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He who would travel happily must travel light.
-St. Exupery

I carried much the same gear for my entire trip. However, I sent my big monster pack home from Nepal and continued with a much lighter pack. If I were to do this same trip again, I would without a doubt go again with the smaller pack. At its worst, my first pack weighed in at almost 17kg! But by the time I got to Africa, I had slimmed down to less than 7 kg. So, it can be done, and comfortably as well.

    The Large Pack
  • 1 pair trousers
  • 2 shorts (one jogging, one with pockets)
  • 3 T-shirts
  • 1 nice short sleeve button-up
  • 1 nice long sleeve button-up (NZ and OZ only)
  • 1 Singlet (Tank top)
  • 1 swim suit
  • 3 pairs underwear
  • 3 pairs socks
  • 1 belt (woven leather type, my weight fluctuates wildly on the road)
  • 1 hat
  • 1 lightweight fleece jacket
  • 1 polypro long sleeve T-shirt
  • 1 gore-tex rain jacket
  • 1 pair glove-liners

  • Shower kit (shampoo, soap, toothbrush, toothpaste, razor, shave cream, brush)
  • Contact lens kit (Saline, AoSept, 3 pairs of spare disposable contacts)
  • Glasses (After I got over my vanity problem, I started wearing these more often in the dirtier areas as well as just to extend my contact solutions
  • First aid kit (aspirin, antibiotic creme, plasters (band-aids), thermometer, Lariam, Immodium, Benadryl, Iodine water tablets, sun screen,
  • Sewing kit (thread, needles, buttons, fishline)
  • Ear plugs
  • Padlock + lightweight cable (to lock pack to things - very useful!)
  • Torch (Flashlight)
  • Sink plug (flat rubber circle)
  • Camp towel + half (normal) towel
  • Toilet paper (for Asia onwards)

  • Sleeping bag (Only for NZ, Oz, and Africa)
  • Sheet sack (ala youth hostel style)
  • 1 sarong (bought in Bali) - extremely useful!

  • Teva Teradactyls (sport sandals)
  • Nike Air Madas
  • Air Mail paper, envelopes, pen
  • At least one or two large paperback books at any time (I'm a speed reader)
  • Money pouch containing:
    • 2 passports (US and Ireland)
    • Air Tickets
    • Traveler's Cheques
    • Credit cards (Visa, Amex)
    • PADI dive card
  • Health card
  • Large day pack
  • Large duffel (allowed me to spread out in hostels in NZ and Oz without losing security)
  • PUR Scout water filter

The backpack? It was an old Eagle Creek Travel pack. I don't remember the name of the model, and it is nowhere on the pack itself (remember the days when backpack makers didn't plaster their name and model all over the pack?). I am not sure of the capacity either, but it was around 65 litres. Big, black, and heavy. (The pack itself weighed over 3kg!)

By the time I got to Nepal, I was more than sick of lugging that big thing around. Also, I found it to be a matter of pride: how light I could travel. So at this time, I shipped it along with almost half my gear home. I put everything else in my large daypack. It was a cheap EMS 35 litre bag that never seemed to run out of room. No serious suspension system, nothing special in it's construction, yet I never had a complaint except for the time when one strap was cut in a boat explosion. After getting rid of the big pack, I was left with:

    The Small Pack
  • 1 pair trousers
  • 2 shorts
  • 2 T-shirts
  • 1 nice short sleeve button-up
  • 3 pairs underwear
  • 2 pairs socks
  • 1 belt
  • 1 hat
  • 1 lighweight fleece jacket
  • 1 umbrella

  • Shower kit
  • Contact lens kit
  • Glasses
  • First aid kit
  • Sewing kit
  • Ear plugs
  • Padlock + lightweight cable
  • Torch
  • Sink plug
  • Camp towel
  • Toilet paper

  • 1 sarong - extremely useful!

  • Teva Teradactyls
  • Nike Air Madas

  • Air Mail paper, envelopes, pen
  • Paperback books
  • Money pouch
  • Health card
  • PUR Scout water filter

I usually carried the following in my day pack:

  • Camera
  • 1 litre Nalgene water bottle
  • Guidebook (Lonely Planet)
  • Journal (sketchbook)
  • Drawing pens
  • Penny whistle
  • Swiss army knife
  • Spoon
  • Mini-atlas
  • Sunglasses
  • Passport photos (after walking completely across town to the consulate only to realize I'd forgotten my photos yet again, I carried them all the time.)
  • Small notepad

Lathi

Lathi

I find that most travelers carry at least one thing that makes them a little odd. For me, it was a walking stick I made in Nepal while trekking the Annapurna Circuit. It started out as a branch from an apple (maybe mango, I couldn't tell) tree fallen along the trail. I first cut it into a traditional Nepalese lathi, what you see the tiny old men and women use there. But by the time I was finished carving it five months later, it was covered end-to-end with Celtic knotwork and carvings, complete with eyes to observe my progress. I became very proud of it and it was my most treasured possession of the entire trip. Repeated attempts to buy or steal it along my remaining travels always failed. I used it to drive off overly persistent rickshaw drivers in India. It more than earned it's way as I trekked in Nepal and climbed Kilimanjaro in Tanzania. It impressed the hell out of the Masai in Africa, and raised more than a few chuckles as I walked down the beach in Greece carrying it. It also possibly saved my life in not just the figurative sense in Pakistan and Kenya. I rigged a loop on my backpack so that if I didn't want to carry it, I could just hang it from my shoulder. At the moment, the very same lathi (sadly cracked now) is hanging on the wall in my apartment waiting for me to travel again.

If you want more pointers on packing, check out The Universal Packing List by Mats Henricson.

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©Copyright Seán Connolly