First of all: I’m not really the backpacking type. The reality is that I’m going travelling for what right now looks like a year, but as my husband says: “Don’t put an end date on it. It will just confuse people if we decide to come back after 3 months or 3 years.” And he’s probably right.
Secondly, I’m too old for budget backpacking and cheap hotels. I like a comfy bed and running hot water IN my hotel room. I like to dress up to go out in the evening and I can’t live without WiFi and my computer. I’m probably a “medium” budget traveller: no 5 star hotels for me unless they are really cheap, but I’ll prefer a 3 star minimum and I love swimming pools.
We have decided to tour a bit of Asia with stops in Vietnam, Thailand, Malaysia and Indonesia and maybe more but we really like the thought of just “winging it” as we go along, so nothing is set in stone. We need to keep expenses at about 3500 USD/20000 DKK a month to be able to stay for 12 months, that is if we do not produce anything of value as we go along. (The plan is to code up some of our own projects, that we have been neglecting and if some of those projects produce an income that would allow us to tweak the budget. Of course this blog is also a very small source of income through Google Ads.)
So… what to pack for such a trip? I found inspiration in this video:
As Nick mentions:
A security pouch, passport, copy of passport, credit card, cash, comfy shoes, clothes (in his case mens clothes), underwear, a first aid kit, medicine, sun screen, sun hat, a flashlight (head lamp), an iPod, travel alarm clock, light towel, rain jacket, rain poncho for you AND backpack, water bottle, a backpack with a day bag, camera and sunglasses.
As a girl (geek) and a more luxury traveller I will also bring:
dressy shoes,
3 dresses and a skirt,
bathing suit,
vaccination papers,
duct tape (and I really think Nick forgot this or maybe it is in his first aid kit),
a book,
a computer (and all the computer cords that comes with that),
a computer sleeve,
an extension cord,
computer speakers,
an external hard drive,
an external computer battery possibly with solar panel,
insurance papers,
pen,
my idea book (long story),
makeup and other beauty products (in DK the chemical levels are closely monitored and regulated – I don’t know if that is true for products bought in Asia).
But I will leave (with a heavy heart) at my parents house:
my wedding ring and all my real gold and diamond jewelry that I can’t bear see lost or stolen,
All my other shoes and clothes,
my library of great books and
all gadgets, computers and consoles not fit for travelling.
Of course there is probably a few things on my list that I could buy during my travels instead of packing them, but these are the things I like to have with me from day one. Can you help me tweak this list? What have I forgotten? What would you leave out if you were taking this trip?
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Finding the route to a simpler life
The wedding ring could be used to identify you, if needed, else I guess you can get cheap computer-ish devices if you want to travel light.
As long as you are in the bigger cities, the most essentials is passport and creditcards.
But most important. Mind your surroundings and use your common sense. 🙂
That’s true, but I sincerely hope the identification by wedding ring won’t be necessary :-).
I can recommend buying a cheap ring that looks like a wedding-ring for the both of you. For you it will keep off some of the thousands of purposes you are going to get, and you can easily say “no” just by pointing to the ring.
For the both of you it clearly shows that you are married which can be a requirement in some countries if you want to sleep together in the same room without offending in particular older people.
Just my .05$ 🙂
Great idea Mads. I already have such a cheap ring and finding a cheap ring for my husband in Bangkok shouldn’t be too hard :-).
I didn’t think of the whole offending people by sleeping in the same room without wedding rings – This is the first time I regret that my husband did not take my name when we married (or the other way around ;-)).