The list might include powder used for sacred rituals.
Packing when travelling, whether it’s long-term backpacking, full-time travelling or even just your classic holiday, can be a proper struggle. That’s why we are here to save the day with these smart packing hacks.
We already wrote about the 3 things we used to carry around in our backpacks when we were full-time travelling and why we then regretted them. Don’t make the same mistake – don’t pack these 3 things.
So this time we want to talk to you about things we DO take travelling, but that are a bit… let’s say unusual.
Put it this way, before we set off on our full-time backpacking adventure, we researched 20 different travel blogs and their packing lists. And not one listed these 3 things.
Says something about those travel bloggers.
Or about us. 😅
We’ll let you decide.
Here’s a little bit about our journey, if you are new here! If you know us, feel free to skip this part.
After leaving our old life in Scotland in March 2022 (it rains too much there), we travelled full-time for almost 2 years. Sounds fancy, doesn’t it? Well, it was. If you think that carrying overpacked backpacks in 45°C heat around streets that aren’t even on Google Maps is fancy. And that’s just 1% of all the fun we had! 😆
During the 2 years we volunteered in Italy and Bulgaria (free travel while learning new skills, anyone?), explored other amazing European countries and backpacked Southeast Asia. Even our secret wedding was more of an expedition than a wedding. 😅
And, of course, we researched and planned everything ourselves, because you gotta keep the budget low, right? If you are like us, you’ve come to the right place, because we want to share all the useful tips and info with you!
Excited? Good. Let’s get into it so you can go on your own adventures too!
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Smart packing hacks
With many years of experience travelling the world, we think we’ve hacked a thing or two.
Because when you are carrying your whole life in a backpack, first, you gotta make sure you have a decent backpack (we both went with Osprey because they are known to be amazing).
Second, you gotta make sure you pack light.
And third, you gotta make sure you are taking things that are useful for you. Even if they might sound weird to others.
So let us share these smart packing hacks with you.
Here are our 3 unusual packing discoveries:
Item no. 1: Paracord
Do you travel with a paracord? You know, the strong, lightweight rope, originally used in parachutes?
No?
Big mistake. It’s one of our top smart packing hacks!
When we were travelling full-time, we actually travelled with 3 paracords!
Why?
Each one was different and for a different purpose. Let us explain.
The 3 types of paracord we travelled with
Paracords come in different sizes, patterns and even a variety of thickness.
These are the 3 types we travelled with:
We had a bright orange one that could be easily seen, so someone doesn’t, for example, trip over it, if it’s tied near the ground.
We had a forest green one, for the opposite reason – so it blends in, should we be using it somewhere in nature (for catching Chupacabra, for example).
And we had a thin, black one that could be used as a replacement for thinner strings (and still look pretty and aesthetic).
Basically, we were covered for all situations. So can you guess what was the only thing we ever used the paracords for?
Drying clothes.
Yep.
True travel story
You might be laughing now, but when we washed almost all our clothes in an apartment in Phnom Penh, Cambodia, and then discovered the drier wasn’t working, we were happy that we had 3 paracords with us.
We strung them up all over the apartment, hung all our clothes on them and then practised stealing a priceless Chinese mask like Catherine Zeta-Jones in the movie Entrapment. Talk about smart packing hacks!
But, in all seriousness, paracords are a great little hack to travel with.
We still take at least one almost every time we travel.
Why you need to travel with paracords
Here are some of the ways you can use them on your travels:
- As any string replacement. Broke your shoelace? No problem. Ripped a necklace? No problem. Lost a belt? No problem. Just replace with a paracord.
- Carrying a wet clothes bag from the beach? Use a paracord to tie it to your backpack.
- Need to strap your backpack to a bike or a motorbike? That’s what you have a paracord for.
- Want to create shade at the beach? Need something to string up between the palm trees so you can hang your sarong on it? Paracord to the rescue!
- Last but not least, the famous clothesline alternative. Not just in Phnom Penh.
You are googling where to buy paracord now, aren’t you? 😉
(aka drying clothes)
Item no. 2: Caffeine-free teabags
Do you also love hotel room freebies? Especially the ones you can consume?
Nothing makes Daniel happier than when we get good teabags – his British nature comes alive at the sight of tea.
Mirka, on the other hand, often struggles.
Why?
Well, she has a caffeine intolerance which means she has to really limit her caffeine intake. And most of the time the teabags you get in accommodation are black tea. Or green tea. Or there’s plain black coffee. Yay not.
Combine that with the fact that Mirka is almost always cold, so she needs hot drinks to survive, and you can see why we previously often had to take emergency trips to the supermarket in search of caffeine-free tea.
These days we are smarter. We travel prepared, with a selection of caffeine-free teabags, just in case there aren’t any in the room and the supermarket selection sucks (which happens more often than you might think).
Why you might want to consider this smart packing hack
Even if you aren’t caffeine intolerant, like Mirka, you might still want to pack some caffeine-free teabags with you.
Why?
Well, not sure about you, but when we travel, we usually only hang out in our accommodation in the evening. And that usually includes drinking tea.
It might be that the accommodation is quite cold.
Or that we (read: Mirka, since Daniel is Scottish, he rarely feels cold) are feeling cold from the whole day of being outside and exploring.
Or it might just be that we want a nice cup of tea to relax before bed.
Either way, tea can solve many problems.
And even if caffeine doesn’t affect you much (meaning, you can still sleep afterwards), it’s definitely not good for you, or recommended, before sleeping.
So pack the caffeine-free tea bags. It’s one of the easiest smart packing hacks out there.
Item no. 3: Cocoa powder
We did tell you a ritualistic powder might be involved!
Now to explain why we travel with it…
One of our favourite hacks to save money and time when travelling is making our own breakfast, if possible.
Our go-to breakfast meal is porridge – relatively easy to make, healthy, quick and cheap. Oh and filling!
If you haven’t considered making porridge on your travels, add this to your list of smart packing hacks and give it a go next time. You might be surprised how it changes your trips!
The problem
The one problem is, Mirka can’t stand the taste of porridge if it’s not flavoured or sweetened. We usually use cocoa powder to solve this issue (an alternative would be a mashed banana, but we can’t always get those when travelling).
What we discovered though is that while oats are usually easy (and cheap) to find, cocoa powder isn’t.
Some places just don’t sell it. They only have hot chocolate powders which, while tasty, are usually pricier and, let’s face it, not that healthy.
And some places sell just the super expensive, fancy cocoa powder, which kinda makes the whole breakfast not so budget-friendly anymore.
That leads us to why we carry cocoa powder on our trips. We realised that sometimes it’s easier to just take it with us, than to spend our precious travel time hunting for it in supermarkets.
So there you have it. These are the 3 unusual things we travel with.
What do you think? Crazy? Or do you, by any chance, also travel with a paracord, caffeine-free teabags or cocoa powder? Please let us know if you do, we can start a club of travel weirdos!😄
And if you don’t travel with any of these 3, what’s the weirdest thing you pack? Share in the comments and tell us why, you never know, it might help out other travellers (plus we wanna know how weird you guys are!).
