A Crash Course on Travel Wear

Deciding what clothing to take when backpacking can be overwhelming. It’s natural to want to bring everything you might possibly need, but this kind of thinking leads to unnecessary stress. As an example, I once went on a trip with a friend.  When I came to pick him up to leave, he was frezzled because he couldn’t fit all his clothes into his bag.  I pulled out his clothes and found THREE sweaters for less than 2 weeks of travelling. me: Why do you need three sweaters? him: One if it gets cold, one in case that one gets dirty, and one just in case. me: You just said “in case” twice. Does that mean you have TWO backup sweaters? After talking some more, I convinced him to take a single sweater, and wear it instead of stuffing it into his bag.  He only used the single sweater, and wore it even though it got a small stain on it.  He didn’t complain about it once – he was too busy having fun on the trip. One Simple Rule For every item of clothing you pack, ask yourself this question: will I use this item every week? If you answer ‘No’ to this question, chances are that you don’t NEED the item.  You might be better off leaving the item at home.  In the unlikely event that you DO need the item during your trip, you can always buy a cheap version on the road. Some Tips for Packing Like everything else while backpacking, clothing is very personal.  That being said, there are a few things you should think about that might help you narrow down your choices: Everything should match – don’t put yourself into a situation where you don’t want to wear an item because it doesn’t match with your only clean pair of pants.  When you get dressed, it should be effortless for you to grab any clean top and bottom combo and get out and enjoy your travel.  This might mean that you should get somewhat neutral bottoms – think grey, beige, etc. Dress for the destination – If you scroll down to my packing list, you’ll see that I don’t bother bringing a rain jacket.  No rain jacket for a whole year of travel?  Am I NUTS?!?! Not nuts, just prudent.  I’m travelling mainly to cities, and spending at least a month in each destination.  That means if it’s...
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