World Travel Packing List: Pro Guidance for Long-Term Travel

Are you planning an adult gap year, mini-retirement, or travel sabbatical? When you plan to travel for a long time, it can save you time, money, and a whole lot of stress (and back pain) if you stick to carry-on luggage. Today, your travel style might be called “packing maximalist,” but learning to travel light is a really good idea if you want to avoid checked bag fees and the hassle of hauling heavy luggage all over the world.

Candidly, one of the benefits of enjoying a long trip is also that you’ll be a better, savvier traveler in the future on shorter trips and vacations. When other travelers are checking bags, you’ll be breezing through the airport security with your well-organized carry-on bag (or - gasp - just a personal item) because you’ve meticulously honed your packing list. Packing for a two week trip is nothing when you’ve taken a long-term trip!

PSA - There is a LOT of good information in here. It's organized into sections so you can find the information most relevant to you. Use the bookmarks below to navigate swiftly through this article.

My Travel Packing List for 12 Months Abroad

When you travel long-term, your goal should be to pack like a minimalist. This is hard to do, but you know what’s harder? Hauling your stuff all over the world! Learn to pack light now so that you can save yourself the back injury down the line. This packing list sticks to the most important things and the most important things only.

You'll hone your own packing list over time, but to give you a leg up on building your minimalist packing checklist, I’m sharing MY ultimate packing list below. These items can comfortably fit in a 40L backpack with room to spare!

Clothing:

7 pairs of underwear (no more, no less)
1 long-sleeve top
2 tops for warm weather, ideally loose-fitting and/or a fabric you can wear several times (e.g., merino wool, moisture-wicking fabrics), as we’ll talk about below
1 camisole or tank top
1-2 dresses, ideally loose-fitting ones you can wear over and over; I recommend one short and one long dress so you have an easy option to cover your legs if you need. For men, add 1-2 additional tops instead.
1 pair of shorts
1 pair of jeans
1-2 pairs of hiking pants if you’re going to areas where you’ll be getting dirty regularly
1 sports bra and 1 bra in whatever style you normally wear
1 pair of sandals or flip flops. (You can pack these in shoe cubes if you’d like, but I prefer to simply wrap them in a plastic bag so my clothes don’t get dirty.)
1 pair of sneakers or hiking boots, depending on what is more relevant to your travel destinations. If you can get by with trail runners instead of hiking boots, it’s worth it. (Hiking boots are heavy, and the trail runners can double as hiking boots and comfortable walking shoes. If you’re going on technical multi-day hikes, you may not have a choice except to bring these though.)
1 swimsuit
Rain jacket (and/or a waterproof puffy jacket if you’re braving cold weather)
One light sweater or jacket
One fleece
Glasses, sunglasses, and some contact lenses (the latter as a back-up and for activities like snorkeling).

Medicine & Toiletries:

Prescription medication – with the prescription documentation and in the original containers to avoid issues at borders
Over-the-counter medication – whatever you normally take. For travel bugs, I find it handy to have immodium or peptobismal, cold medication, halls, medicine for yeast infections, and cream for cuts like Neosporin. Again, always check any medication you bring is legal at your destination and at any layovers and consult a doctor for medical guidance. (We're not doctors!)
Feminine products to last a month or so, if you are going to places where these can be hard to find (e.g., deep in the bush in Africa)
An emergency medical kit / first aid kit. (No reason to skimp on space for this. Get a good one.)
Your yellow fever certificate (the yellow book!) if required for your destinations
Your standard toiletries – toothbrush, toothpaste, razor, deodorant, comb… hopefully not much else.

