 I spent eight months traveling and living out of the backpack of 40 leaders. This one right here during these eight months of travel, I traveled all around Europe, North Africa, the Middle East and Southeast Asia to different climate zones. And today I'm going to share with you everything that I pack for eight months of travel. The first time I shared about this on my social media, a lot of people found it hard to believe is this going to be enough? And it's a legit question. There are a few things that helped me keep things to a minimal. The first thing is defining my goal with this backpacking adventure. Why am I traveling? I'm traveling to see the world, meet new people, learn about new cultures, learn about people. And not one of these things require me to look glamorous every single day of my adventure. And that alone helped me to keep my wardrobe practical and minimal. The second thing is defining the type of activities I'm interested in the most. Why am I traveling for? For me, it was hiking. For some people it can be surfing or scuba diving. That's going to define what your wardrobe is going to look like. So I use that to choose things that are going to be practical for the type of adventures that I'm interested in. The third thing is understanding that most of the travel necessities that are crucial for my survival are things that I can acquire while traveling. And then finally, telling myself that this is going to be a learning experience. This is the first time I'm going on a lenty backpacking adventure. I will make mistakes and that's okay. I will learn from them. And so today I'm sharing with you my mistakes, hoping that they can help you on your next adventure. All right. So we'll start first of all with my backpack mentioned 40 liters. This is a hiking backpack that I picked a long time ago from REI and it was practical. It was okay. The few things that I love about this backpack, it has a soft frame for your bag, which I think is very important because this backpack was heavy most of the time. So you want it to feel comfortable. I also like the fact that it has a separate compartment right here for my laptop because I packed my laptop with me. And the third thing, I like the fact that it's easy to open. So if I was going through a security check and they asked me to open my backpack, it's very easy. I just open it all the way. They can check what they need. And even for me, if I want to grab something, it's easy to open and close. The last thing is that it comes with its own rain cover. It rained on me in some countries and I was really happy that I had a rain cover. I packed two other backpacks with me. I start with this one because it's small. It's out here. I usually just use this carabiner to hook it to, to my main backpack. A day pack from Sea to Summit, ultra-sil day pack. I made a video about this one review. You can guys check it up here. This is a small 20-liter backpack. So let's say, for example, I arrive to a new country or a new city. I leave my backpack in the hostel because obviously you don't want to drag the whole thing. And then I take this one on, you know, just a small walk-in adventure around the city. I would just throw in a water bottle, maybe a camera and really things that you would need on a small adventure. And then the third backpack is another collapsible day pack. It serves kind of the same purpose. But what happened when I was traveling, when I left the US, I only had the Sea to Summit backpack. And then I just realized after months of traveling that it's not strong enough. I wasn't familiar with this brand. I got it off of Amazon and it's been working really well. As you can see right here, this is more of a backpack that you can even take. Let's say, for example, you are going on a hike or you are taking, I don't know, a boat tour or longer activities. It's got space right here to put in your water bottle. It's got more pockets. So it's a little bit more durable and stronger than the other one. And the reason why I added this one later on on my trip is because sometimes some airlines will check your backpack and they will ask you to check it in. For eight months, I was only asked once. I think it was Qatar Airlines. They asked me to check my backpack and they said it's way too heavy. This is not safe to be in the cabin. And so at that moment, I was very happy that I had this one because I want my laptop to be here. I want my cameras to be here. I want some of my toiletries to be here. And I didn't feel like the sea to summit was enough to put my laptop in there. This is what I usually wear around either my shoulder or around my waist. This is it's pretty wide. It's got a lot of space. So usually I would have my money clip in here with my IDs cars. I would have my passport in here. My phone charger, a power bank. I would have it in here. So really things that absolutely in my phone, I would throw it in there. And sometimes I can even fit my GoPro in here. It's pretty wide and inside. Let me show you. I have pads because you never know. It's got a lot of pockets. So if you need some space, I don't know, maybe to throw in some sim cards or some papers and I also have a pen in here. If you arrive to a new country, they might have a phone for you to