We have been traveling around the world for the past three years. It’s still unbelievable to think about! Since 2018, we’ve been living out of a backpack with our must have travel items, and slow traveling through different countries around the world.
Our lifestyle was even documented and featured on CNN travel!
We’ve traveled through the United States, Mexico, Costa Rica, Italy, and France. Additionally, we’ve traveled through Indonesia, Singapore, the Philippines, and Vietnam. After a brief stint in the United States as we weathered the pandemic, we are back on the road exploring the world.
As we’ve traveled, we’ve met a lot of families, including some amazing traveling families. And some of things that families always ask us is, what’s in your backpack? What are the things that you take with you when you travel? What are some of your must have travel items for you and your family?
This post was last updated on May 6, 2021.
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Adopting a minimalist mindset when putting together our must have travel items
Over the past few years, we’ve worked hard to achieve a minimalist lifestyle. These days, the possessions that we don’t travel with can fit neatly into a 15 foot Uhaul truck. But it wasn’t always that way. There was once a time when we filled a 2,000 square foot home with stuff.
The journey to becoming minimalist travelers wasn’t easy, and it took a long time. We literally went through every possession we owned and asked ourselves, “is this something that we want to come back to in three years time?”
Even now, as we travel, we continue to go through this process of assessment and purging. Over the course of our month or more stays in destinations around the world, we collect things. We acquire souvenirs. We amass stuff. And when we have our packing days, we go through each of our world travel items and ask ourselves, “is this something we want to keep carrying around for three or more years time?”
Going through this monthly process of active purging really helps us see how much stuff we own. And it also helps our kids understand the privileges that come with living our lifestyle.
Minimalism is a daily practice. It’s actively choosing to live without things. But it’s also mindfully choosing to live with the things you have.
Read here to see what else went into preparing for our around the world adventure.
So what are our must have travel items?
Even though we’re fairly minimalist travelers, we still do carry a fair bit of stuff with us. In general, our checked bags include two 80 liter bags and two 36 liter bags. We also have four backpacks, which we take with us as carry-ons.
We like using Osprey brand wheeled luggage for our checked bags. For carry-ons, my husband uses a Cotopaxi backpack, my kids use an Osprey daybag, and I use a Thule Landmark travel pack. We also carry with us a ukelele. It’s our one luxury item that is actually a necessity for our mental health.
Here is where you can buy the bags that we use and love:
- 80L Oprey Sojourn Wheeled Luggage
- 36L Osprey Farpoint 36 Wheeled Travel Pack
- 36L Osprey Fairview 36 Wheeled Travel Pack
- Cotopaxi Allpa 35L Travel Pack
- Osprey Daylite Plus Daypack
- Thule Landmark Women’s Travel Pack
Ready for a change? Take the first step to living a life of full time travel.
The top travel must-haves you need to buy for your trip
When it comes to our must have travel items, the list is relatively short. Aside from clothes, worldschooling resources and supplies, kids toys, and work related materials, we try to choose items that will be necessary for us in a variety of situations.
Many of these must have travel items are also things that you can also have at home. So you wouldn’t need to be traveling to make use of these things. And as much as we can, we try and use eco friendly travel products or reusable items that don’t contribute to a lot of waste.
Really, I just want to give you all a peek into what our daily life is like as we travel around the world, share with you our long term travel essentials.
1. Packing cubes
One of the most basic must have travel items we take along with us are packing cubes. These are great for keeping all your clothes in one place. We have one for every member of the family. And we also use various sized packing cubes to keep our loose stuff organized, like toys, travel electronics, even shoes!
The packing cubes we take with us are Bagail and TravelWise, but there are plenty of other good quality packing cubes available as well. Here are some good quality packing cubes you can buy for your travels:
Eagle Creek Pack-It Cube Set 3 Pack
TravelWise Luggage Packing Cubes 5 Pack
2. A waterproof jacket
When it comes to packing minimally, the key is choosing clothes that will be useful in a variety of situations, especially outer gear. We like taking along waterproof jackets because they are light enough to serve as rain jackets, but heavy duty enough to serve as winter coats when we add a sweater or base layer underneath.
I like my Columbia women’s jacket because they’re functional yet stylish. This jacket came in handy when we were visiting the West Midlands in England during the fall months and helped keep me warm and dry.
