Dreaming of a long holiday or sabbatical? This guide shares my minimalist packing strategy which I use every time I travel on longer holidays. This packing list was especially helpful during my two sabbaticals. The first was six months backpacking around South East Asia, and the second was nine weeks in Mexico and Ecuador. During both sabbaticals, I experienced all kinds of weather conditions and varying temperatures, which made packing really challenging. I chose to travel light, taking only a 40 litre backpack and smaller day bag to avoid paying airline charges and to save myself from lugging heavy bags around!
In this blog post, I share how to travel light while still feeling prepared, with practical tips on choosing versatile, multi-purpose items that save space and keep you comfortable on your journey, no matter where it takes you. I will also include specific items that I own and strongly recommend. Lots of these items are on sale at the moment, so you can be well-prepared for your next trip AND grab a bargain!
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Carefully Curate Your Clothes and Accessories
When packing clothing, shoes and outerwear for a long-term backpacking adventure, it’s important to choose clothes that you can mix and match, focusing on versatility and comfort.
- Select lightweight, quick-drying fabrics like cotton and linen for your everyday items, like shorts, dresses, skirts, and T-shirts.
- Opt for layers, especially if you’re going somewhere with changeable weather. I always bring a waterproof, hooded jacket, a cardigan or thin jumper/sweater, and a hoodie for warmth. Even if you’re travelling somewhere hot and tropical, you might find yourself somewhere with the AC blasting and you’ll be grateful for the added layers.
- Pack a few colourful items to add some variety and excitement to your outfits. Neutral colours are definitely more versatile, but it’s easy to become bored with your clothes during a longer trip if you are living in a monochrome wardrobe of black, white and grey.
- Think about the activities you will be doing and what specialized clothing you might need. Swimwear, hiking trousers, hiking shorts, and leggings are all useful additions depending on where you’re going and what you plan to do there.
- Bring a scarf, which serves multiple purposes. It can be a makeshift pillow on a long journey, a useful cover-up when visiting religious sites, and a wrap-around on chillier evenings. You can even buy a beautiful lightweight scarf with hidden zipper pockets – perfect for carrying your passport, money, phone and other valuables safely and discreetly.
- Don’t forget the basics (spoken as someone who once travelled to Italy for five days and forgot to bring any socks!). Pack sunglasses, a sun hat, and enough socks and underwear to last a week or so before you have to get laundry done.
Choose your footwear wisely
Trainers/sneakers, flip-flops, hiking shoes, and waterproof shoes cover all scenarios from city strolls and steep hills to rocky pebble beaches and slippery trails. I love my comfortable Jack Wolfskin hiking boots and wear them for all long distance walking, hiking and anywhere with muddy, uneven ground. Finally, organize your clothes using packing cubes. I use packing cubes to group my clothes by category (like putting all tops into the same cube), stay organised and maximize space by squashing the cubes and squeezing the extra air out. I’ve been a packing cube convert since 2019 and wouldn’t travel without them!
It’s also a good idea to pick up an ultra-slim handheld clothes steamer. Although I am a backpacker at heart, I don’t want to look like a disheveled slob so this clothes steamer is perfect for smoothing out wrinkles after squeezing your clothes into packing cubes.
Must-Have Health & Toiletries Items
- Basic toiletries like a toothbrush, toothpaste, natural shampoo bars (vegan, cruelty free, and eco-friendly, and don’t count towards your liquid allowance!), soap, hairbrush, floss, hair ties, and deodorant.
- This essential first aid kit (well-stocked with 92 items!) with antiseptic wipes, tweezers, motion sickness tablets, anti-diarrhea meds, and pain relief. Ideal for a range of scenarios like travel, camping and sports, making sure you’re always prepared Don’t forget plasters/band-aids – I always do a lot of walking during my trips and end up with lots of sexy blisters.
- If you take any prescription medicines, bring enough for the entire trip (with extras if possible) in their original boxes. If you can include your doctor’s prescription, even better!
- Sunscreen with high SPF and insect repellent containing DEET (2 compact bottles which fit within your liquid allowance!) to protect your skin and keep those pesky mosquitoes at bay.
