Are you interested in backpack travel?
At the very first stage of preparing it, I was really nervous because I don’t know how to prep for it. It was my FIRST backpack travel, departing from foreign country, to the places where I’ve never been to.
I’m writing this after the trip and I didn’t feel uncomfortable during the adventure. This packing worked for me, so I hope you can take something away from this!
My Destinations
As I posted before, I didn’t have specific plans for my trip. The post is here.
These are the cities where I visited.
I visited from north to south in early September, and came back from south to north in late October.
So I brought some warm clothes and very thin and easy-dry T-shirts and shorts, which was a little bothersome, though.
What I Packed
Below are the things I brought with me for 2-month trip. I add some signs to tell you what I used often, and what I didn’t. The signs are;
- ★ what I used very often, useful
- ！ what I don’t use often
- × what I don’t think I needed
Bags
55L Backpack with rain cover from Mountain Warehouse (details at official webiste; click here )
Daily bag from MILESTO ( details at official website; click here ) ( sorry, Japanese site)
I love these bags because I’ve never refused them as carry-on bags even on LCC! But now I think I could have packed lighter. I brought too much.
Valuables
★1 Security Poach
I bought this at Amazon in Japan. This poach prevent credit cards from skimming and I usually wear this just like a shoulder bag and always very close to my body to protect it from pick-pockets. Items I put in it are…
- ★Second/ third credit cards
- ★cash ( main cash holder, especially for US dollar )
- ★passport
- ★copy of insurance contract
- ★yellow card ( after I got vaccination )
★2 Second Wallet
This poach was what I bought at a dollar shop in Japan, maybe DAISO. It looks cheap, so I kept more than half, sometimes three-quarters, of local currency and primary credit card in it.
- ★local currency
- ★primary credit card ( if I don’t/ can’t use credit cards in many cases)
★3 Primary Wallet
This one looks most expensive in my wallets, so I kept small amount of local currency in case of pick-pockets or getting stolen.
- ★small amount of local currency
- ！Japanese driver’s license + other point-cards ( I just didn’t want to leave them in Canada while I was away.)
×4 Pen Case
I brought some pens with me but now I know I didn’t need that much.
★5 Passport
I usually brought my passport with me, but sometimes, like when I went swimming, I left it at a hostel on my responsibility. Luckily, the hostels I stayed were all safe to do so.
！6 Photo for ID
I brought the photo which I used for the working holiday visa for Canada, just in case. ( I didn’t use it, though. ) I read some articles that saying some people brought a few copies of the passport, so if you want to upgrade your security, that’ll be good, I think.
Medicine, something for hygiene
- ★Toilet paper ( 1 roll, without the core )
- ★Mosquito spray
- ★2 microfiber face towels (click here to Amazon)
- ★1 microfiber hand towel
- ★2 tenugui, Japanese thin towel, from Seria, Japan ( 1 is enough)
- ★Powder laundry soap in a bottle
- ★Medicines ( for stomachache, headache, cold, eye drop )
I strongly recommend to bring toilet paper with you because some washrooms don’t have ones there. Especially when you love adventures such as climbing, going into jungles, etc, maybe it’s a must. ( Of course you can find one easily anywhere in local places!)
I prefer hand washing for my clothes, and I believe powder soap is good because I don’t have to think about 1L limitation of flights.
In terms of medicines, just bring what you usually take and you might need when traveling.
Shoes
I traveled with 3 pairs of shoes, but one of them got broken and I don’t take a picture of them…
- ★Water proof hiking sneakers from Mountain Warehouse ( details at official website; click here )
- ★Flip flops from Seria, Japan ( a dollar shop ) *room shoes
- ！Sandals
The sneakers are great because they’re extremely water proof and also I didn’t have any troubles while I was climbing at Volcano Acatenango, which is about 3,900m high.
The sandals from H&M or Forever 21 got broken in Sao Paulo, then I bought a new pair of flip flops from Havaianas. My recommendation is to buy sandals or flip flops at your destination, because they’re usually much cheaper than to buy the same ones in the US, Canada or Japan. My new pair costed almost US$10!
Clothes
for clod weather
- ！Outdoor water proof jacket from Columbia
- ！sweater from UNIQLO
- ！2 thermal shirts from UNIQLO
- ★Thin down jacket from UNIQLO
I’d thought those were for New York and Toronto, but I wore them when I climbed the volcano, in Mexico City in middle of September, Quito in early October. High altitude places often become cold, of course it depends on the season. Please check the weather forecast before packing!
And I didn’t use them most of the time in my trip, so I usually put them in the bottom of my backpack.
for hot/warm weather
- ★2 thin & light long sleeve UV cut jackets from UNIQLO ( 1 was enough or didn’t need the shirt instead)
- ！1 white shirt from UNIQLO
My skin is very sensitive to the sun and super easy to get red and burnt, so long sleeves are MUST for me. But if you’re okay with the sun, maybe you don’t have to pack these.
- ★1 one piece dress
- ★3 T-shirts *1 for room wear, 2 for outdoor
I love this dress because it’s super easy to dry. I traveled hot countries, so ‘easy to dry’ is important. In terms of T-shirts, I should have had darker coloured ones…
pants
- ★1 full length cotton pants from UNIQLO
- ★1 thin pants for room wear from UNIQLO
- ！1 cotton shorts from ROOTS
I really don’t like to wear the same clothes in bed or room as the ones I wore outside. If you don’t mind that, just prepare the pants and shirts for outdoor.
Because of the variation of the weather, I believe my choice bringing one pair of long pants and one pair of shorts was good. But because I wore the black dress very often, I could’ve been okay without the white shorts.
Others
- ★hair dryer ( if your hair is not long or you’re okay without hair dryer, you don’t need )
- ★3 pairs of socks ( I need a little more)
- ★3 pairs of under wear
- ★1 pair of bikini
- ！1 rain coat & ×rain pants ( I used this only at the volcano)
- ！Folding umbrella
- ★Cap
- ★Thin scarf
- ★Skincare items
- ★Makeup items
- ★Sun cream
- ★Bath goods
- ★Tablet
- ×Bluetooth keyboard
- ！Earphone
- ★Smartphone
- ★Small notebook
- ★Phone charger
- ★Universal outlet adopter
- ★Plane goods ( foot rest, travel pillow )
- ★Folding shopping bag
- ★2 or 3 plastic bags
- ★Water bottle
- ・・・・・ Look at the picture for those listed below
- ★cable lock
- ×pinches
- ！sewing kit
- ！3 S hooks
- ×Clothesline
A CABLE( not a padlock all made of metal) lock will help you a lot when you lock a locker at a hostel because cable is flexible.
I love my thermal bottle because sometimes water might cost a lot, especially at the airport.
I usually bring it with me and refill water when I find a water server. And water severs are very common in many hostels and around Latin America.
I saved money and reusable water bottles are eco friendly, too. Of course, you can use a plastic bottle repeatedly.
Hope this article will help you prep your trip! Thank you for reading.
