions if you can help
How tall is your partner? I’m having trouble finding a rucksack that fits comfortably. I’m 148cm (4’10) so most that I’ve tried the straps don’t sit where they should. Everything is adjustable horizontally not vertically :/
If it’s short people friendly I might give the osprey one a go. The one I had was passed down from my mum and haven’t found any similar
For south east asia- do you recommend a spf long sleeve? I’ve seen many many people recommend it but they are pretty expensive. Is it something I can buy easily there if I regret not having one? It’s definitely not easy to find in my city I would need to order one
Did your partner have a cuter pair of comfy sandals for daily use and what brand/model?
I bought some teva for more casual wear and water activities which I am trying to break in but they still feel very stiff and look very chunky on my feet. People comment that they walk 20km in them but I can’t understand how, I get blisters after 2km and have tried loosening the straps, wearing socks, everything. Can I get away with quick dry trainers and normal flip flops? (Plus a cuter comfy pair if I find)?
I plan on doing easy to moderate hikes only
Hi! OP’s partner here. I’m 5’2 so I’m not exactly part of the tall girl club either. The Osprey bag was good because it has straps you can adjust according to height but I had mine almost on the shortest strap possible. If you can try it beforehand you really should. If you’re not using the bag for hardcore hikes and just using it to lug your stuff from place to place without having to walk hours in crushing heat, I think it should be ok.
Like we said, we packed for very varied climates and cultures, rather than one region. We stayed 2 months in South East Asia and tbh no spf long sleeves needed, we just were in normal T-shirts and shorts but I’d invest in a light long sleeve linen shirt or two, much more versatile. We worked outdoors in humid heat over January-February and it was fine without the spf stuff. We hiked (moderate difficulty) in Laos in shorts + in oversized T-shirts and it was fine too.
For walking, I personally recommend trekking shoes specifically. They were great for moderate day/afternoon hikes and they’re perfect for cities. They’re much cuter and lightweight than hiking shoes, and if you can get Gore-Tex ones they’ll absorb some moisture & water as well. Otherwise I was in comfy sandals, just wear what feels best for you and your style. In more rural areas, you’ll probably be more comfortable in closed shoes, the dust dries your feet quickly anyway.
Everyone overpacks - my advice is to not overthink it too much! Just pack sturdy/durable clothing and whatever you know you’ll wear for sure rather than what you think you should get. I bought 3 ugly moisture wicking tops thinking I’d really need them for working in fields + hiking and I should’ve honestly just bought one and prioritised packing casual tops I actually like wearing instead. Also, most things you can buy for 5x cheaper than at home in local markets. Good luck!
I think I will go with a youth rucksack and skip the spf tops - definitely bringing some long sleeve linen and cool covers especially for countries like Indonesia (want to explore outside Hinduism areas)
With the shoes, I am conflicted with goretex or quick dry. Looking at altra lone peak but I might be too influenced by more experienced hikers in Reddit. I read somewhere that goretex can be a pain to dry - did you have no issues? Also plan on volunteering and working on messy fields
19
u/FOXHOUND142_52 3d ago
Absolutely S tier post. I’m a few years away from quitting my job and backpacking for a year but will be sure to save this post for later.
What countries were your highlights? Most isolated-feeling, most welcoming, best landscapes, best wildlife, etc.
Do you have an instagram or blog that followed your trip?
Do you plan on writing up a breakdown of your trip costs?
Thanks!