No matter who you are, you’re human and you have essentially the same basic needs as every other human. How democratic.
This what you need to support all those needs and nothing more. Some people will tell you this list is excessive because they think their ultra-light austerity makes them better travelers than other people. Those fuckers and their hubris annoy me.
Is it true you could skip a thing or two? Sure. You could travel without a towel, but rentals would cost twenty times more. Likewise, you could skip a water purifier, but you’d go broke buying bottled or get poisoned by parasites.
If you’re an outdoorsman or frequent traveler, you may already have some of this. If you have a nomadic friend, you can maybe steal their stuff. If not, just buy it. If you start early, eventually you’ll find everything you need secondhand.
Few things that stir such tribal fanaticism among backpackers as packing cubes. While a well-organized backpack inspires a certain satisfaction in us all, you’ll meet people who lifelessly talk about climbing pyramids then light up like Christmas about cubes. It’s weird.
Hysteria aside, cubes are handy if you like to stay organized. I personally have one for the winter clothes I barely wear, another for my T-shirts and two more for underwear and socks. They’re all different colors, which makes finding the correct one easier.
Note: If you use them for clothes, the contents must fit snugly inside, otherwise, everything will flop and bunch up.
My privacy policy is simple: I don’t share your information.
Yea, it’s just a name, email and nationality, but I’m sure there are people who would pay for it. My thoughts on that: fuck those people and fuck those fuckers who sell personal information to them. You’ll find none of that monkey business here.
If I get hacked and your info get stolen, I’ll shoot you a note to let you know. I don’t deal in passwords, credit cards or anything like that though, so there’s almost nothing for anyone to take.
To see the full privacy policy — it’s pretty boring and cost me a lot of money — you can follow the link at the bottom of the page or in the confirmation email.
Your closet for your entire travel — NO suitcases!
Minimum 45 liters, but 50–60 is better. Must be waterproof and lockable to prevent opening and outright theft. Internal frame with padded hip straps. Compartments are very helpful.
For carrying essentials: wallet, phone, charger, water, tampons, medication, etc.
Select a bag based upon what you expect to carry. If that’s a few small things, a fanny pack. If it’s a laptop plus the basics, an ultralight backpack.
Hostel rooms can sometimes get noisy, but you still need sleep.
Silicone is best for longevity. Use your phone’s earbud pads as a size reference and get them those that fit snugly. Bright colors are easier to spot when one falls out into the bedsheets.
Sometimes your hostel roommates just have to turn on a light at night.
Soft and lightweight with an elastic band. Black is best, because it absorbs light. A little bit of structure and a convex shape helps keep them from eyelids during REM.
For the bedtime basics, like lip moisturizer, earplugs and eye mask, jewelry, etc.
A small pouch that holds everything you’ll need while you sleep. A brighter color makes it harder to overlook when you’re packing up to leave town.
A secure place for room and locker keys so they don’t disrupt your sleep.
Softer is better, so look for all-fabric with some stretch. Must have a zipper. No corners, otherwise they’ll snag bedsheets.
The best way to ensure bags don’t disappear in communal luggage closets.
First, LOUD. Also, a cable with a head small enough to loop through zipper pulls. Place the alarm inside your bag during use to make it harder to discard and cause a thief to panic and walk away.
Not all hostels offer towels, and most who do charge to rent them.
Microfiber is easiest to wash and lightest to carry. Get a distinct color so your dorm buddies know whose is whose. Get one longer than you are tall for laying out at the beach.
Airline pillows are garbage and buses/trains don’t offer them at all.
Get one that sits flattest against the neck and solidly on the sides of the head. A cord that clips in the front is essential as well.
It’s good for the environment and many cities now tax disposables.
Should be ultra-light but sturdy enough to hold up to a full haul of groceries. Get a pattern to disrupt the shopping bag color codes shopkeepers use in some places to swindle you.
Essential for hostel lockers or even securing your bag in a storage room.
Keys are better than codes. Get multiple copies. Buy a lock that fits standard locker hasps and is difficult to pick and drill.
