Usually its foreign foods, dodgy hostels and homesickness that travellers fear when booking a trip, for us it’s packing. When a fashion graduate and self-confessed gadget geek booked a round the world trip, the idea of fitting everything into only one backpack seemed harder than a task on The Apprentice.
Looking back at our mistakes, what we actually needed and what we wished we’d left behind (although at times this was each other), we have created a list of backpacking travel essentials that we cannot travel without. Whether it’s a weekend away or a gap year these items will save space, time and money to ensure your next adventure is the best one yet. These are all the must have travel items that we have on our backpacking packing list, why not add them to yours too!
THE BEST TRAVEL BACKPACK
Probably the most essential item on your packing list. Get it wrong not only will it break, leaving you and your dirty knickers stranded but it’ll leave your back broken also. For us we prefer a backpack instead of a suitcase, simply because it is far easier to navigate cities, packed metro trains and cobbled streets with your luggage on your back instead of dragging along wheels. We did thorough research before buying ours, the same way you’d investigate any new life long companion. There are so many reasons we chose this backpack and it’s survived many adventures including camping in Australia.
However, if you prefer the option of wheels, these are the best wheeled backpacks that can adapt to your trip offering the perfect compromise!
Osprey Farpoint 70 travel backpack.
THE POWER BANK
RIP to all the money we wasted on the army of battery powered USB portable chargers over the years. The ones that would work a few times and then give up (they’re £2 for a reason). We cannot recommend enough investing in a durable portable charger that you charge and lasts numerous times not just once or twice. This has proved a lifesaver for road trips as we use our phones as a Sat Nav so it guarantees we’ve still battery power to take photos once we arrive. Essential for music festivals, camping and to ensure you can snap every moment without your phone dying. We opted for the one below and never looked back.
Anker PowerCore 20100mAh portable charger.
THE UNIVERSAL ADAPTOR
If like us, you enjoy a little continent skipping, buying multiple adaptors requires money and space which backpackers are very limited of. This nifty device is a multi-regional adaptor which works in Australia, America and Europe due to the changeable pins. It also allows USB charging meaning the hairdryer and phone charger can be plugged in from power socket. Hallelujah.
Worldwide all in one universal travel adaptor.
THE HEADPHONES
When I found out how much Darren had spent on the Bose Quiet Comfort 35 headphones I went bat s**t crazy. Costing the equivalent of a plane ticket I hoped they performed miracles and I can now confirm, they do just that. Built with noise cancelling technology not only do they play all music, audio books and podcasts with HD sound (if that’s even a thing) you cannot hear a single thing around you. So, if drowning out the noise of your travel partner/hostel companions is essential to your backpacking success then add these to your basket now. They also connect via bluetooth instead of annoying tangly cables.
If like me, you are also a tad terrifying of flying I cannot recommend these headphones enough. During a flight I cannot hear a single thing from the engine etc, making me instantly more calm. If also like me, you’re a bargain hunter, I found a decent equivalent that are good sound quality and wireless. Not quite up to the Bose standard but a close second.
Bose QC35 overhead headphones with noise cancellation.
Bluetooth wireless headphones.
THE PACKING CUBES
Like matching Tupperware or handheld hoovers packing pouches were items I felt were reserved for only the super organised and not actually essential. Why not save myself the money and just chuck it all in? So, so wrong. Dedicate a category per pouch, for example underwear in one, dirty clothing in another, toiletries in another etc and hunting down items will become so much quicker than emptying the entire contents of your bag for one pair of pants.
No longer will you have to sniff to decide what’s clean or not, as you keep all the dirty separate from the wearable and at times we even packed an overnight pouch (just Pj’s, 1 change of underwear etc) so we don’t even have to take out all the cubes if we were in a destination for only 1 sleep. There are many reasons to use packing cubes but for us to be the best part is, I genuinely believe travel pouches mean you can pack more in your backpack, we now can’t imagine travelling without them. We opted for the Amazon Basics set of pouches, with one set per person and an extra set, because…Lauren.
AmazonBasics 4-piece packing travel organiser cubes set.
THE GOPRO
From the blue lagoon to beer spas, selfies with turtles to treks up mountains, the GoPro captures it all. This is number one out of all our essential travel gadgets. Although there are numerous new styles since, we find this one does everything we need both underwater or hiking high in the clouds. Note, some require you to buy an extra waterproof case and won’t be waterproof straight out of the box.
GoPro HERO8 black + 128gb SD Card
THE HEADTORCH
One of the best pieces advice we were ever given. Bring a head torch. Admittedly, I laughed out loud – Loz wearing a head torch, think again mate. However this is essential in so many places such as campervans and tents or sunrise hikes. It’s impossible to see the lava in Hawaii without one as you need to hike for 4 miles in the dark, our accommodation in Fiji requested we took one when we booked and so many sunrise and sunset photos would not be possible without trusty headlight help. Don’t count on your phone as batteries die and dropping my phone down a volcanic crater wasn’t on the bucket list.
LED USB rechargeable head torch.
THE GIMBAL
This word may sound like a small, mythical creature but in real life it is far more majestic. Essentially it is a selfie stick however, we feel like absolute numpties whipping out a selfie stick in public and the footage is so shaky anyway that we simply don’t bother. Until this game changer. It can hold both a GoPro & phone but counter-balances the weight as you move, ensuring smooth flawless footage. You can record panorama views without swivelling a selfie stick around – simply through the click of a button. Through the app you can even track your face meaning those awkward cut off selfies are no more and every person and their granny can now be a Vlogger with ease.
Zhiyun smooth Q4 handheld gimbal stabiliser.
MORE BACKPACKING TRAVEL ESSENTIALS
Stainless steel water bottle, eco friendly and perfect for camping.
AmazonBasics laptop computer backpack.
AmazonBasics DSLR camera backpack
BAGSMART electronic travel cable organiser.
E5577Cs-321 4G LTE mobile WiFi hotspot.
Seagate expansion portable 2TB hard drive.
Jasonwell giant inflatable unicorn pool float.
