Essentials, Trash, Wants

Essentials, Trash, Wants

Posted on 08. Dec, 2010 by in Blog, Planning

Two of our friends are starting a three month backpacking trip around South East Asia in January and recently they have started asking us what they should buy or put on their Christmas list.

So I thought it would be good to share with you guys; some of the things we can’t live without, stuff we ditched within the first month, what we have picked up on the way and others that are now on our wish list (but either lack of money or unavailability have stopped us from getting).

Our Essential Packing List for Backpackers

Things we can’t live without

samsung netbookOur netbook Samsung N145 - We have an earlier version, the N130 and we loved it from day 1. So far it has performed great, we can check e-mails, write blog posts, edit photos etc anywhere we want, putting it down is the hard part.

Olympus TOUGH – 8010 – I got the 8000 (technology moves too fast) for my 21st birthday as I am pretty accident prone and it hasn’t given up on me yet. It is really good for under water shots (it can go down 10m) and so far has survived being thrown around at waterparks and canyoning.

iPod touch 32GB – Poi’s classic gave up a few months before our trip, so was replaced by this. The apps are amazing and it is really useful on the go especially as we don’t have any phones!

pac safe 100Pacsafe Travel Safe – this was bought on a whim in a sale, but it’s used every day. We don’t carry much money or anything on us but use this portable safe, hidden in one of day bags on buses etc. When staying at hostels we attach it to a bed leg or something similar and we can leave our passports and credit cards locked up without worrying about them, even in the dodgy hostels. Great for peace of mind.

Pen and paper - Brilliant for writing down ideas or doodling, it’s so useful, we’ve even had to buy more!!!!

Flip flops – We wear them nearly everyday, I have Animal Swish Flops which are made of neoprene so they are really comfortable and Poi’s are more heavy duty ones from Karrimor

Things we originally packed but proved useless

Probiotics – I bought these as I read they can help with travelers sickness and counteract the side effects of our malaria tablets, but they tasted and smelt of sick! We stopped taking them after about a week and chucked the lot of them away. No regrets as yet.

pacsafe 120Jeans – I didn’t tend to wear them much in the UK but Poi brought some along, by Hong Kong they hadn’t been worn once so they were ditched. I think if we were traveling in Europe or a cooler climate we would have kept them but Asia is far too hot

PacSafe 120 – We both packed one but we ditched one at second stop in Hangzhou. They’re heavy and a bit of a pain to use. Especially as we lock all our valuables in our portable safe. The other has been used on two train journeys and once in a hostel room in the past three months. The main reason it hasn’t been chucked is that we spent quite a bit of money on them.

Things we have picked up on the way

Another Netbook Samsung N150 - By Thailand we were getting fed up sharing one whilst the other had to use the iPod touch, so we took the plunge and got some money off because it’s bright yellow!

cannon sx30 Canon PowerShot SX30 – We picked this up in Hong Kong and it has been invaluable ever since. It’s a good bridge camera and  takes better photos in a range of light conditions than my Olympus. My brother bought this for us to help out with his letter art photography business (it’s pretty good if you’re looking for a unique gift)

Bottle opener – self explanatory! But we made a rookie mistake of not bringing one!

Scissors – again, can’t believe we forgot these! So far they have been used for a range of things including cutting backpack straps and Poi’s hair!

Things we wished we packed (ahem our Christmas list)

Hair dressing scissors – We’ve been looking for these since Vietnam, I’m now Poi’s hair dresser, but as I only have blunt scissors he tends to get a bowl cut! They’re also useful for cutting fringes. We’re so desperate for these we’re getting them sent from the UK.

amazon kindle
Amazon Kindle Wireless - before we left we thought this was “just another gadget” but now we’re on the road and we have had to carry 5/6 off books this is a smart idea. If you can afford it before you set off I would definitely recommend it.

Better day bag – I have a pretty good Berghaus 25 l bag, but in Asia I get hot and sweaty in seconds. If I could repeat my purchase I would buy one with a mesh back system so the main pack is away from my back like the DEUTER Futura 32 Backpack

Tea bags – this is more personal preference, but Poi really has been missing his tea, so next time we will pack a few for those craving days

Note: If you click on some of these links and buy the products we will receive a small percentage.