Travel Docs & Finances:

Your passport (and any other travel documents like visas)
A folder (per person) with copies of important documents – passports, visas, insurance card, vaccination information, etc. Each folder should have a copy of all of the documents, and you should keep them in separate places. (You should also keep scans on your phone.)
Several debit cards and credit cards with no foreign exchange fees. Double check what your bank/credit card will charge for exchange rates and confirm you won’t be subject to foreign transaction fees. If you have debit cards for multiple accounts, bring them. If you are trying to get cash in the airport and your bank flags it as suspicious activity, it’s helpful to have back-ups.
A few $20 bills (in USD or Euros). If the ATM at the airport is ever broken and your only option for new currency is a money exchange, it’s helpful to have a little bit of USD to exchange. This way, you can get into town and get to an ATM later on. (Note: if you’re going to Africa, you’ll need far more USD, and you’ll likely need to collect it before you arrive in Africa. If you're traveling with a tour company, they'll guide you on how much to bring.)

Miscellaneous:

Packing cubes – to compress your clothes down and stay organized. If you haven’t tried these, try them. They’re worth it. My favorites are the ultralight ones from Osprey and the REI Co-Op Expandable/Compression Packing Cubes.
1-2 power adaptors. Buy a version that can transform and accommodate most countries in the world so you don't have to juggle too many international adaptors.
1-2 combination locks in different sizes. You may need to lock your stuff somewhere (this is common in hostels, for example) and wouldn’t want to find out that the hole for the lock is too narrow for your lock!
1 fast-drying towel (per person) that packs down well
Phone & computer with chargers

Additional Items to Consider:

Depending on where you’re going and what you’re doing, it can be helpful to have a few more things. Rather than include those in the master list, I’m sharing them here with the context for when the items are helpful.

One important packing tip - Don’t pack all of these! Be thoughtful about what you’ll actually need, or you may over-pack.

Waterproof pants: We wore ours all the time because we were in Italy when it was experiencing near-constant rain. It’s not as easy to simply hop in a cab on a trip like this since your budget will be (generally) tighter than at home. Waterproof pants can make the walk home in the pouring rain a lot less unpleasant. If you’ll be hiking in wet conditions regularly, these are very helpful.
Professional camera: We didn’t bring this, and we were glad to have left it at home. Our iPhones take amazing photos, and we made friends with plenty of people along the way who were taking great photos on great cameras. They were happy to share their photos with us. A professional camera is going to take up a lot of space in your bag, and it will be a consistent liability. You will be very concerned about making sure it doesn’t get stolen, and when you take it out, you will make yourself a target. Plenty of travelers bring one, just be sure to weigh the pros and cons before you pack it! If you do pack it, bring plenty of sim cards and batteries so that you don’t find yourself traveling with a camera that has no space on it or that is dead.
Sarong for beaches: This can double as a way to cover your shoulders at temples where it’s required in Asia. Note though that in some places like Cambodia, a sarong to cover your shoulders isn’t considered modest enough, and they’ll require you to wear a t-shirt (which they will usually sell you.)
Silicon or stainless-steel wedding rings: We didn’t want to bring our actual wedding rings because they are so sentimental (and mine is a family heirloom) but we still wanted to wear something to symbolize our marriage. You can buy fake diamond and gold rings, but I don’t recommend them. There is no sense, in my mind, in attracting attention to yourself by wearing something that looks valuable to someone who wants to rob you. (Even cheap jewelry might look valuable.) I wore a green silicon wedding ring, and Nick wore a stainless-steel ring that was painted black. Neither looked at all valuable, and they did the deed. I’m personally a fan of the QALO wedding rings.
Money belts: I highly recommend these. Especially in areas like Europe that are rife with pickpockets, a money belt that you can wear under your clothes is the best place to keep cash you need to carry and your passports. You can also buy actual belts with secret zippers to store cash, but in my opinion these are pointless. What are you going to do – take your belt off in public if you need cash? They’re also too narrow to keep your passport. I recommend flat but wide money belts, so you have a safe place to keep at least your passport during transit days. You can buy a cheap one on Amazon easily.
AirTags: These are great to leave in your money belt (because, god forbid, if it was stolen or you somehow misplaced it, at least you’d have a chance at finding it) and in your bags (especially the ones you check on planes.)
Kindles/E-Readers: If you’re planning to catch up on your reading during your travel sabbatical, nothing beats a kindle. It takes way less space, and you can download plenty of books on pretty limited wifi, in my experience. These are great for long drives in Africa, where you’ll have limited service and won’t be able to charge electronics regularly. Kindles hold a charge for ages!
Gear tape: Your bag might get a rip. Repair it yourself with some gear tape! This is pretty cheap and packs small.
Scrubba laundry bag: This was invaluable. This is a small plastic bag that becomes air-tight, and you can do your laundry in it. It has small ridges inside to help get everything clean. A washing machine will clean your clothes better, but this is great for long-term travel because you will never be beholden to the local washing facilities. We used ours all the time in Europe and in Africa. In Southeast Asia we just paid for a local laundry service because it was so cheap and the clothes got cleaner.
Paper laundry detergent: Especially if you buy a Scrubba, having paper laundry detergent is great because you can travel with a lot of laundry detergent without taking up a ton of space, buying a liquid you’ll have to throw out before your next flight, or buying a white powder that you’ll throw out before your next flight because… you know why. Buy enough of this before you leave the US because it will be hard to find elsewhere and packs down to almost nothing.
Small plastic bottles (several ounces in size): Especially if they can fit in your pocket, these are awesome to have. We found it enormously helpful to always have a small bottle of soap with us, because lots of bathrooms in Africa didn’t have any soap. You get sick enough while you travel! Small bottles are also great for raiding any hotel’s supply of shampoo or lotion if you just need a little bit and don’t want to buy a big bottle.
Massive water bottles: In the developing world, you will regularly need to buy water. You’ll mostly buy the 5L (or larger) bottles and keep them in your accommodation. It’s best to have a refillable water bottle with you, since you’re not going to carry around a 5L (or larger) bottle. We found a 1.875L and a 1.25L water bottle each and would drink at least one each most days. Especially during long, hot safari game drives, it was helpful to have such large bottles.