fill. And also this time, they don't actually have pens available for you. So I like to have my own pen. Next thing's shoes. This is a pair that I bought just a few days ago, but it's the exact pair that I packed with me is the Solomon Trail Runner Speed Cross 5 for women. It's not as available in the market right now. I will leave links in the description if I can find it. But they have a newer version, the Speed Cross 6. And I have to tell you this is my favorite pair. I wore them almost every single day for eight months. They are super comfortable. I love the fact that I can wear them if I just want to go on a city adventure. I can wear them on the trail. I can take them running because they are trail runners. They are absolutely amazing and they are super soft from the inside. Hands down, my favorite pair of hiking or trail runners. So this one was my main shoe and then I packed flip flops. They're getting old. But this is a pair of flip flops that I brought with me because you want to if you just want to take a simple stroll or especially if you're staying in hostels and you want to take showers, you need a pair of flip flops. And then later on in my adventure, I added another pair of sandals. I really like them. They are super comfortable, especially when it started getting really warm towards Egypt and then when I was in Bali, Southeast Asia. And by the way, this is a dry sack that I always pack with me when I'm traveling. You just never know what you could use it for. This is a dry sack from Sea to Summit. Sometimes if my flip flops are wet, I just took a shower and I'm about to leave. I throw my flip flops in there. Sometimes if I have dirty laundry, I want it to be separated. I throw it in there. So I usually travel with two. I think on this trip, I had two of them with me and I was very happy with that. We'll move to talk about clothes. And this is the most important part, I believe, because this is where a lot of people struggle. You just don't know how much is enough. But before that, I want to share with you my packing cubes. Packing cubes are great in my opinion, whether you are packing for a backpacking adventure like this or even for a carry-on. In my mind, I just keep everything organized so that it's easy to pack and unpack. I know exactly where every item goes and things stay tidy inside of my backpack, which is very important for traveling for an extended amount of time. Otherwise, it's just going to get messy there. All right, so I'm traveling with the four of them. The first one is for my pants. This one for tops. This one for bras, underwear and socks. And then this one for some electronics. And I will show you exactly what I have going on. So for these packing cubes, I went with the brand Osprey. It's a brand that I like. They have great backpacks and travel gear in general. There were a lot of other brands with cheaper prices online. But I was a little bit concerned because I knew that I shoved things so hard that sometimes I feel like it's going to rip. So when I was choosing one, I knew that I wanted one that's high quality. And I'm so happy with this one because some days I'm like, oh, my gosh, it's going to rip, but it's so strong and you can see even the stitches around the zipper right here. This is durable, high quality. I highly recommend it. All right, so this one right here, like I said, underwear bras and socks. And my goal or the way I do this, I try to have enough underwear for the entire week, I try to do laundry once a week. Sometimes I can stretch it to one time in two weeks, but usually once a week. And I try to even pick my accommodation. Like if I'm staying a whole summer, I want to make sure that I can do my laundry there or I guess it's within walking distance to a longer mass or something like that. But this is not exactly what I packed, but it's pretty similar. So a bunch of underwear, some of them are athletic underwear for my hiking, long hiking adventures. And I packed only three bras with me. Yep. So I had one that was more of a sports bra. Super comfortable. This is actually a set. It comes with its own leggings that I will show you in a little bit here from R.E.I. Really, really comfortable. It's great for running or if you're going on a hike. And then these two, this is an athletic bra from Patagonia. I will link them in the description box and also in the first comment. And then this is just a casual bra, so three of them. And then I had some gloves with me because like I said, I was actually traveling in some regions that were really cold, especially when I was in Northern England, so I needed to have a pair of gloves. These gloves are marine wool. They keep you super warm. I am a big fan of marine war, especially for adventures in winter or for hiking adventures. Most of the items that I will show you will also be marine wool. This one is from SmartWall. I really like these. And also if you need to use your phone, they are designed in a way where you can use your phone while you are wearing your gloves, which is pretty. OK, so that's that. And then socks, mix and match enough socks also for the entire week. So I have some light socks, just casual. And then I had one pair with me because I knew it's going to get cold in some regions, even for