- A portable, foldable handheld fan (this one has a 3-day battery life!). An absolute life-saver when travelling to warm countries, standing outside for concerts, festivals and outdoor sports, queuing for hours at tourist attractions and using public transport. If you’d like a hands-free option, this portable neck fan fits neatly around your neck and is almost 20% off!
Other Travel Essentials
- Anti-theft handbag: I use this to store my passport, ID cards, bank cards and money while sightseeing and on public transport. You can zip and lock the bag up in so many ways it becomes impenetrable. It is attractive enough to double-up as an evening bag and is worth every penny. If you need something bigger, this anti-theft rucksack fits a standard laptop.
- Portable luggage weighing scales (now with 26% off!). No one wants to get hit with overweight luggage fees, so I really encourage you to get one of these, especially if you like to travel with full suitcases! These scales are accurate, reliable and easy-to-use, so I always use mine to weigh my luggage before going to the airport so there are no nasty surprises!
- Reusable Water Bottle: Unfortunately not everywhere in the world has safe tap water. One day hopefully, but not today. So I travel with my WaterWell Water Filter Bottle (get 10% off your first order) which filters out chlorine, impurities, microplastics and other nasties. An added bonus, it reduces the number of plastic bottles I need to use.
- Portable Safe: Keeping your valuables safe is important, so for some peace of mind I recommend a travel bag safe. Pacsafe is a leading brand in this field, and their Travelsafe Mobile Safe is a good choice for backpackers. It’s lightweight, waterproof, and has stainless steel wire mesh to prevent it from being easily cut open. It’s not a replacement for a proper industrial safe, but it deters opportunistic thieves. I often use mine in my accommodation when I am out for the day.
- Padlocks: Ideal for keeping your luggage secure while using public transport or securing your bags if you’re staying somewhere without a room safe.
- Eye Mask: If you’re a light-sensitive sleeper like me, you need to get one of these. Hardly any light passes through it, and it’s very silky and comfortable. If you are really light-sensitive, you can buy temporary blackout blinds which you can stick onto windows using suction cups and adhesive patches to guarantee a deep night’s sleep!
- Travel Pillow: A must-have especially for long journeys. I particularly like this one because it has raised neck support for extra comfort, is velvety soft and squashes down to the size of a soda can!
- Lightweight Microfiber Towel: These towels don’t take up a lot of space and dry very quickly. Ideal if you’re staying somewhere which doesn’t provide towels, or if you’re visiting the beach on a daily basis and need a towel that’s constantly good to go.
- Disposable rain ponchos or a classic umbrella. These super lightweight ponchos slip easily into your day bag so you’ll never be caught unprepared in a downpour.
I hope you’ve found this packing list useful! For more ideas, check out my Must-Have Gadgets and Accessories for Backpackers in 2025 and Minimalist Packing Hacks Every Traveller Should Know.
What are some of your travel essentials that you couldn’t leave home without? If you’re travelling at the moment, have you brought anything with you that’s missing from my packing list?Â
Ciao for now
Izzie, the Curious Sparrow
Great post 😊
Thank you so much!
No problem 🙂 check out my blog when you get the chance 😄
Great blog, and I am already planning to buy the Tide sticks and the eyemask – I always have eye masks but these look bigger than usual and I like the fact they are silk as the ones I currently have can be sweaty.
One point about a money belt – I always wear one when on a long-haul trip for the airports and flights. We often have a lot of cash such as US dollars when travelling outside Europe as well as cards, and passports of course and big international airports are prime places for pick-pockets and thieves as they know travellers have money and passports on them and especially arriving in a strange airport, are usually distracted, looking around for the exit, for their driver or taxi, for the way to the airport bus etc. London Heathrow wasn’t called locally “Thief-row” for nothing!
How did you guys get on with the 40L + 20L? Would be very interested to hear if this setup worked for your 6-month sabbatical?
Hi there! Yes, it worked very well for us. We were limited in what we could buy in terms of bulky souvenirs, but we made space for some souvenirs from our trip. We also switched out some clothes (bought some new ones and discarded old ones). The bags were light enough to carry, and small enough to count as hand luggage so that was ideal.