These bottles were also really easy to clean, which was important because you don’t want to be drinking from a water bottle that has mold hidden in it somewhere. We also used them to brush our teeth. Some friends bought water bottles with filtering straws so they could refill from the tap, but we weren’t convinced they were as effective as they were marketed to be (or that we would know when to change the filters.) For what it’s worth, our friends liked these!
Sleeping bags (or a camping quilt): For camping or because you’re always cold like me and want to make your bed warmer!
Tent: If you’re camping, you will obviously need a tent! If you’re traveling with a group in a place like Africa for camping, double check whether the tour company will provide the tent or not. You may not need to bring it, and the tent they may provide will likely be bigger than what you’d be willing to carry in your bag.
Blow-up pillows: These are not just for camping but also to help make uncomfortable seats on long transit days a bit more manageable. One or two blow-up pillows can go a long way towards making you more comfortable.
Day bag (aka day pack): I recommend small backpacks that have some structure (meaning: back support). We originally purchased fully collapsible day bags that could pack down into about a square inch of space, but we quickly found that this made carrying things like laptops or hard plastic water bottles pretty uncomfortable. You’re rarely going to actually pack this bag “down,” so the fact that it collapses to nothing doesn’t really provide you much of a benefit. Get a day bag with some structure and wear it on the front of your body on transit days (because your back will have your bigger backpack!)

My Travel Packing List for 1 to 3 Months Abroad

If you’re traveling for up to 3 months, you can still reference my packing list above, but you should remove a number of items. The tricky thing is that what you should NOT pack varies based on your world trip.

Here’s how I think about this:

If I’m traveling for a year, I will for sure explore multiple climates and have super varied experiences. That might require me both to prepare for months of camping in the African bush and for a wintry European experience. Unfortunately, for those two scenarios I’m going to need to bring gear and clothing that won’t be needed across the board. (I didn’t really use a tent too much in Italy, after all.)
For 3-month long trips, I would stick to one region of the world. In a consistent climate, and likely doing similar activities, your packing list will naturally get lighter.

For example, if you plan to spend 3 months in Europe exploring cities, cut all of the items in the list above related to camping and hiking. Or, if you plan to spend 3 months in Southeast Asia, where it will be very hot, cut all winter-related gear from the list.