if I'm sleeping throughout the night. Like I remember when I was in Tunisia, the hostel was really cold and we didn't have any heat for the whole night. So we were wearing socks like this was super helpful. So I had a heavy one and then the rest were just like, you know, casual socks. These are some of my favorite socks because they are pretty warm and comfortable. They have a built in liner and this liner makes them really different than any other type of socks that I know makes them super comfortable, great for hiking. So a bunch of them right here, like I said, I will link to everything. So, yeah, all of the items that you see right here, they can fit in this small packing cube, which is great. There you go. I have most of the pants. So I hope that this gives you at least some ideas. Obviously, everyone's going to pick differently, but I hope that it gives you some ideas of clothing items that can be really practical and useful. So this is a jumpsuit that I packed. It's all black and I really wore this jumpsuit for a good amount of time until I just decided to, you know, ditch it towards the end of my trip. Black is always a good idea. I feel like it just goes well with a lot of items. So I've got this jumpsuit and then pants. We're talking about pants. This is a layer, an underwear, per se, from Smartwools, also made of marina wool. And I packed this one for the colder time of the year. Usually I would wear it under a hiking pants if it's extremely cold outside. But I would wear it mostly just to sleep in it. So this was a nice thing to have. I'm really glad that I packed it with me. And then I had a pair of leggings, generic black pair of leggings, clatic shorts. So I only wore them for my runs because I was running when I was traveling, especially towards the end, I was trying to train for my full marathon. So I went on a couple of runs that would be, you know, the short that I would wear while running. Another thing that was helpful for many of the leggings that I picked, I really found leggings with a place for your phone with pockets like this in the side, I found them to be more practical than any other. So a lot of times I wouldn't wear, you know, just my normal leggings. I would opt for something with the side pockets this way. Even the one I'm wearing right now is actually black. Got this one from Costco, super, super comfortable. And it's got pockets in the side because sometimes, OK, if I have my phone and I make sure that it's protected and it's going to fall, especially if I'm running sometimes I would just throw it in the pocket. I've got another legging. I just feel like leggings are super practical. Like I said, I can wear them if I'm running. I can't wear them if I'm going on a hike, if I'm going on a city adventure, wear a jacket or something on top and you've got an outfit. So this is another one. This is the pair that goes with the bra that I showed you earlier. It's also from R.E.I. This is probably the most comfortable pair of leggings that I've ever had. Amazing. And it also has side pockets, just like the other one. Oh, I love this one. Thicker, hiking pants. These pants are from Prana. I got them years ago and I've hiked in them for so many years. They are super, super comfortable. And even if you are in colder climates, this will give you a layer of protection because they are a little bit heavier than your, you know, lightweight hiking pants. If you want to wear them like shorts, you can roll and then clip. And you can wear them as shorts as well. You will notice that I didn't pack any shorts with me. I'm just not a big fan of super short shorts. They're not comfortable for my size. So I don't go for shorts. It's just a personal preference. And then later on my trip when I was traveling in Egypt, I need something lightweight when it gets really hot. And that's what I mentioned earlier. You will be able to buy more on the road. That is a possibility. So don't stress if you don't know exactly what you need. So when I was traveling in Egypt, that was one actually of two pairs that I bought right there. Fun, colorful pants that actually have a slit right here. They look super cute. You know, you can wear them with the white or black top or, I don't know, maybe any of these colors right here. Super breezy and comfortable, especially when it's hot outside. Another pair of jeans that I almost forgot about from, which is from from Luvai. Super comfortable. I go for gray black. This is a color that I really like. This is the pair that I wore the most. All right, so we've got all of the pants inside. We'll move on to the next cube. And these are all of my tops swimsuit. I only packed one one swimsuit. And to be honest, this was way more than enough for my tops. I'm going to try to separate them because I packed athletic tank tops, t-shirts and layers, marine wool layers and layers that I would use in colder temperatures. So let me show you what I have here. So I have four t-shirts. I have an athletic tank top. And then I have a black bodysuit and I have three warm layers. So these t-shirts, some of them I packed from here, from the US. Two of these American Eagle t-shirts, I just bought them. I think it was in Egypt. Yeah, when it got warm, I just realized I need more