Packing for longterm travel can easily cause stress before setting off. But it doesn’t have to be stressful!
If you aren’t travelling or planning family travel, this likely couldn’t be more boring. BUT, if you are, and you are like me in planning mode and wanting answers about what other families take, then I hope this is useful.
Here are the details on what else we took – aside from clothes – in our packing list of ‘other stuff’ for fulltime travel.
Organising a packing list for travel
Aside from clothes, the other stuff in our bags can be sorted into four further categories:
Lets take a look inside…
Medical – Packing For Longterm Travel
Definitely note that I am not a medical professional, so I can’t give advice on specifics that YOU might need.
But here is what WE took and what worked well for us.
Painkillers & Analgesics
- Paracetamol tablets (adult)
- Ibuprofen tablets (adult)
- Liquid paracetamol 100ml (child)
Antibiotics
- 1x broad spectrum penicillin antibiotic (adult – tablets)
- 1x course broad spectrum antibiotic (child – powder form)
- 1x Doxycycline tetracycline antibiotic (adult – tablets)
- Topical antibiotic ointment (not an ideal solution as can build resilience. We carried this but did not use it).
Anti-Inflammatories
- Loperamide Anti-Diarrhoeal Tablets (ESSENTIAL)
- Antihistamine tablets (adult)
- Chewable Antihistamine tablets (child)
Creams and Ointments
- Betadine Antiseptic Ointment 25g
- Crystaderm First Aid Cream (Hydrogen Peroxide 1%) 10g
- Pimafucourt Topical Corticosteroid cream 15g
- Savlon/Total Antiseptic Cream 40g
- Antifungal Cream 15g
- Lucas Pawpaw Ointment 25g (especially good for burnt lips)
Other
- Digital Thermometer (my Mum insisted we take one and bought this for us at Auckland Airport!)
- 5ml Plastic Syringe for measuring liquid Paracetamol for the kids
- Bandaids/Sticking Plasters, gauze and knee-grazing-size wound covers (good strong bandaids are essential, though you can buy budget ones anywhere)
- Female Sanitary Supplies
- Electrolyte Rehydration powdered solution to help treat vomiting and diarrhoea
- Tweezers
- Scissors
- 2x Safety Pins, clean needle and thread (this was primarily for sewing but was a lifesaver for prickles in Fiji).
*UPDATE: I wouldn’t change anything we took in our first aid kit. However, I do feel extremely fortunate we didn’t need use of the antibiotics. We did use the liquid Paracetamol on multiple occasions for the kids, as well as topical antiseptic creams.
It is also important to note in many countries in Asia (Uzbekistan, Kyrgyzstan, Thailand, Japan and many more) that Codeine is banned and highly illegal.
It’s important to know the contents of any medications you are carrying, regardless of whether they are prescription or not.
Check restrictions of each country before travelling.
Prior to departing, I visited our GP in New Zealand to discuss the contents for our medical kit and to get prescriptions for antibiotics and topical creams that we carried.
Toiletries – Packing For Longterm Travel
- Toothpastes and tooth brushes
- Insect repellant
- Sunscreen
- Shampoo bar
- Deodorant
- Light moisturiser
- Nail scissors, tweezers, and small penknife
- Hairbrush
- Razor and replacement blades (we are yet to find a non-disposable option!)
- Toothfloss
This park of our packing for longterm travel evolved a bit as we travelled.
We fast realised what we needed more and actually didn’t need at all…
We ditched the plastic shampoo bottle in favour of a shampoo bar.
This was spurred on by the far-too-visible challenges of recycling and plastic education in Southeast Asia. Plus we decided that hair product aside from shampoo was pointless and not necessary in humidity anyway!
Electrical – Packing For Longterm Travel
- Camera
- 2x Samsung A9 Lite Tablets
- 2x 1TB Portable Hard-Drive
- 1x MacBook Air
- 2x Basic Battery Pack (+USB chargers)
- Charging Cables
- 1x International Power Adapter
- 1x Multiplug USB Port
- 5x USB Charging Cables
- 1x MacBook Power Cord (multiple adapters)
- 1x Macpac Padded Storage Case (used for electronics).
Reusable & Other Things – Packing For Longterm Travel
Albeit it is not technically essential. But we would definitely not now travel in Asia without our own cutlery.
Seeing the plastic straws, chopsticks, cutlery and plastic bags handed out with drinks and food was scary.
We felt horribly responsible as travellers ourselves that we were part of the consumerism that was adding to their insurmountable challenges of waste management.
We found this small bag in Laos, a chopstick bag, and carry one each in our day packs – perfect for coconut-drinking-straws, morning-coffee-spoons, lunch-ready-chopsticks, and roadside-picnic-spreading-knives!
We carry 2x net Laundry Bags from Kathmandu (for dirty laundry), as well as a small container of laundry powder and our Scrubba Wash Bag.
I am claiming to have become quite the professional at hand washing travel clothes in any sink or bucket, but we also use our Scrubba for larger loads of hand washing.
We have now been carrying our Scrubba washbag for over FIVE years of full-time travel and it is still going strong!
It is a truly great option for washing clothes and laundry on the road.
Reusable & Other Things – Packing For Longterm Travel
Have you tried a shampoo bar?
We carry a soap bar and shampoo bar in two small reusable Sistema containers. Agreed it could be deemed old fashioned with bars instead of liquid. But they work!
We always carry a Reuseable shopping bag.
This one is only from our local supermarket in New Zealand. It doesn’t have to be fancy – just reusable!
Our trusty KeepCup is another staple of our packing list.
This is handy right from the first day you leave home to get a much needed coffee at the airport.
We use our KeepCup for hot drinks and cold drinks everywhere. It even doubles as a bowl for hot noodles if we are staying somewhere and need to be self sufficient.
It’s definitely worth it!
Is there anything in particular you would add to the list?
Something you wouldn’t leave home without? Or one thing you would change next time when packing for longterm travel?
Read more about packing for travel
- 10 Daypack Essentials.
- Our Travel Medical Kit.
- Our Packing List For Full-Time Travel: 2 Packs, 4 People.
- Packing List For India.
- Kids Daypacks For Travel.
- Electronics Packing List For Travel.
Useful links for your travel and travel-planning and packing
These are the companies we use and can recommend for planning and booking travel.
- Booking.com – The best all-around accommodation booking site that constantly provides the cheapest and lowest rates. They have the widest selection of budget accommodation. It is easy to filter and sort into price and availability with all the extras you are looking for personally.
- 12GoAsia – Book trains anywhere online.
- Skyscanner– This is by far our favourite flight search engine. They are able to search small websites and budget airlines that larger search sites often miss. We book all our flights through Skyscanner.
- GetYourGuide– Get Your Guide is a huge online marketplace for tours and excursions offered all around the world. Everything from walking tours, to street-food tours, cooking classes, desert safari’s and more!
- SafetyWing – A global travel insurance that covers people from all over the world while outside their home country. You can buy it short or longterm; and even if you are out of the country.
- World Nomads – Make sure you have insurance before further contemplating packing for longterm travel!