If you’re traveling for only a month, believe it or not, you can likely travel with just a small backpack if you’re super savvy about building an itinerary that doesn’t demand too much extraneous gear. Stick to the essential items, and see if you can’t just squeeze what you need into a personal item!

Best Travel Clothing: What Fabrics Can You Re-Wear?

One of the best tricks we learned was to wear materials that you can wear over and over. Merino wool is great for this. Similarly, clothes that are very loose or don’t cover areas where you sweat a lot can more easily be re-worn between washes. For example, I had a polyester spaghetti strap top that didn’t cover my armpits and was loose fitting. I could wear that shirt easily 10 times before it needed to be rewashed, but I couldn’t wear cotton t-shirts more than once without washing them.

In general, I’ve found these types of fabrics hold up well and don’t require immediate washing after one use. Typically, I can get at least 4-5 wears out of all of these fabrics (though it also depends on the cut):

Merino wool
Anything dry-wick
Polyester
Denim

Look for loose-fitting clothing as well. It won’t wrinkle as easily, and it’ll give your skin room to breathe.

What Not to Pack

Lots of things are marketed to world travelers, and you might be sussing out a number of purchases wondering if any of them will actually be worth it. On my own trip, here are the items that ended up not feeling “worth it” to us:

Gaters: We used them once. Unless you’re tackling super specialized travel, these likely aren’t worth it.
Multiple money belts: You need one, you don’t need four (like we bought.)
Duct tape (to repair our stuff): Buy gear tape instead to repair your stuff. It’s smaller to carry and works better.
Sewing kit: Technically we used this once or twice, but our attempts to resew holes in our clothes pretty much only made them worse. If you don’t know how to sew, don’t bother.
Collapsible water bottles: You never need to collapse them, because your water bottle is always full of at least some water. So instead you just have a squishy water bottle that feels strange to hold. Not worth it for long-term travel!
Day bags that collapsed down really tiny and didn’t have any structure: They were uncomfortable, and we didn’t have rain covers for them so when it rained everything got soaked.
Way, way, way too much mosquito spray: We bought 100% DEET. We ended up using less than 100ml of DEET during our 2 months in east and southern Africa but we brought about 500mls. What we hadn’t realized that we would primarily choose to simply cover up to prevent bug bites (and sunburns). We also traveled in the winter in many of the countries we went to, so there were fewer mosquitos out. And, the DEET leaked and destroyed some other things we were carrying. You should still take mosquitos seriously! But I don't think you need to go as crazy as we did with bringing so much DEET.
Too many personal toiletries: We’d been advised that in going to Africa we’d need to bring a month’s worth of toiletries like shampoo and soap because they would be hard to find. Perhaps this is sometimes true, but in our experience this was bad advice. I’d leave the big bottles of shampoo and soap behind and spare your back. We could buy these everywhere.

How Can I Learn to Pack Light?

In general, I offer two approaches to those who want to learn to pack light. The first is to share my three principles for how I argue with myself on what I should or shouldn’t bring on a trip. (Be warned - I'm sassy.)

The second is a simple exercise that helps even the most stubborn, maximalist packer to see the error in their ways.

Let’s review the principles first.

My Minimalist Packing Principles

When I’m debating whether to pack something or not, I come back to these questions to help decide.

Can I buy this on the road?

In other words, if I'm not going to need something for awhile on the trip, I consider not bringing it. I plan to buy it on the road instead. It’s a great way to get a souvenir without feeling like I've spent money on souvenirs.

The one caveat to this is that some products will be much easier to find at home. We find that in areas of the world that desperately need sunscreen, mosquito spray, or money belts, it’s very hard to find sunscreen, mosquito spray, or money belts. Similarly, super-specific items (e.g., my husband can only sleep on planes with a very specific blow-up pillow), will be hard to find. Pack those instead of planning on buying them.
Do I need this so badly that I’m willing to carry it on my back for days?

That is exactly what you are going to be doing. Let me provide the clearest possible example of this kind of self-assessment.