t-shirts. But more t-shirt, there's no need to pack millions of t-shirts from here. So four and then layers. I'm going to show you the layers that I had. These are marine or warm layers that are perfect for cold weather. This is a black layer from Smartwool. If it's really cold outside, I'm going on a hike. I would wear a layer like this underneath my jacket. This is another layer. If it gets super cold, I would sleep in this layer. And this is a third one that I can just wear. You know, outside casually. These black ones are from Smartwool. This is from a different brand. I will link to all of them. This is great. I actually like the color. It's super comfortable. OK, so all of these layers to keep me nice and warm. And then in addition to that, this was my pajama. So when I am in hostels, this is what I would wear to bed. Although, to be honest with you, I used it. Not just pajama, sometimes like, well, I need to do laundry and I'm late. So I'm just going to wear this outside, too. A turtleneck top that was a little bit light, not super warm. I will keep this one outside with my jeans. This is what I'm wearing, let's say, on my flight. And then I packed this sweater from Patagonia. Super comfortable, keeps you really warm. And then in addition to this sweater, I had a jacket. So you can think about either a fleece jacket or a down jacket, but really something that can keep you nice, warm and cozy. Now that I'm thinking about it, I could have done without this sweater. It takes a lot of space and instead of packing sweater, I could have gone with more layers underneath my jacket. A rain jacket is also important for those rainy day. We kept our backpack protected. Now we need to keep ourselves protected. This is a rain jacket, a Gore-Tex rain jacket from REI. This is also the same rain jacket that I would wear on my hiking adventure. And it does a good job of keeping me dry. All right, so keep the rain jackets aside and we'll move on to this small packing cube. This is what I have. Some of my electronics, so just random stuff. I would have a battery charger for my GoPro. I have a bunch of cables for my watch. Maybe for my phone or for the GoPro itself. I have a cage for my GoPro and I don't know, a clip, camera clip. If you want to wear your camera on the side of your backpack, this is a clip from Peak Design and, you know, just a bunch of batteries. And I had some thread with me in case I have to sew anything while traveling, which happened a couple of times. So that's an important skill to have. Having all of the electronics in one place is certainly helpful. This is not the best way to kind of pack electronics, but it worked for me. This is a laundry mesh bag that I find useful when I have to drag my laundry to the laundry mat, let's say it's outside of the hustle, which happened a lot of times throughout my adventure. So it doesn't take that much space, so I usually just throw it in the side of my backpack and it's pretty useful. This is my bag of medication. If you have prescription medication, make sure that you pack it with you. You're going to be traveling for a long time and you will need more dosage. Talk to your doctor. They are usually accommodating. I remember with my doctor, I needed more pills and they said, OK, what do you need them for? I'm going to be traveling. All right, I'm going to give you more. So that worked out well to preventative medication. So if you can have some painkillers and you can have some medication for diarrhea for any digestion problems, make sure that you have those. And if you can get some antibiotics, although I think in the US here, you can't get them over the counter. You need a medical prescription. To get antibiotics, but if you are in a different country and you can get antibiotics, pack some with you. I got sick in Italy and I had a strong flu that stuck with me for almost a month. I was traveling while sick and I knew all I needed is just like antibiotics. Fight this and move on. I'm not giving medical advice. That was just my personal experience. I wish I had some antibiotics with me from when I was in Morocco, because in Morocco, you can get them without a prescription. Some antibiotics, lighter antibiotics, you can get them without prescription. So I wish I had them with me. But just to give you some example of what I have here, I have some ibuprofen. I have some new tablets for extra electrolytes. So I'm going on like strenuous adventures or long or long hike to keep me hydrated. I have some Pepto-Bismol for diarrhea. I have some Tums for any stomach and acidity problems. That was very helpful. And I have nail sporing if I have any cuts, some vitamin C. And I have some flu medication that I bought from Italy, medication that I bought from Indonesia. I also have an insect repellent that can come in handy in some countries. They come in different forms. You can even find them as a cream or a lotion like this one or a spray. So I thought I'd have with me. But medication, think about it. Think about what works best for you and try to be prepared. I'm going to move on to toiletries. This is my toiletry bag from Sea to Summit. I love this little bag because when I get to my hostel or I go to shower to the bathroom, I can hang it right here. Used to have a