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53 Responses to “Essentials, Trash, Wants”

  1. flip

    09. Dec, 2010

    love your list of stuff… i recommend you get a deuter since i think they’re really sturdy. i bought one in MBK (in Bangkok) and ive used it for a long time. it’s still not broken even after 5 years of on and off usage (inc 6 months of continuous travelling)…

    Reply to this comment

    • Poi

      09. Dec, 2010

      That sounds great – we’re staying in Chiang Mai for a while now so we’ll be having another think about the day bag before we move on again!

      Reply to this comment

  2. Lauren

    09. Dec, 2010

    Great list! :) I’ll be leaving for my trip in July 2011, and already I’m looking at packing lists trying to work out what are essentials and what I’ll regret bringing with me, it’s all so overwhelming!

    Reply to this comment

    • Poi

      09. Dec, 2010

      Yeah it’s really hard knowing what to bring – we chucked out so many little things even after the first couple of weeks. You soon realise what you don’t really need when your trying to squeeze onto crowded buses and carrying your bag around looking for hostels.

      Look forward to following your journey!

      Reply to this comment

  3. Heather

    09. Dec, 2010

    Ooh, thanks for the thoughts on the two Pacsafe items. I wondered about them before I left and ultimately decided not to get anything because I didn’t know if it would be worth it. Not really needed in Oz but if I travel further I’d love to invest in something like that. Gonna take your tip :-)

    Reply to this comment

    • Poi

      09. Dec, 2010

      Glad to help, the small travel safe has been really useful, worth considering!

      Reply to this comment

  4. Jill - Jack and Jill Travel The World

    09. Dec, 2010

    I wish Mac would come up with a bright yellow macbook. I’d get one right away even if it’s not discounted :p

    Reply to this comment

    • Poi

      09. Dec, 2010

      I dunno, this yellow is a bit dodgy, more dull than bright but who cares it was cheap!!

      Reply to this comment

  5. AudreyDez

    09. Dec, 2010

    Great post! I will certainly check for a Pacsafe! Looks pretty great! Already asked for a backpack for Christmas, can’t wait to see if I’ll get it haha:)

    Reply to this comment

  6. Kirsty

    09. Dec, 2010

    We love our little safe and you can get it in different sizes so you can lock away laptops etc too if you take them with you.
    It’s brilliant for us as we really didn’t get on with a money belt and chucked that on the first day!

    I’m sure Santa will be kind ;)

    Reply to this comment

  7. Drew

    09. Dec, 2010

    I was totally eying up you yellow samsung with jealousy the other day. I really wish I could either get by with a small netbook or netbooks could be powerful enough for my needs:( Yours is like the VW Bug of laptops!

    Reply to this comment

    • Poi

      09. Dec, 2010

      My netbook hardly has anything on it and it’s still running pretty slow so I’ve been eyeing up Kirstys super speedy yellow machine as well.

      You’ll have to stick to your fancy macbook, if you ever wanna swap though we’re open to that….

      Reply to this comment

  8. Amy

    09. Dec, 2010

    The Kindle will change your world! I love, love, love mine for travelling. The only downside is the expense of books if you read a lot, but it is worth it to get to read what you want, when you want. I also love my M-Edge leather cover and reading light – considering adding those to your list. I lost a piece of the light a couple of months ago and I am so sad.

    Reply to this comment

    • Poi

      09. Dec, 2010

      Very tempted, it’s hard trying to find the books you want in local book stores but don’t think we can afford to spend the money after just getting another netbook!

      Thanks for visiting our site!

      Reply to this comment

  9. Adventurous Kate

    09. Dec, 2010

    After traveling Southeast Asia for about seven weeks, the number one thing that I wish I had brought with me is…

    GOOD DEODORANT. It’s hard to find deodorant in Thailand that does anything besides bleach your armpits. They are obsessed with white skin here.

    Reply to this comment

    • Poi

      09. Dec, 2010

      They are really obsessed with it, I was looking at shower gel earlier and there was even a huge section on whitening for men!!

      Reply to this comment

  10. Zablon Mukuba

    09. Dec, 2010

    ipod touch is great to have while you are abroad

    Reply to this comment

    • Poi

      09. Dec, 2010

      It’s come in handy a good few times so far, mainly just for games now though, it doesn’t get much real action anymore with the two netbooks.

      Reply to this comment

  11. Andi

    10. Dec, 2010

    Great list! Nice new camera!!! I’m surprised you can’t find good tea over there???

    Reply to this comment

    • Poi

      10. Dec, 2010

      I’ve get hold of some English breakfast tea but not found any branded stuff yet, not that I’ve been looking too much, tea is important but not that important.