“I’d really like to bring 20 pairs of underwear so that I don’t need to do laundry all the time.” – You, working against yourself

“But am I willing to carry 20 pairs of underwear all the time? Would it be easier to simply wash underwear for 5 minutes in the sink once a week?” – You, working for yourself

“OK, I’ll bring 7 pairs of underwear and do laundry regularly. If this is truly an issue, I can always buy underwear on the road.” – You, accepting reality. Go you!
Am I OK with losing or ruining this item?

This doesn’t just mean leaving the valuable things at home. Don’t bring an outfit you love. If you’d be devastated that it got ruined in the laundry or through lots and lots of exposure to dust, leave it at home! Plus, the less attached you are to the belongings, the easier it will be to give things away when you don’t need them anymore (and want to relieve some pressure on your back) or want to ship things home (with no guarantee they’ll arrive).

In your day-to-day, you’ll also face less stress because there will be nothing in your bag that you could lose that would ruin your trip. You’ll keep your passports strapped to you in a money belt and if everything else gets stolen or lost or damaged, the world will continue to spin.

I also talk about how I pack light in my YouTube Series, so feel free to check out how I think about packing light here and here.

Learn to Pack Light: A Simple Exercise

You’re not going to like this, but you’re going to like the results. This is a simple exercise aimed at showing you just how much you’re planning on carrying on your trip.

The exercise goes like this:

Take everything you plan on bringing and put it in one big pile on your bed.
Look at it. Wonder how you got to this point.
Try to cut the pile in half.

This is where the packing principles come into play. When you’re given the challenge to cut your pile in half, it’s helpful to turn back to those questions to decide what you'll leave at home.

What would I be heartbroken to damage? What can I buy on the road if I need it? Suddenly, all of those items that you’re thinking of bringing “just in case” don’t seem nearly as important.

Just in case those principles aren’t enough to coax you through this exercise, let me ask you some highly judgemental questions (sorry!) that just might help you shrink that massive pile:

Do you really need that many pairs of underwear?
At what points are you doing to wear that fancy outfit? Who is inviting you to a gala on this trip?
OK you packed that thing you’ve had in your closet for ages but never wear. Are you really going to wear it on this trip? Why?
I see you’ve packed a dry-clean-only piece of clothing… and you’re traveling to… Kenya? Where are you going to get your dry cleaning done there?
You’ve packed all of your favorite clothes, great! How are you going to feel when they get ruined on this trip?
If you hurt your back on this trip and have to either throw some things or mail them home (for a large fee with no guarantee they’ll arrive), are you going to be totally devastated at the thought of losing those things?
What are you packing even though you’ll only need it for a day of the trip and you could buy it abroad cheaply?

Hopefully you’ll forgive me for the judgemental questions once you get to enjoy the empowering life of a minimalist packer.

Is a Backpack or Roller Bag Better for Travel around the World?

You’ll need to decide whether to get a true backpack or to get a rolling bag. We opted for backpacks; however, in retrospect I wish we’d bought backpacks that had wheels so we could roll them when it made sense.

The one benefit to backpacks that few people mention is that you are much less frequently targeted by airline staff for having too large a bag. When we didn’t check our 35L and 40L backpacks, no one hassled us, even though they were certainly above the size limitations. But, we often saw people with roller bags of around the same size forced to check them.

All that being said, I will note that you should not assume that you will always be able to carry-on your 35L backpack. If you’re taking short, cheap flights, the airlines will likely prevent you from having anything more than a small purse unless you pay an egregious fee, even if you buy the smallest backpack size I recommend (35L).

I truly don’t recommend bringing a bag that only rolls unless you’re exclusively traveling in the “western” world. You’ll find yourself on a lot of unpaved roads or even in truly unexpected situations like disembarking a boat into waist-deep water or walking in sand. (Tropical climates especially seem to present a lot of hurdles for roller bags.) It’s simply too hard to manage a roller bag in these situations.

Our verdict is therefore: Team Backpack.

What Are The Best Backpacks for Traveling around the World?

I injured my back on my adult gap year, and because of that I went through a number of backpacks. So I can VERY confidently recommend the Osprey Farpoint backpack. It is my absolute favorite travel backpack.