mirror, but I don't know where my mirror is. I'm sorry, it's not super clean. A lot of these things I didn't clean yet from my previous trip. I probably have to do that before my next backpack adventure. But up here I have tweezers and nail clippers. Very important, have those with you. And then inside a bar soap in a bar soap case, which is one of my favorite travel items, it just keeps your soap protected. When you take a shower and you need to throw it in your toiletry bag and it's still wet, this is a great way to keep things tidy. This is a little case from Matador. I will link to it as well. I have some daily moisturizing ocean. This is something pretty important for me from Siravi. And then I have a little travel brush, toothbrush, toothpaste. I went for medium size. This is my favorite toothpaste, Crest 3D white charcoal. And then I had a Carmex lip balm with some SPF to keep those lips protected. Argan oil, I think at that time I had coconut oil, but I just throw this in. Maybe this is for my next adventure. But just some oil that I can use for my hair, especially when it gets really dry, dental floss, aloe vera gel, in case I get exposed to the sun and I have some light skin burns that need to be treated, hand sanitizer, razor, more floss, hair ties, a bunch of them, wet wipes, an all purpose cleaner. This is one of my favorite travel items. This is a soap, a liquid soap that you can use to clean hands, face, hair, clothing, dishes and pretty much anything that's washable. So anything that's like twenty one in one is a thing that I love. So I always have this one with me. I'll say I need to, you know, I made a meal at the hostel. I need to clean the dishes. They don't have soap or whatever. I can use this. No shampoo, no conditioner because I didn't want any problems going through security, but then also like I mentioned earlier, you can always buy shampoo and conditioner at your destination or one of your destinations and you just keep using it. Also, in some countries, I was able to even buy small shampoo packets that are a one time use, I grab a bunch of them, get my hair washed and move on. This is what I like to call my little makeup bag, although I used to really pack that much makeup, so I had a hair clip, more hair ties and I repair cream also from Siravi just to apply underneath my eyes. I got mascara. Oh my gosh, look at it. It looks so beat up. Lip balm, so many lip balms and I can promise you that I barely use them. What do we call this? Is this musk? I think it's liquid musk. Just apply it like this for a smell of cleanliness. This is something that I bought, I think from Morocco. This is a pencil for my eyebrows, the little brush. Rarely use it and some gloss. Yeah, but this is my little makeup bag. I keep it very minimal. I don't wear makeup while traveling. I don't wear makeup anymore, to be honest with you. I stopped wearing makeup since 2020. And by that I mean like makeup with foundation and powder and heavy makeup. Usually when I'm wearing makeup, it's just, you know, pencil for my eyebrows, some mascara and then gloss or lipstick of some sort. But I focus on moisturizing my skin a lot and then applying sunscreen. I noticed that I don't have sunscreen here, but I packed sunscreen, sunscreen. I had two bottles with me. I had a specific athletic sunscreen that I like to apply. So I packed enough from the US. I'm going to show you which one I like. Simple sunscreen, but it works really well for me. So really for me when it comes to makeup or skincare, it was mostly hydrating and protecting from the sun and that was enough. These are a bunch of other items that I brought with me. This is a charger for my laptop. So I'm just going to leave it aside. And then I had a towel. This is a towel from PackTowel. Super lightweight and compact. So this is the only towel I had with me. If I take a shower, this is what I towel down with. If I go to the beach, that's what I would take with me. And sometimes if I am staying in a hostel where they don't have curtains to give you some privacy. When you are sharing the space with other travelers, I would use my towel to create my own little curtain. Sometimes it works. Sometimes it doesn't. OK, so that's the towel and then a hat. This is the exact hat I traveled in. It looks pretty beat up, but something to protect you from the sun. And then obviously sunglasses. So for me, my vision glasses were also my sunglasses. And this is a portable charger from OmniCharge. Very useful. I actually packed two portable chargers. One from Anchor, 20,000 milliamp. This one right here, super helpful. I used it when I climbed Mount Kilimanjaro for seven days and I was using it to charge all of my electronics for seven days. This is another portable charger that I absolutely love from OmniCharge, like I said. So the reason I like this one is that I can use it to charge my laptop. So let's say, for example, I am taking the bus to get from one city to one country to another. And I need to charge my laptop so I can use this one. This one is strong enough to charge my laptop. And I can also use the surface right here to change my phone wirelessly. And it's got enough USB ports. Absolutely amazing. This was a gift from Alex to me. And it's one of my favorite gifts