Around the world,  Preparations,  TDM,  Travel Light

I live with 77 objects: Contents of my Backpack Around the World (for Men)

February 22, 2018 /

Note: this is the content of my men’s backpack, for the content of Anh’s women’s backpack, it’s over here.

When you go around the world, one of the constraints is the number of objects you take with you.

The airlines limit the weight of our luggage (usually between 15 and 20 kg) and we have to fit everything in a bag.

If it may seem difficult at first, this forced minimalism is finally a pleasure, almost a liberation. If I were to return to a more sedentary life, I would try to keep this philosophy as I think it contributes to my happiness.

These first 6 months of experience show me that with 77 objects, I have everything I need. I have the peace of mind of knowing exactly where each object is and I can easily find it whenever I need it. Any additional objects would be superfluous. The space constraint prevents me from “cracking” when buying unnecessary gadgets or souvenirs: if I want to add an object, I have to remove another one.

To live with few objects is also to allow oneself to privilege quality by putting the price on it. It sometimes hurts (70 € the T-shirt, ouch…) but I gain in comfort, reliability, solidity for objects that I use a lot everyday.

Today, the trend is to continue to reduce rather than increase. In the future, I would like to travel with only one carry-on baggage and no longer have any checked baggage. Before I can do that, I will have to reduce it a little more.

Here is the inventory of the objects I’ve been living with for the last 6 months, I’ll be as precise as possible in the references, it will allow me to easily buy them back if I lose one 🙂

Bags and storage

This hiking backpack suits me perfectly, it is solid and comfortable, many pockets make it easy to store. It also has a small removable bag that I use as a daily backpack.

The ergonomics of the bag allows the weight to rest on the hips and not on the shoulders, which changes everything! For years, I used cheap bags (Decathlon), the difference in comfort is considerable.

This bag is proposed with larger capacities but choosing the 65 liters was a good way to limit oneself voluntarily.

If you need a bag and you are in Paris, I strongly advise you to go to Le Vieux Campeur, the salesmen are very competent and will be able to advise you according to your needs and your size.

More about this bag in this article.

It can be used as a neck bag or as a shoulder bag, it contains my passport, my wallet and never leaves me. If there is an object not to be lost or stolen, it is this one.

Small bonus, it blocks the RFID waves, so it is impossible for a malicious individual to retrieve the information from my passport or my credit card.

A very small leather wallet to store my cards, it is always in my Eagle Creek bag.

  • Cardboard folders (x 2)

We use them to store paperwork and money. When we travel, I put them in the backpack with my computer.

Initially intended to compress winter clothing, we use it as a water bag or trekking in the rain, it has indeed the characteristic of being waterproof.

This product is little known but it’s great, it’s the lightest washing machine in the world!

We have devoted an article to him here.

As an accessory, we also use it as a dirty laundry bag. It is also waterproof so we also take it to the beach if necessary.

I have 6 in all (one for the underpants, one for the socks, one for the tops, one for the stockings, one for the pajamas and one for the pharmacy). These pockets are very practical because they allow you to make and unmake your bag very quickly and save space by making it easier to compress your clothes. In addition, the different colors and sizes allow you to quickly find the right pouch.

Shoes

Strong and comfortable sandals are what I wear on my feet most of the time.

Prefer rubber sandals, your leather sandals will be destroyed as soon as they take water. These have regularly tasted sea water, they are always impeccable.

I hesitated a lot between trail shoes and hiking boots. I don’t regret for a moment the choice of trail shoes which in addition to their daily use play the role of running.

They are strong and technical enough to do many hikes and treks. If one day they were not enough, I could buy or rent hiking boots on the spot.

Hiking shoes would have been much heavier and would have prevented me from running in paradisiacal places, what a pity!

NB: after renewing the same pair after one year, the model no longer exists 🙁 I switched to Asics Gel-Fujitrabuco 6 T7e4n – Size 47

  • Pair of flip-flops

A pair of flip-flops bought in India, I use it mainly when we stay in a place with a cleanliness that leaves something to be desired. Otherwise I love to be barefoot, much to Anh’s despair 🙂

Clothing

I only have one pair of pants, but what a nice pair!

Feeling hot? It turns into Bermuda shorts.

A cold snap? I’m ironing my pants.

Pockets close with a zipper which greatly reduces the risk of loss or theft of their precious contents.

  • Bermuda shorts

A nice pair of Bermuda shorts bought years ago in Vietnam. I use it when the convertible pants are dirty or the (rare) times I want to dress a little more elegantly.

This belt has a secret pocket. Hidden in it are dollars and copies of our passports that will allow us to turn around if we get robbed (hoping that our kidnappers won’t go as far as asking me for my belt).

A nice little detail: it doesn’t have a metal buckle, so I don’t need to remove it during security checks at the airport.

Merino wool is expensive but it has only advantages. It’s strong, breathable, it doesn’t smell, it dries very quickly.