Some hostels have no laundry facilities and make sink washing impossible.
Honestly, Scrubba is the only brand in this category and they’re the one travel gadget I strongly recommend. They weigh nothing and double as a laundry bag.
Detergent is often a ripoff in hostel laundry rooms. Carry some sheets.
A waterproof bag is essential obviously. Should be lightweight and just slightly larger than the sheets. Conserve these and only use them when detergent is super overpriced.
Tap water in many places is undrinkable, so purification is necessary.
Two options: sterilization with UV light or filtering. Either is fine. You choose. Buy a Steripen for the former and Lifestraw for the latter. They’re the best and lightest.
Turns any sink into a wash basin if it isn’t blocked by a raised strainer.
These are literally rubber or silicone circles that cost almost nothing, so they’re all pretty much the same.
If you’re handwashing, you need to hang dry. This helps when there are no racks.
Latex stretches forever, which gives you more options for locations. Braids create gaps you can jam the corners of your clothes into. Velcro straps on the end help to secure it.
Some places are hot as balls with no A/C. Whether on a bus or in bed, you want air moving.
No batteries. Get a USB fan that plugs directly into your power bank. If it disassembles to prevent blades from snapping, that’s helpful too.
Stores the things that you don’t want to take into the shower where they could get wet.
Lots of pockets. At least two compartments. I like to hair stuff and teeth stuff separated, so whiskers from my trimmer don’t get into my toothbrush. A hook is really helpful too.
Stores all the things that go into the shower, including a wash cloth.
Should have 2+ compartments: one for bars of soap, shampoo and conditioner and another mesh one for a wet washcloth. A hook is essential, so is material that can be rinsed easily.
Domestic American air travel is a racket run by three major companies and a few smaller ones who effectively collude on prices to screw passengers and support their bloated executives and corporate structures.
Even regional jets, which are technically independent, are fucking death traps that I literally never, ever fly.
It’s not this way in other countries, because most people are sensible and see transportation as akin to a public utility. It’s therefore common to find flights on foreign carriers for under $100. I frequently see fares less $50.
Booking far in advance is therefore unnecessary, except of course in places where tickets sell out. Avoid the temptation to book months or weeks out if you’re just trying to save money. Not only will doing so lock you into dates you might regret, you may end up paying. Why? Booking sites now sniff for your computer’s location and display higher prices for foreigners.
Rude, right? Blame the mirror. We invented that.
First, some bad news for most Americans: automatic transmissions are as rare overseas as manuals are in the US. Unless you want to seriously overpay, make friends with someone who owns an old Miata and learn.
Second, anyone who wants to rent a car should obtain an international driver’s permit. This is easy — just 30 minutes at AAA.
When it’s time to rent, don’t get tempted by lower prices with small, local companies. Go with a big multi-national.
Understand your insurance situation through-and-through. Know the limits of your credit card’s automatic coverage and have a printout of the policy. If you can get a translated copy, even better. If you’re still in doubt after all that, just pay for their coverage.
Research the scams. Before you drive off the lot, walk around the vehicle and video record it. When you return the car, do the same. Also record yourself locking it and depositing the key in the night box if you return after hours.
If you get a notice from the rental company later saying you owe for damage or not returning the car, you can send them those videos with an E-vite to go get fucked. You might also copy tourist law enforcement, so they get fined to oblivion.
It’s tricky, but you need to basically study each country’s road laws and signs like you’re getting your student driver’s permit again. Most places have tricky rules, and they love to fine gringoes like us for violating them.
In Cyprus, for example, you can be fined for eating or drinking anything behind the wheel, even a Snickers. In Denmark, you’re legally required to look under your car before you get inside to ensure no one is underneath. In Spain, drivers with poor vision have to carry a spare set of glasses. Dirty cars are illegal in Russia, as is splashing pedestrians on a rainy day in Japan.
In some places, driving is really difficult. I pity any fool who tries to drive in Cairo. You can also very swiftly kill yourself on a German highway if you’re untrained. Driving at 120 MPH is far more complex than simply pressing the accelerator further.