because I was so happy to have it while I was traveling and I have a pillowcase. So this is something that I added to my travel gear months after I started because I just realized when I go to hotels, pillows, OK, maybe they're clean, maybe they're not. I just realized that I would rather protect my skin and have my own pillowcase. So I order the pillowcase every time I go to the hostel, I would throw the pillow inside it and I feel better. This is a buff. I always have a buff with me. So a buff, I can use it to, you know, keep my hair away from my face. I can use it to cover my head if it's really cold. You can also use it as a hair tie if you don't have a hair tie. A lot of things that you can do with a buff, I always love to have one. This is pretty much everything that I pack. The only thing that's missing is my camera, which I'm currently using to film this video. I was making content and taking photos and videos while I was traveling. So I had my camera that I'm using right now, Sony Alpha 6300. And I had a microphone, which is the exact microphone that I'm wearing right now. And I also packed a GoPro with me. I use my GoPro most of the time for talking videos and vlogging videos. If you guys want me to make a separate video about my filming gear when I was traveling for a long period of time, I will be happy to do that. But I try to also keep it very simple with my electronics and filming gear as well. Now that we have everything out here, I'm going to show you how it's going to be inside of the backpack and how I go about packing it. Let's go. I have the backpack right here inside. There are a few things that never leave my backpack, the padlock. If you go to your hostel, usually you would have some space to store your luggage. You want to make sure that it's safe and secure always. And then I always have an emergency blanket. You never know. And then out here, just have an extra packing cube. And I have a belt that I forgot to mention earlier. OK, so I will start, first of all, spray empty. I have some musk here to keep things clean with nice smell inside of the backpack. But I'm going to start with placing my laptop inside. Now I'm going to go ahead and start with my packing cubes. But before that, I like to start with the sweater because it takes some space. So it's going to be at the bottom of my backpack. And then I'm going to take the two heavy packing cubes. And we'll have them face each other like this. And then as I do that, I still have some space or a gap inside, but I'm going to start closing my backpack slowly. I will take this smaller packing cube and place it in between. And then I start closing the backpack. I can place my charger inside, get it out of the way. Let's say, for example, my funny pack and then the top pants jacket. This is what I'm wearing while traveling. So these items don't need to go inside, but I still have a towel. I'm going to pack my towel in and then as I'm filling my backpack, I'm trying to close to get things really smushed in there and contained. Probably going to get these smaller irons like my rain jacket. So I would roll my rain jacket. See, I love space. Laundry mesh just in the side of the backpack. Same thing with the pillowcase. OK, so toiletry bag. Oh, actually, before the toiletry bag, I just realized here I have my sandals and my flip flops. So place them inside. Same thing with my toiletry bag. So I'm going to keep this out. Electronic bags. And I'm closing as I'm pushing those items in. So make a bag, let's say, could certainly live out here. In my upper bag. There we go. So I have my portable charger out, which I usually need to be easily accessible for me, so I can just throw it in this outer mesh. Just be sure it's safe if you're traveling in areas where you have to be a little bit more cautious about your items. This is not the best place, but for right now, this will do. The small Seats of Summit Ultra Sill Day Pack. And it comes with a carabiner of its own. That I'm attaching to my backpack. So just going to go in there and it's going to stay hooked to my backpack like this. Same thing goes for this other day pack. It's also collapsible. Let me show you how that looks like. This is it. When I'm wearing it, I try to secure the hip belt because when you do that, most of the weight is now sitting on your hip instead of putting a lot of pressure on your back. They have these belts right here that you can secure to make it a little bit tighter. And then same thing goes for this belt up here. Also has a whistle. Many of these new backpacks do come with whistles right now. But this is everything that I really need. This is my backpack for eight months of travel. It's very heavy, but it's got everything that I really need. And I mentioned electronics earlier, like my GoPro and camera. Usually I come up with ways to make them fit inside. Otherwise, I would use this backpack to throw my electronics in there and then wear it in front of me and that usually works. If you guys have any questions or any videos about packing that you would like me to make, please leave a comment. I would be very happy to do if you found this video to be useful. Please give it a thumbs up. Subscribe to the channel and I will see you in the next adventure. Bye.