How to Pack a Bag for Three Months Travelling Abroad
Figuring out how to pack a bag for travelling abroad can be super daunting, trust me. It’s often a case of ‘where the heck do I start?’
Easy. With the bag. It’s important to think about where you’re going, the time you’re going, activities you plan on doing, and whether you want to save any money in doing so.
I picked my Osprey Fairview 40L because I wanted to save money by only having carry on luggage, and also have be able to travel with it easily. The best part about this bag is that is has a bottom compartment that allows you to zip up the backpack straps.
You can probably get away with a smaller bag for summer travelling, depending on what you plan on doing. If you need lots of special hiking gear, or your entire wardrobe of summer dresses and kimonos, you’ll obviously need a bigger bag. If you’re more like me and can deal with a few more washing loads per week, you’ll do well with a smaller bag.
An advantage of having a bag small enough to fit in carry on, is that you never get separated from it, and therefore have no risk of losing anything in transit (huuuge destresser in my opinion).
I have my bag, now what?
Now, time to decide whether you’re someone who brings the kitchen sink with you or not. While I was packing, I had to really think about whether I’d need everything I thought I would.
Jandals? (translated: flip flops, thongs) Nope.
Notebook? Nope.
Three sets of togs? (translated: bikini/swimsuits) Nope.
Full size towel? Nope.
What do I pack to wear in a bag for travelling with?
Kiddo, it’s up to you. I recommend looking at the season, is it summer? Is it winter? Is it in between? No use turning up to Greece with a sundress if it’s half under snow.
MY CLOTHING PACKING LIST:
- Shirts x5
- Cargo Pants
- Leggings
- Shorts x2
- Tank tops x3
- 1 Pair of Togs
- Hoodie
- Weather Jacket
- 4 Pairs of Socks
- 5 Pairs of Underwear
- Sports Bra x 3
I’m travelling through Europe right in the middle of shoulder season, turning from summer to winter. Instead of trying to pack a bag for travelling full of bulky winter items, I decided to layer instead. Tank tops, shirts, merino layers, hoodies and a waterproof jacket are enough to keep me warm. I’m also aware that I will be doing a lot of walking around, which should also keep me relatively warm.
The best part about having warm layers, is you don’t need as bulky of a rain jacket. I only have a shell wind-and-water resistant layer that packs down into itself.
Instead of packing jeans, I have opted for a pair of sports leggings, and some grey cargo pants that I can wear on top if need be.
Now is the art of fitting everything into your sack of choice. Luckily, some genius out there had a brilliant idea. Instead of trying to minimise what I bring, how about I just cram it in as hard as I can?
Enter stage left: The packing cell and compression bag
This bad boy takes care of my hoodie, linen pants, merino layer, dresses, beanie and compresses them all into the width of my osprey bag. They would have taken up a heck of a lot more space if I didn’t have it. You can pick up one of these for around $20 or $30, and they’ll save you so much grief with packing.
The packing cell is similar to the compression bag, except it doesn’t compress. These are generally a bit smaller, and can help you organise where everything is instead of having a whole Santa sack full of unorganised goodies at any one time. I have three cells, separated into shirts, pants and tank tops. I know exactly where everything is at all times. Underwear and socks are put into the built in compartment of my bag.
What about footwear?
Once again, this is up to you, but bag space quickly disappears with shoes. I have a pair of Hoka’s for hiking and my green Vans. If I do need anything else, it’s easy to gorget that I am going to an insanely more populated set of countries than my own. They’ll stock jandals if I need them, however the chances of me needing jandals in the temperatures of autumn are slim.
Travel Adaptors
To make sure you can charge all of your devices, it is SUPER important to have some sort of adaptor while you’re away. You can purchase individual small ones at the airport, however I invested in a global adaptor, that allows me to plug into anywhere, with any kind of plug.
Toiletries
As common as it sounds, stocking up on the travel size items while figuring what to pack in your bag travelling will save you. Especially if you have a carry on only. Keeping everything small will allow you to buy that trinket you wanted as a souvenir while you’re over there. Maybe leaving that hair straightener behind will help too.
Airalo E-sim
E-sims are the best thing since sliced bread. Most new phones come equipped with these. Though this isn’t physical, it can save you a lot of grief at the airports in different countries. Instead of getting a local sim card at the destination you fly into, you can simply activate a plan with Airalo, which will give you access to data and internet for WAY cheaper.
For example, I bought a 30 day SIM plan in Canada for $40CAD. They gave me a physical card which had unlimited texts and 2GB of data and was only valid for Canada, not the USA.
Airalo offers 3GB of data for $13USD, valid for a month. And that’s only one of their plans. If a week works better, you can shorten the length, and they also offer packages with more data available for a minimally higher price.
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