Work & Travel: Packing listYou are in: Work & Travel Australia › Travel

On long journeys a lot of luggage can be bulky and exhausting – and expensive at the baggege drop-off. That is why the best way to prepare for a longer trip is to take as much as necessary, but at the same time as little as possible. Through my experience as a flight attendant I already knew what I really needed on the go, which made packing much easier.

If you are going on a trip soon or are just interested in what I have with me on my journey, this page is a must-read for you. Maybe this will help you with your planning if you are missing an overview so far.

The luggage

What was stowed away in various cupboards and drawers at home, now has to find space in one or two backpacks when traveling. Because of that it is not only important to stay slim on your belongings, but also to have a comfortable luggage. My luggage therefore includes a large backpack, a small backpack as hand luggage and two jute bags. With this setup I can store everything without any problems and still have flexible storage available.

The backpack

When choosing a backpack, it is crucial that it sits firmly and comfortably, even when loaded, so that you do not lose the fun of traveling with back pain at some point. For this I recommend that you try on the possible models in a local shop. Doing so I chose the Trekkingrucksack EasyFit MT100 by Decathlon.

The ideal volume is 50-60 liters, so you will not be tempted to take too much with you. With 70 liters I have a little more storage space, but I also wanted to have a little more buffer. The backpack has two connectable compartments, a laptop compartment and an additional pocket with a rain protection in the lid. Relatively simple on the outside, the backpack still has enough adjustment options for a pleasant carrying comfort. This is particularly important for weight distribution, as the main load should be on your hips and not on your shoulders.

The hand luggage/for day trips

The Wanderrucksack NH500 from Decathlon is my choice for hand luggage and day trips, in which, thanks to 20 liters of storage space, everything important fits in without a hazzle. While I wanted to keep my large backpack as simple as possible, there are various pockets and compartments here to organize everything and not lose track of things.

Clothing

In my large backpack, I organize my clothes in three packing cubes, which have proven to be perfect “drawers” in my luggage. I do not have the feeling that they really compress the clothes, but at least they ensure that everything stays at its position. Even in hostels there is relatively little storage space required to “set up” and not have to open the backpack for everything.

In order not to have to worry about laundry all the time, I made sure that I had “roughly” enough clothes for two weeks (let’s ignore the mathematical details 😀 ). I would do the same thing again, because washing (and drying) every week, especially in hostels, can not only be exhausting, but also expensive over time.

The rain jacket and flip-flops have their place in the lower compartment of the backpack when I am not wearing them, while everything else is stowed in the packing cubes.

Bathroom & medication

My “mobile bathroom” consists of two parts, namely the actual toiletry bag and an amenity kit from the Qantas flight to Melbourne. For me, these amenity kits are a great way to keep a few or small things together for specific uses.

My first-aid kit may not be the largest, but it contains everything (and even more than that) that I have used or taken in the past few years.

Tech

I like to develop and play games and want to do both while traveling, so the technical equipment is not really small. But I have gotten along well with everything I have listed here, although of course I miss a real desk, a second monitor and some proper gaming equipment from time to time.

Amenity kit

When I was a flight attendant, I started putting together a small amenity kit (yes, I love those things) that has everything I needed to sleep in the crew rest. At the beginning it was still a Eurowings amenity kit, but unfortunately I lost it on the flight from the Maldives, so it was replaced by one from Cathay Pacific in memory of my first flight to Australia. Even though I do not rest in the crew rest anymore, I still use the amenity kit in the same way so I have everything around me if I do not have a shelf nearby in a hostel bed.

Documents

My luggage only contains the most necessary documents. Nevertheless, everything is there, because even if the first travel destination is Australia – who knows where I will end up later. For larger documents I bought a small folder.

Miscellaneous

Apart from the things listed so far, there are a few other things that are in my luggage below.

Writing everything down sounds like an unbelievable amount of things. While listing I noticed I could even sort out some things, although overall I rarely have the backpack on my shoulders, so it does not bother me so far. By the way, the large backpack weighs around 9 kilograms, while the backpack (with laptop) weighs around 4 kilograms (roughly, I weighed the things in February and cannot quite remember it).

And even if it sounds like a lot – when I think of all the boxes and things that are stored at home, it is surprising what you really need to live.

* This is an Affiliate link. If you order something through the link, it makes no difference to your order, but allows me to get a small provision (more information).
** This is a similar alternative, as I have not found a valid link for exactly the item I have packed.