      Reply to this comment

  12. Ali

    10. Dec, 2010

    Great tips for those of us hoping to do a similar trip one of these days!

    Reply to this comment

  13. Jaime

    10. Dec, 2010

    I love this post this is why:
    1) I have the same Olympus Tough & i too think it is great.
    2) I had never heard of the PacSafe Travel Safe & like it a lot.
    3) I have been debating on getting a PacSafe 120 or one similar and well now I know I dont really need it.
    4) I just put a bottle open in the cube holding all my stuff.
    5) I already had hair dressing scissors in my cube jajaja!!!

    Thanks for sharing this all us RTWsooner appreciate list like this. Well I do at least…

    Reply to this comment

    • Poi

      10. Dec, 2010

      Haha turns out our list was perfect for you then! We’ve used the pacsafe safe everyday so worth chcking out.

      But maybe you should be giving us advice seeing as you’ve all ready done better than us by thinking of packing hairdrssing scissors and a bottle opener!

      Cheers Jaime!

      Reply to this comment

  14. Jen

    10. Dec, 2010

    There’s a free kindle app for the itouch and a nook app, both offering a great selection of free books…love it.

    And really? Yellow laptop?! Lol

    Reply to this comment

    • Poi

      12. Dec, 2010

      aww cool we’ll check them out!

      Yeah, it’s a nasty yellow but it was cheap!

      Reply to this comment

  15. Migrationology

    10. Dec, 2010

    Cool, I like that Pacsafe bag for putting valuables in. I don’t have one but looks like it’s pretty good. I’m with you guys and flip-flops, the thought of claustrophobic shoes sounds terrible!

    Reply to this comment

    • Poi

      12. Dec, 2010

      Yeah the pacsafe is good, turned out to be a great random purchase!

      I can’t remember the last time I wore shoe’s, I love it!

      Reply to this comment

  16. Amanda

    11. Dec, 2010

    Awesome list, guys! It’s always interesting to read about the things people find they don’t need while traveling, along with the random things they wish they’d brought along!

    Reply to this comment

    • Poi

      12. Dec, 2010

      Thanks Amanda – we thought maybe someone would find it helpful!

      Reply to this comment

  17. AdventureRob

    12. Dec, 2010

    Seriously get rid of that big pacsafe straight away.

    I bought one before I left for travel but returned it shortly after and got my money back. Mine was the 75 and was 1kg and took up so much space even folded up.

    I’ve only ever seen one other person since with one, and they looked like an odd paranoid person who was very new to travel.

    Things go missing/get stolen. But taking precautions prevents that better than a pacsafe, which just screams ‘THERE IS SOMETHING REALLY VALUABLE IN HERE MORE THAN THE OTHER BAGS!!’

    I just use normal locks on my bags, in hostel dorms I see a lot of people just leave theirs open with expensive laptops/cameras next to them. If anything is going to get stolen, it’s going to be that before a locked bag tucked away in a corner.

    Samsung netbooks are awesome (I had the original one – the NC10) no idea what the latest one is (as mentioned technology is hard to keep up with). I have a 13″ macbook pro now though as I’m not travelling so much and settle in areas for longer.

    Reply to this comment

    • Poi

      12. Dec, 2010

      The one pacsafe we have left doesn’t get used so I think it will be gone by the time we leave Chiang Mai. Quite a few times we thought about using it but like you said, we thought it made our bags look more of a target than anything.

      Yeah both our netbooks have been great so far!

      Reply to this comment

  18. Jenneil

    12. Dec, 2010

    Great to see you guys are doing well.

    Would you suggest picking up a Netbook before we embark or are they cheaper in SE Asia?

    Reply to this comment

    • Poi

      12. Dec, 2010

      We’ve only looked for netbooks in Thailand and to be honest they are about the same price & less selection so maybe before you leave.

      Reply to this comment

  19. Rod Martin

    13. Dec, 2010

    Two more most important items for travel
    #1 Sense of humour
    #2 Sense of proportion

    We also swear by our “chilly bag” or “cooler bag” – designed to hold 2 wine bottles but is good for packed meals/beer etc on bus and train trips. Surprisingly these are extremely hard to find in Asia

    Reply to this comment

    • Kirsty

      14. Dec, 2010

      I agree with a sense of humour… it gets us through a lot of tough times.
      The cooler bag is a good idea too :-)

      Reply to this comment

  20. James

    25. Jan, 2011

    Thanks for the experience about gear. Just wondering if you lug the netbooks around when out on a day trip or leave them at the hotel/hostel? If you leave them at the hostel, do you just lock them in the room or let the staff keep them?

