What to pack for 15 countries and over 5 months?

From speaking to other travelers and from what I read in many travel forums, the theme is "less is more". Someone even told me to take out what you want to bring and then eliminate it by 50%. So my final inventory consists of: 1 pair of jeans, 1 pair of cargo pants (cuts off into shorts), 1 pair of basketball shorts, 1 pair of swimming trunks, 4 tops, 2 long sleeves, 1 windbreaker, 1 beanie, flipflops, 2 pairs of shoes, and socks/boxers

The goal is to stuff everything I want to bring with me into a 50 liter backpack. Thank you Joy for letting me borrow your backpack :)


I found this cool invention online called a "Hobo Roll" made my Gobi Gear (http://mygobigear.com/sustainability). It has 5 compartments for you to stuff your clothing in and then you pull the straps to shrink everything by almost 50%. I went ahead and bought two and they fit perfectly in the backpack!









In this backpack, I have my 2 hobo rolls, medicine bag, electronics bag, documents, sleepliner (recommend Cocoon silk sleep liner...I slept in for a week on my floor after I sold my bed and it felt amazing inside the liner!), quick dry towel and a couple of locks.

Moving Day

As someone who has moved around quite a bit in the past few years, I can say it sucks! You can't help but build an attachment for a place where you lay your roots. It really did not hit me that I am about to go on a backpacking journey until I saw how bare my place was. Reality set in at that point and I did one of those oh shit moments and wondered if there was even the slight chance that I could back out of this trek. Luckily this was just a fleeting thought. The show must go on! Goodbye Post Eastside...you have been great. Will miss the great people that I met there