It’s fantastic because it opens fully like a suitcase (clamshell design), making it easy to pack and easy to access on the fly. It compresses down with outside straps, and sits nicely on the hips to keep the weight of the bag where it should be.

If you’re looking for a new backpack, I highly recommend trying it in a store first to make sure the weight falls on your hips and doesn’t pull painfully on your shoulders. I sprained my back on this trip because I used a backpack that I’d never tried before, and the bag didn’t have enough structure to it to make sure the weight fell on my hips. If there was anything I could re-do differently about our trip, it would be purchasing a different backpack in the beginning.

We started with 35L and 40L bags respectively since we packed pretty light. We had to strap our sleeping bags to the bottom of our bags but otherwise found this size to be pretty manageable. We met travelers with bags as big as 60L and 70L with things strapped to the outside, but with careful planning you should be able to pack lighter than this.

If you don’t buy the Osprey Farpoint bag, be sure to look for these features in a backpack:

35L – 60L, depending on what you’re packing.
Adjustable straps on the shoulder straps so you can shift the weight balance of the bag
BIG holes for water bottles, because you’re probably going to have a BIG water bottle that won’t fit in standard-sized holes
Strap that fits (or can be adjusted) snuggly around your waist, with the weight of the bag falling on your waist and not pulling on your shoulders
Small pockets for random things, so you can stay organized
Some way to open the backpack and see all of the contents at once. Backpacks that only open on top can get annoying because, to find anything near the bottom of the bag, you have to empty out the bag. If the bag has a way for you to open it like a suitcase and see everything at once, it’s much easier to find things and to keep everything organized, since you don’t have to unpack as much. You can almost use the bag like a bureau in a hotel room.

How do you do laundry when you travel?

We bought a Scrubba laundry bag and paper detergent (that dissolves in water), which allowed us to do all of our own laundry through Europe and Africa. (In Southeast Asia, it was so cheap to do laundry that we paid to have it done instead of doing it ourselves.)

A Scrubba is a water-tight bag with ridges that you can put your laundry in with some detergent to clean your clothes. I have a video on it here. In our experience, it’s pretty effective when you follow the instructions, though paying for an occasional washing machine definitely helped give our clothes a much-needed deep clean occasionally.

Your other options are to go to a laundromat (which I generally find inconvenient, except in Southeast Asia) or to make sure your accommodation has a laundry machine (which can be great, but will drive your prices up if you do this consistently.)

What is the 1 to 6 packing rule?

Now after all of this information on packing, you might be wondering about a few “packing rules” you’ve heard in the past. We’re all about demystifying packing lore, so we’ll close talking about two of the most famous packing rules. We’ll leave it to you to decide whether you want to follow those rules or use our go-to packing list!

The 1 to 6 packing rule is a minimalist travel strategy that limits your wardrobe to six key clothing items. Typically, that includes:

1 hat
2 pairs of shoes
3 bottoms
4 tops
5 pairs of socks, and
6 pairs of underwear.

While I support bringing even less underwear than I usually recommend, I find this list to be too general. But if it works for you and helps you pack light, that's great!

What is the 3-3-3 rule for packing?

The 3-3-3 rule for packing is a simple formula that suggests bringing:

3 tops,
3 bottoms, and
3 pairs of shoes for a trip.

Once again, my personal take is that this is too simplistic. (Also - 3 pairs of shoes seems crazy to me if you only have 3 tops.) But you do you. I support any packing list that helps keep your luggage light!

Happy packing – in your carry-on bags that is! We hope this lengthy list of packing tips will help you enjoy your trip of a lifetime with zero packing stress.

My 12 Month Travel Packing List for Travel Abroad

Additional Items to Consider Packing

My 1 to 3 Month Travel Packing List for Travel Abroad

Best Travel Clothing - What Fabrics Can You Re-Wear

What not to pack

How can I learn to pack light

My minimalist packing principles

learn to pack light - a simple exercise

is a backpack or roller bag better for travel around the world

what are the best backpacks for traveling around the world

how do you do laundry when you travel

what is the 1 to 6 packing rule

what is the 3-3-3 rule for packing