Indispensable.

Same as above

I add it on top of my short sleeve T-shirt when it’s cold, but not enough to put on my fleece.

I use it regularly in Asia where they have the very bad habit of turning the air conditioning on too loud or in airplanes.

Linen is very pleasant to wear when the sun is strong. Anh likes it a lot, it’s more elegant than a T-shirt 🙂

I really like this raincoat that provides perfect protection from rain and wind.

Its rigid hood is very well made.

I used it in the Alps at 4000 meters of altitude by -20°C so I guarantee that it is effective (well, I had other layers of clothes, don’t go to Mont Blanc only with this raincoat ^^).

  • Sport shorts

For jogging

Cuvee 2014 (the one with the vintage collar), I use it for jogging.

It is very pretty and delighted my franchouillard side.

Very useful if you go to areas where it is cold. I used it for the first time in Ushuaia, Argentina.

  • Bonnet

Bought when we arrived in New Zealand, after 3 months in Asia, I was too cold!

  • Pair of merino wool mittens

Same as the cap

  • Uniqlo Nylon Boxers (x 5)

Lightweight, breathable and fast drying, nylon is ideal for underwear.

Bought at the Old Camper, the Bamboo fiber is naturally anti-bacterial, soft and has a strong absorbent power.

Very pleasant to wear, it also seems to be environmentally friendly.

  • Short sleeve pyjamas
  • Long sleeve pyjamas

Two pajamas are probably one too many. If I had to keep only one, I would keep the long sleeves. It is indeed the best rampart against mosquitoes and other nocturnal enemies.

  • Swimsuit
  • Cap
  • Disposable Poncho

Indispensable in monsoon weather. No need to buy it before leaving, you will find it everywhere in Asia.

Hygiene / Health

  • Toiletry bag
  • Toothbrush
  • Toothpaste
  • Deodorant
  • Marseille Soap
  • Razor

I used to have a Gilette razor but it broke. It’s impossible to find the right blade references in every country anyway.

Since then, I’ve been using Bic disposable razors, which can be found everywhere and are very good.

No shaving foam, I use Marseille soap.

  • Hand nail clippers
  • Nail scissors for feet
  • Fine scissors for nose hairs

It’s been a few months since I started having nose hairs sticking out of my nostrils. I’m not particularly pretty but I must admit that it’s quite unattractive.

I just read that this growth was related to an increase in the hormone dihytestosterone. This hormone is responsible… for baldness and develops with age.

This explains that… Little blow to the morale, take that in your face!

So I equipped myself 🙂

  • EDC Survival Kit

Always in my pocket, read the article here to learn more.

Nothing is more unpleasant than having dirty glasses, these microfiber cloths are perfect.

  • First aid glasses

It’s one of my hauntings: breaking my glasses in a crowded corner and struggling for days before I can replace them. So I have a pair of emergency glasses. I ordered them from Sensee, an online optician at a discount price, and it’s made in France.

  • Sight sunglasses
  • Glasses case
  • Anti-pollution mask

Purchased urgently upon our arrival in Kathmandu, Nepal, one of the most polluted cities in the world and literally unbreathable. It has since been used in several cities in Asia, in Hong Kong for example. No idea of the effectiveness but it helps psychologically and it improves at least the sense of smell.

  • Airomir

I am sensitive to dust and pollution and may have respiratory problems. I feel much better since we left Paris but I have my Airomir as a precaution (I seem to have used it only in Katmandu)

A cotton towel takes up a LOT of space. Drying with a microfiber towel is a little less pleasant but it is much more compact and dries quickly.

  • Pharmacy kit

Dedicated article here.

Aspirin, bandages, disinfectants, treatment of diarrhea, water purification tablets, antibiotics… I won’t go into detail about our kit but it’s not to be neglected when we leave for a year around the world.

I find it takes up too much space but it’s reassuring to have a minimum to deal with in case of a glitch. I was very happy to have disinfectant and bandages when I opened my heel just before visiting the Taj Mahal ^^.

To put together this kit, I advise you to discuss it with your travel doctor who will give you your vaccinations. He or she will be the most competent to know what to take according to your destinations and will be able to give you a prescription.

Not used yet and I hope not to touch it until the end of the trip.

We rarely use it but are happy to have it available when we sleep in a bed where the sheets have obviously not been washed for some time.

  • Antibacterial gel

We used it conscientiously before each meal at the beginning of the trip to avoid the joys of the tourista. We have to admit that we have been much less rigorous for a long time.

It’s not right…

High Tech

Indispensable of course. I advise you to choose one with several USB ports, it’s very practical.

Note that if you are going to South Africa, you need a specific adapter. So far this is the only country we have visited where the universal adapter did not do the job.

