When we tell people that we are full-time travelers and we travel with just carry-on luggage, they are usually amazed.
We know people who take multiple suitcases when they're going on a one-week vacation,
and when I see these backpackers with these huge massive backpacks I just want to rip them open and see what they have in there.
We travel very light and in this video I'm going to show you everything that I own and pack and answer the question:
So let me start by showing you the bag I use.
Emily actually used this bag during our first year of travel but then she got a new backpack and so I took her old one.
It's called a mother lode junior bag from ebags.com. It has roughly a 40 liter capacity.
The thing I like about this bag is that the backpack straps can be tucked away so that they don't get caught on the airport conveyor belts.
The thing I don't like about this bag is that there are so many compartments and zippers and all of these compartments and zippers add weight to the bag.
The bag weighs about one and a half kilograms when it's completely empty, which doesn't sound like much but a lot of the budget airlines have a 7 kilogram carry-on weight limit.
I keep everything in this bag except for my laptop which i keep in this little messenger bag.
For clothes I'm definitely a minimalist.
I have five shirts, one nicer shirt for the rare occasion that we're going somewhere like visiting a church or an appointment at an immigration office or something like that where i need to be a little bit more dressed up.
If I were going on vacation I probably wouldn't pack a shirt like this, but as a full-time traveler it is something I need.
Then I have these four other t-shirts, three plus the one I'm wearing now.
If we are somewhere where the weather is cool and it's not hot and sweaty then I'll wear the same shirt two days in a row.
I know that might sound kind of gross, but if it's not dirty then why not, right?
But if it's hot and stinky then I can just do laundry more often.
I have two pairs of pants, this pair here and an identical pair that I'm wearing now except it's a different color.
These are the kind of pants that can be unzipped into shorts.
I know that makes me stand out as a tourist but I don't care.
It's nice to be able to easily convert them into shorts, and I think I'm going to stand out as a tourist no matter what I'm wearing anyway.
For footwear right now I just have these sandals and a pair of flip-flops.
I don't actually own a pair of shoes right now.
I wore shoes last year when we were in South America where it was cold, but here in Southeast Asia all I need are sandals because they're nice enough sandals that I can wear them even when I need to be a little bit more dressed up.
I also have one very light jacket right now, last year in South America I had a warmer jacket.
And then I have one long sleeve pullover which I actually haven't used in Asia.
And then I have this rain jacket which I have never used in all the two years we've been traveling, so I'm gonna actually get rid of it.
And of course I have underwear and socks but you don't need to see that.
I also have a pair of shorts for swimming, a hat, a watch, a belt that I'm wearing now.
And when I pack my clothes I roll them up and wrap them in rubber bands so that it compresses them down a little bit.
I don't have a lot of toiletries. I have a few disposable razors.
I have an electric razor with an attachable hair cutting clipper so that my wife can cut what little hair I have.
And then I've got nail clippers, toothbrush, toothpaste dental floss.
And then we share sunscreen and mosquito repellent, and then ibuprofen.
Next I'll show you my electronics. I have my cell phone. It's an old iphone 5.
I have this camera that has a nice zoom, and then this camera is actually pretty old we got this long before we became full-time travelers but it takes really nice photos.
Then battery chargers for the cameras. And by the way the only electronics I use for making youtube videos are my phone, this microphone, and my laptop for editing.
I don't have fancy GoPro cameras or drones.
I don't want to spend a lot of money to make youtube videos.
I just do these videos as a hobby not as like a full-time professional activity.
Now my laptop is a pretty high-end machine so it's a good laptop, but oh my it is so heavy even the charger for the laptop's heavy.
If I had to do it all over again I would maybe get a lighter laptop even if it's not as good.
I have a pair of headphones, this power strip power, adapters for international plugs.
I have this little thermometer, which I know that makes me kind of a nerd, but I like to know the temperature and it's small anyway.
And then we bought a luggage scale, since many airlines have a weight limit for carry-on and we need to know the weight of our bags before we get to the airport.
If I were going on a vacation I would probably just bring my phone an electric adapter and headphones and none of this other stuff.
But yeah we're not on vacation we're traveling for years at a time.
Now for everything else. We have two ATM cards which are from two different banks.
We like to have a backup bank in case there's a problem, although so far we haven't had any problems.
We also have a credit card, and then this is a small foldable backpack.
I also have duct tape that we've actually used quite a few times.
Then earplugs, pair of extra glasses, a luggage lock, neck pillow for sleeping on planes. We've got our passports and rubber bands.
Now we weren't actually planning to bring rubber bands, but when we were getting ready to leave we had them and just threw them in, and we actually used these a lot for sealing food containers, for compressing my clothes, and for all kinds of things actually.
We've used this little scrub brush for cleaning our shoes or washing stains off our clothes.
And then what else, we've got an umbrella, a few ziploc bags.
We do a lot of our own cooking and so these seasoning packs, they're lightweight anyway, so I bring them with us.
I talked about this Pacsafe cage in our safety video. I'll put a link to that video at the top of the screen now, but basically it lets us lock up our valuables.
Now this water filter has been fabulous. We can filter tap water and don't have to waste plastic bottles and it also saves us money by not having to buy water all the time.
And yeah that's it. Now again you might say why would you bring some of these things like duct tape on a vacation, but this is not a vacation for us this is our life and we use these everyday household type items.
Now if you were to weigh my backpack with everything in it, it comes out to be 12 kilograms, which is about 26 pounds.
And if you were to take out my laptop it goes all the way down to 7 kilograms which is about 15 pounds.
Now when we first decided to become full-time travelers and we started making our pack list we started worrying about what if we need certain things,
like what if we need a flashlight, or hand lotion, or a screwdriver, or something like that.
But we quickly learned that you can buy all these things as you're traveling, and so in hindsight we really had nothing to worry about.
So thanks for watching guys be sure to give us a thumbs up be sure to subscribe to our channel and also be sure to take a look at our website at snailtravelers.com to find out more about our world travel adventure.