Fare classes are highly inconsistent.
First class in one country is generally different to first class in any other. The same is true of second, third and so on. They vary wildly by country and system.
If it’s fiscally reasonable, I choose first for early mornings and overnights. They really are better, even just for security of your belongings.
The one time I settled for a second-class overnight, I had to physically fight a mouth-breathing Russian girl who was sweating vodka and wouldn’t stop burying her face into my lap to huff my underpants like Whip-Its. I wish I was making this up, but it’s true. I arrived sleepless, angry and ugly. It ruined my first day in Lisbon and I only had five. First class would have been worth the cost. Second class is my usual go-to. For shorter trips or anything after 9 a.m. I go second.
If I want an adventure, I go even lower. Some agents won’t sell those tickets to tourists though unless you insist.
Nomads and backpackers who don’t do the travel hacking thing usually buy cheap flights. Be careful of taking that too far.
For starters, you need to observe weight limits on baggage. In the US, no one gives a shit, but elsewhere they care. The care deeply. Never buy a ticket that forces you to pay weight overages.
Seats are also important, but not for comfort. I never take bulkhead or exit-row seats unless I pay for early boarding. Both offer less (or zero) under-seat storage, so being in a later boarding group puts you at risk of having nowhere to put your carry on — or as you’ll hear them called “cabin bags.”
I’ve even been on a flight where the attendant nearly made me check my personal item. I shut that down by threatening to create a scene and de-board, but I could have avoided it by paying $8 for priority boarding.
Countless people have asked if I used an around-the-world plane ticket for my first trip.
My simple response: Don’t ask dumb fucking questions. Also, no, I didn’t.
ATW tickets are nearly useless. They typically require you to book your stops in advance, so there’s too little flexibility. The fine print is also brutal and changes constantly.
Last time I researched them, the price was based on allotments of miles. The number of stops also changed the equation. All of them required you to choose a direction (east-to-west, for example) and none permitted travel in the reverse direction even slightly. Some airlines even insisted all departures had to occur from the same point as arrival, meaning if you traveled by land elsewhere, the airline penalized your mileage allotment.
I said airline there, but ATW tickets come come from a single carrier. Instead, you buy into an alliance, of which I believe there are still only three. Quite the lack of competition there.
ATW fares do lend themselves marvelously to itineraries where you go to a different city each month and make it the base from which you explore the region. This is something we’ll talk about later when we discuss hub-and-spoke travel.
If you have status with a particular airline, you may want to consider their ATW option — emphasis on ‘may’ — but be warned that flying everywhere robs you of some great experiences.
Domestic American air travel is a racket run by three major companies and a few smaller ones who effectively collude on prices to screw passengers and support their bloated executives and corporate structures.
Even regional jets, which are technically independent, are fucking death traps that I literally never, ever fly.
It’s not this way in other countries, because most people are sensible and see transportation as akin to a public utility. It’s therefore common to find flights on foreign carriers for under $100. I frequently see fares less $50.
Booking far in advance is therefore unnecessary, except of course in places where tickets sell out. Avoid the temptation to book months or weeks out if you’re just trying to save money. Not only will doing so lock you into dates you might regret, you may end up paying. Why? Booking sites now sniff for your computer’s location and display higher prices for foreigners.
Rude, right? Blame the mirror. We invented that.
The beauty of hub cities is the slow pace. How slow you take it will vary according to the number of side trips as well as your pace. If you commit to a month though, this introduces the possibility of renting an apartment. Even if you don’t plan to stay the full 30 days, apartment rental is generally very cheap. It can also make cooking easier, which also saves cash.
Cooking for yourself doesn’t have to mean eggs for breakfast and chicken dinners. You can dial up the adventure full throttle if you sign up for a greenmarket food tour and a cooking class right after you arrive. Not only will you know what to do with the local ingredients, you’ll eat better. Plus if you know what you’re doing, the vendors may screw you less, which will offset the price of the guide.
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