WHAT TO PACK FOR TRAVELING THE WORLD
So you’ve decided to travel the world. First off, congratulations!
This post is specifically for the ladies as we have quite a few details to consider when choosing our round the world packing list.
Before we get into what I actually brought with me around the world, there are some considerations to be made.
- WHERE ARE YOU GOING?
- WHAT TYPE OF BAG ARE YOU LIVING OUT OF?
- WHAT DO YOU PLAN TO DO WHILE TRAVELING?
- HOW OFTEN WILL YOU BE TRANSFERRING LOCATIONS?
These determine things like;
- the coats and layers you’ll need,
- shoe selection,
- the allotted space you have to fill,
- how light your bag needs to be,
- what electronics you’ll need to bring (which will likely need to be in a carry-on) etc.
THE BIG PICTURE
Below I provide some background on my situation just so you understand the context of my packing list.
We planned to travel slow – a month in one place at a time with a few 4-6 week faster moving pockets here and there (like in Europe). This is because I am a digital nomad, which means I needed to work on the go. My business also requires that I have access to weights and gym equipment. I needed to be able to lift weights and create content. It is much cheaper to buy a month gym membership than to pay 3 weeks worth of drop in fees. Needing to workout daily also meant my attire needed to be multi-use. Think athlesiure – I needed clothing that could go from the gym straight to the town.
This also meant I had an entire carryon full of electronics that I guarded with my life. See my electronics post here. I was packing several thousands of dollars on my back (also why you need to strongly consider travel insurance. We use World Nomads because they’re really just the best for the adventurous type).
Knowing we’d have some 4-6 week faster moving pockets of travel, we packed LIGHT. After our three week trip to Spain, nine months prior to our RTW trip, we knew we wanted to pack WAY lighter.
So, we mostly planned slow travel but needed to be light for those more mobile time periods. We also were NOT following the weather. Being from the gorgeous Pacific NorthWest we love having seasons. If you plan to just follow nice weather you will be able to pack lighter than we did. On top of that, we like to explore. This means hiking worthy shoes AND winter boots + warm, layer-able clothing options. Yes, you can always pack less and buy as you go, but I am a prepared freak and wanted to take as much multi-use clothing as I could without having to buy things along the way. But you do you. To each his/her own.
In conclusion we needed:
- A LOT of electronics (separate post about that here)
- To pack light as far as clothing
- Multi-season options (winter in Europe and South America)
- Active wear in addition to “normal clothing.”
Now for the details. Below you will find EVERYTHING we brought. The clothing and accessories are mine. The electronics were dispersed between my husband and myself which you will also see in this post.
CLOTHING, ACCESSORIES, TOILETRIES
First off, I took out the mustard dress and sweater because I had enough sweaters, needed room and the likelihood of wearing the dress often was just not real life. So they stayed home.
Starting with the SHOES and working our way up:
Reebok cross trainers (everyday wear + lifting shoes)
Adidas Terrex Agravic Speed in coral (hiking/running/everyday wear)
Chacos Barbary Waterproof Boot in nickel gray (hiking/winter)
Born Sandal in light brown (warm weather, dress up)
Jackets
Patagonia nano air in medium (color no longer available) – (lightweight, breathes, and packable)
Patagonia nano storm in black, medium (winter/fall – waterproof)
Tops
1 White Athleta long sleeve (sleeping, working out, layering, everyday wear)
1 Gray Crewneck Wool Sweater (layering, breathable)
1 Eddie Baurer Cowl Neck Sweater (Layering, warm)
1 Cotton T-shirt
5 Cotton or dry-fit Tanks (for working out + everyday wear)
- 2 Reebok Women’s Heather Jersey Tank (in mediums, White and Light Gray – I like longer tanks)
- 2 Victoria’s Secret High Neck Racer Backs (in XS, Gray and Black)
- 1 Light Peach Low Cut Tank (because ya girl needed something besides black gray and white)
1 neutral, nice, light weight tunic/tank top (for nicer occasions) – from Target
1 Longline Cardigan (for nicer occasions and warmer weather) – exact product was from Charolette Rouse, asos is linked.
Dresses
1 Black high-low racerback dress from Forever21 (multi-use, best freaking dress ever and doubles as a swim coverup or nighty).
Below you can see me wearing the dress during our Spain extravaganza. Also, the sandals were super cute from Euro Soft but tore my ankles to shreds…so they didn’t make the RTW cut (no pun intended).
Bottoms
2 Pants
- 1 Mountain Hardware (caramel color – heavier and durable)
- 1 Eddie Bauer lightweight (purple – almost like scrubs)
Below I am in San Sebastian Spain wearing the Eddie Bauer pants as well as the cowl neck sweater and the Patagonia ball cap.
3 Leggings
- 1 Black Workout Obsidian Regalia Tights (workout/everyday)
- 1 Olive Old Navy Metro Style (workout/everyday) – exact style not linked, but color and close style are linked
- 1 Black Under Armour Fleece Lined Leggings (winter/layering/lounging)
3 Shorts
- 1 Nike Workout Short
- 1 Columbia Dry-fit (Hiking/everyday)
- 1 Gap Gray Linen (sleepwear and nicer occasions/everyday wear)
Sweats
1 pair of Adidas Sweatpants (sleepwear and winter)
Swimwear
2 Swim Suits (Both pictured below – wanted both to be athletic but classy, and simple as I’d be wearing only these exclusively all year)
- Both from Aerie. Both were on close out, but I HIGHLY RECOMMEND this brand. Their suits are linked here.
Undergarments
Socks (5 pair)
- 2 Smartwool No Show Run
- 2 REI Wool Crew socks
- 1 Smartwool Crew sock
Why wool? It’s warm but breathes and doesn’t hold smells. All needed when traveling long term and working out daily…
Underwear (12 pairs)
- 7 pairs of seamless thongs
- 5 pairs of night time panties (keeping it so real okay?). You get to pack what YOU need.
ACCESSORIES
Headwear
1 C.C. Beanie (in rust)
6 headbands
- 4 Prana Women’s Organic Headband
- 2 Non-slip Moisture Wicking Headbands (black and gray set)
Scarfs
1 Lululemon Vinyasa Reversible Wrap Scarf (this thing is freaking amazing, mine is black on one side and small stripes on the other – as pictured).
1 lightweight fringe end black scarf (doubles as a sarong)
Sunglasses
1 Rose Colored Guess Brand
1 Black (not-pictured – from Target)
TOILETRIES
Makeup
- Tarte Cosmetics: Cheek and lip palette (it was limited edition but I highly recommend finding a multi-use palette)
- IT Cosmetics: Bye Bye foundation (my absolute favorite foundation I’ve ever used – lightweight but buildable, doesn’t break me out).
- 5 pack + Additional of Ardell Whispies Fake Lashes (only God can judge me)
- Kiss Strip Lash adhesive with aloe
- NYX soft matte lip cream
- Carmex lip balm.
- 6 brushes from the B-SMALL 14 pc brush set
Skin Care
My all time favorite brand, Fre Skincare’s 123 Set. It’s the only thing I use on my face, and you can get 20% off when you use my code: FDBA here.
You’ll notice I didn’t bring and hair product, or straightener, curling wand, or brush. We buy toiletries as we go and It is not worth carrying the weight of the hot tools around in my opinion. As long as the airbnb’s and hotels have a blow dryer, I’m good.
Well there you have it!
Everything pictured went into my Osprey Farpoint 55L. Like I said, you can see an in depth breakdown of our electronics and bags we used for carry-on’s by clicking here.
**some of the links on this page are affiliate links and I may make a little extra cash if you use them**
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