    Thanx again.

    Reply to this comment

    • Poi

      25. Jan, 2011

      We always leave them at the hostel, usually locked up in our backpacks as well. If the place seems very dodgy then we will take them with us but its very very rare!

      Reply to this comment

  21. Hannah

    18. Aug, 2011

    Hi Kirsty and Poi, my boyrfriend and I are going to be travelling in India and SE Asia for about 5 months and have been debating about bringing the pacsafe 120 and 85 for our backpacks. I agree it is sort of big and heavy but our backpacks have drawstrings at the top so they can’t really be locked close (like most larger size backpacks). I’m mostly worried about the backpacks getting snatched off trains and buses in India. What do you think? Also you mentioned the small pacsafe you have, do you leave that locked inside your backpack when u leave for the day, or do you lock it separately to a bedpost?

    Reply to this comment

    • Poi

      19. Aug, 2011

      Hey Guys, you must be really excited about your upcoming trip, sounds great.

      We used are pacsafe once on a train and felt a bit stupid doing so. Basically nobody was taking notice of us until we pulled out this huge metal net. I kinda felt like it was a big sign advertising that there was something worth stealing in our bags.

      We didn’t use it again and instead just kept everything essential or expensive in our day pack and always kept that with us. So they most anyone could steal without us stopping them was a bag of replaceable clothes.

      The small pacsafe however is brilliant. We leave it locked to whatever we can find in a hostel room, bed post, rails whatever. Again just chcuk the stuff we don’t want to lose in there when we go out, passports, credit cards, ipods. Put are mind at ease in some of the sketchier hostels.

      For me I wouldn’t bother with the big pacsafe, it seems like a good idea when your at home but no one on the road uses them and you’ll stand out like a sore thumb which is exactly what you dont want.

      Hope this helps!
      Cheers.

      Reply to this comment

  22. Waly

    30. Oct, 2011

    I backpacked through Asia for 10 straight years 88-98. In the end my pack weighed less than 5 kilos. Are you trying something new or dragging things from home?

    Reply to this comment

    • Waly

      30. Oct, 2011

      A computer?

      Reply to this comment

      • Poi

        02. Nov, 2011

        Yes a computer, that’s where this website you’re reading comes from ;)

        Reply to this comment

    • Poi

      02. Nov, 2011

      Well done, thats a great achievement for those hostel brag contests that often go on. Is that why you did it?

      Reply to this comment

  23. Iona

    10. Jun, 2012

    Just about to fly out to Vietnam and visit Thailand and cambodia while we’re there. This website is really great! thanks guys :)

    Reply to this comment

  24. Kinga

    28. Jan, 2013

    Hi guys, great tips – my boyfriend and I are beginning our trip to Asia in March. We currently trying to figure out what is a must, and what to avoid, so your post was very helpful. Quick question – we based in Ireland and all electronics are on the expensive side – would you recommend getting a notebook in Bangkok? Is it much cheaper there?

    Reply to this comment

    • Poi

      05. Feb, 2013

      We bought both our Macbooks in Thailand and they were quite a bit cheaper than back home so it might be worth holding out if you can.

      Reply to this comment

  25. Ruth and Eddy

    02. Feb, 2013

    Hiya!!

    Thanks so much for putting this up! My partner and I are going for about a year and are trying to do as much research as possible! Soooo excited!
    The comments were almost as useful as the post itself!
    Thanks again! Hopefully we’ll be able to spread the knowledge too once we come back (if we do – fingers crossed we’ll never want to come back!)

    Thanks again!
    Ruth

    Reply to this comment

  26. Austin

    07. Feb, 2013

    Hi Guys,
    I’ve just returned from a short trip to Thailand and thoroughly enjoyed it, infact so much I’m planning now for my return.
    I’m so glad I found your blog it’s been so helpful.
    My only worry while over there was the security of my iPad, wallet passport and camera, which size of pacsafe would accommodate my iPad?

    Cheers

    Reply to this comment

    • Poi

      08. Feb, 2013

      Glad you enjoyed your trip so much that you want to go back. We had a pacsafe but never actually used it, it seemed to draw more attention to us if anything which we didn’t like.

      Reply to this comment

  27. Austin

    26. Feb, 2013

    Thanks, I never really bought of it like that.
    Keep up the good work

    Reply to this comment

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