What does one bring when traveling for year?

Leveraging my own travel experience, and after reading multiple travel blogs (especially those who visited Southeast Asia), I established the following guidelines:

  1. The less the better
  2. You can always buy or drop crap along the way
  3. Plan for a week’s worth of clothes, and wash
  4. Plan in pairs of two

I mostly ignored the first guideline when it came time to actually packing, but that’s because there’s so much technology to bring!

Keep in mind I’m dodging temperatures less than 10C. No winter for me, thanks!

Clothes

  • 7 cotton underwear, including 2 Icebreaker Merino wool underwear
  • 7 cotton socks, including 1 Smartwool socks (great for hiking)
  • 7 cotton t-shirts
  • 2 pairs of pants (jeans and a lighter pair)
  • Northface pants, with zippers that transform into shorts
  • Casual shorts
  • Golf shirt
  • 2 long sleeved shirts (one casual, one dressy)
  • Light sweater with a zipper
  • Light waterproof jacket
  • Reversible black/brown belt
  • Bathing suit
  • Sunglasses
  • Baseball cap
  • Columbia hiking shoes
  • John Varvatos walking shoes
  • Teva sandals (yes, I know they are f-ugly, but they are versatile)
  • Quicksilver flip-flops

Technology

General

  • Arcteryx Altra 65 backpack – red (65L)
  • Spare Arcteryx belt buckle (in case the original breaks)
  • Osprey Flare daypack – black (22L)
  • 2 Ultra-Sil pack covers (since the packs are not waterproof)
  • Rab silk sleeping bag liner (keeps bed bugs away)
  • Cirrus dry sack (10L)
  • 2 Eagle Creek pack-it system (for socks and underwear)
  • Swiss army knife – 14 tools
  • Adventure Medical Kit.5
  • Insect repellent
  • 2 pocket laundry soap (to do laundry in sinks)
  • Bungee clothesline
  • Laundry bag
  • MSR ultralight pack towel
  • Lock & cable
  • Water bottle (1L)
  • Water purification tabs (50 tablets)
  • Purell (60mL)
  • Spare Ziplock bags
  • Plane accessories (inflatable pillow, eye cover, ear plugs)
  • Notepad and pens
  • Playing cards
  • Head light
  • Toiletries

Result:

Just under 45 pounds.