In spite of our wishes of minimalism we still have a little bit of material. This USB hub that we connect to the computer or to the universal adapter allows us to recharge everything at the same time. Since then, I adopted a universal adapter with 4 USB ports

Public wifi is good but it’s not the most secure.

This router allows you to create, from a wifi or a public box, a private wifi network reserved for our devices.

This improves security and avoids having to enter new wifi passwords on all our devices every time we change locations.

Another advantage, the router will increase the wifi range.

Small drawback, it isn’t always the easiest to configure.

Update: since then, we switched to the Huawei Wifi pocket repeater, easier to configure

  • Smartphone Samsung Galaxy J2

After blowing up my previous smartphone by dropping like a sea** in Bhaktapur, Nepal, I bought this smartphone which is only sold in poor countries.

As much as I don’t recommend it, its memory is so limited that the number of installable applications is quite small.

I’m still upset that I broke my phone, so for now I’m keeping it.

Each time I arrive in a new country, I buy a local sim card which allows me to have the phone and especially data.

Update : since then, I switched to Huawei P30 which takes very nice pictures

  • Vintage Nokia phone

I kept my French SIM card with a 5 euros subscription to be reached in case of emergency.

In practice, it is usually at the bottom of the bag, often unloaded. In any case, the periods when we are cut off from the world without the internet are quite reduced.

Still useful to receive validation codes from banks for online payments.

Note that my Samsung Huawei has the particularity of being dual SIM. I stopped using it as a dual SIM after a huge scare when I thought I had used 2 GB of data while roaming… It vaccinated me…

This is my very first mac, bought in August 2013 and it is still faithful to me despite a very intensive use. Fast, reliable and very light, it has everything to please. I was even able to replace its battery for a price defying any competition in Ho Chi Minh City, it has regained its health for two years.

If I had to choose 5 objects to live on a desert island, it would definitely be part of the trip. Several thousand books in a 150 gram device offering unequalled reading comfort, what a great invention! It just lacks the pleasure of feeling the paper, maybe it will be for a future version?

I left with a tactile Kindle. You can’t quite say it’s given up, but when the “tactile” of a 100% tactile device doesn’t work anymore, it’s a bummer…

Thanks to Anh, I was able to buy a used one in Nha-Trang, Vietnam. An old model, my favorite, with side buttons on both sides to turn the pages 🙂

Even though I love my Mac, I prefer working with a mouse rather than a trackpad, so I took my mouse on a trip.

However, I have to admit that I have used it very little since we left, so much so that it felt weird when I used it earlier to write this article.

  • Ethernet adapter for mac

Never used until now

If you rent a vehicle for at least 15 days, the purchase of a GPS should be seriously considered. Indeed, the rental prices of GPS are exorbitant (at least 10 euros per day).

Having planned more than a month of rental between South Africa and New Zealand, we bought this GPS which we are very happy with.

The smartphone + Google Maps option isn’t really one: you will be limited by your data volume and some areas aren’t covered by mobile networks (even in New Zealand). Some countries cannot be downloaded offline on Google Maps.

I always carry it with me 100% loaded when I need it. With a capacity of 6000 mah, you can fully charge a smartphone.

We are using it less and less, having considerably reduced our cinematic ambitions. The wide-angle effect still allows us to take very beautiful landscape pictures and we use it to take pictures in water. We have since bought a mini tripod which is also used as a selfie stick.

This is the kind of object absolutely out of price (300 € for headphones!!) whose quality is such that you never regret your purchase.

I regret it all the more since I got it second-hand at half price (thanks Leboncoin).

In addition to offering a very high quality sound, these earphones reduce the surrounding noise, it is very effective and very pleasant when making long trips by plane, bus, train, boat, … with loud engine noises.

If I had more space, the helmet equivalent is even more impressive.

Miscellaneous

I may be a digital person at heart, but I always carry a notebook with me. I bought it in India, it’s very nice but I don’t like to write on this handmade paper, so when I’m done, I’ll buy a Moleskin. It’s a terrible boo-boo but I assume, I like the object and it’s a pleasure to write on this paper.

Convenient for hanging laundry, hanging an object, …

Used to close my backpack when flying. This is obviously anything but a 100% guarantee. However, it limits the risks of theft, as airport employees have the unfortunate tendency to use them when the pockets are too easily opened (we had a Swiss Army knife, an umbrella and carabiners stolen from different airports). The padlock will also allow you to secure your lockers in youth hostels.

You can make fun but it’s very useful to always have one with you 🙂

Here is the complete inventory of everything I own 🙂 If you have ideas for improvements, I’m interested.

Related posts:

  1. Digital Nomad: Indispensable Computer Tools & Accessories
  2. Transfer photos from your SD card to an iPad or iPhone using an adapter
  3. Comparing Icebreaker’s Merinos Wool T-shirts to Decathlon’s
  4. Everything in my (women’s) Backpack for the Round the World Tour – 26L + 10L – 7/8kg

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