Here are some good quality waterproof jackets you can buy for your and your kids:
Columbia Kids & Baby Rainy Trails Fleece Lined Jacket
Columbia Women’s Lookout Crest Jacket
Eddie Bauer Men’s Rainfoil Packable Jacket
3. Water bottle
Another must have travel item we always travel with is a water bottle. But the bottle we like best is not any old water bottle. This bottle is called a GRAYL, and it has a built in water filter and purifier. We like taking the GRAYL wherever we go, whether it’s hiking in the outdoors or spending a day in Disneyland!
With the GRAYL, you can essentially drink water from anywhere in the world. And you don’t have to rely on buying bottled water anymore. It’s one way you can help reduce your reliance on single-use plastic when you travel.
Here is where you can buy a GRAYL bottle for your family:
16 oz GRAYL Ultralight Water Purifier [+ Filter] Bottle
24 oz GRAYL GeoPress Water Purifier Bottle and Filter
Take a look at these other sustainable travel tips for traveling with kids.
4. Travel scale
Something that we never travel without is a miniature travel scale. This must have travel item is a bit of a vanity choice. But we like to carry one with us, like the NewlineNY Step On Super Mini travel scale, to make sure that we’re staying healthy and not enjoying ourselves too much when we travel, if you know what I mean.
However, a scale also comes in handy when you have to make sure your bags are within the 50 lbs weight limit. The scale has definitely helped us make sure that we keep our bags light and within the airline’s weight requirements.
Here is where you can buy the travel scale that we like to use:
NewlineNY Step On Super Mini Travel Scale
5. Knife sharpener
We like to cook a lot when we travel. But when we get to our vacation rentals, the knives are always blunt and dull. That’s why one of our must have travel items is a knife sharpener. We like ones that are small and compact. Taking along a knife sharpener lets us sharp knives to cook wherever we go.
Buy one of these travel knife sharpeners to take along on your trips:
DMT Double Sided Diafold Sharpener Fine / Coarse
Farberware Flip Grip Knife Sharpener
Smith’s Diamond Combo Bench Stone
6. Carbon monoxide detector
One of the most important pieces of gear we take with us is a carbon monoxide detector. Each year, over 400 people die from carbon monoxide poisoning in the United States. We stay in older homes and buildings a lot. And often, they’re not well-ventilated.
Once, while traveling in Mexico, we had a carbon monoxide poisoning scare when a water heater wasn’t venting properly at our Airbnb, and was essentially building up carbon monoxide inside our room. The carbon monoxide detector literally saved our lives!
Buy this carbon monoxide detector for your family today:
Kidde Nighthawk Carbon Monoxide Detector
Read about how this carbon monoxide detector saved our lives during our travels: Why A Travel Carbon Monoxide Detector Could Save Your Life.
7. Tablets and other electronic devices
I’m a bit embarrassed to admit this, but our kids’ tablets and electronic devices are some of our most important must have travel items. Not only do we use them for entertainment, but we use them for homeschooling too.
Our kids use their iPads to do math work, to do reading, and even to practice writing. My son makes stop motion movies on his iPad, and my daughter designs fashion dresses and graphic design artwork on hers.
When carrying around an electronic device, make sure they’re protected in a durable case. We like protective cases that are lightweight and durable. Whatever tablet or electronic device you get, be sure to protect it with a case so you’re not constantly buying a new device. That can get expensive!
Buy the case that we like using for our kids here: AVOWO Kid Case.
Check out these tips for finding good international WiFi for your devices during your travels.
8. HDMI cable and adapter
We like watching movies when we travel, but nothing’s worse than watching a movie on a laptop. So we travel with an HDMI cable. This lets us plug in our laptops to the TV. And because my laptop doesn’t have this size input for the HDMI cable, we carry along an adapter as well.
Buy the HDMI cable and adapter here:
Amazon Basics Nylon-Braided HDMI Cable
9. Bluetooth speaker
We’re also big music lovers in our family. I mean, who doesn’t like to just rock out to music in their living room or kitchen? We take along a Bluetooth speaker when we travel. We have the UE Boom, but you can find a fair number of other good quality speakers that are easy to travel with, which I’ve listed below.
Choose from any of these Bluetooth speakers to buy:
Ultimate Ears BOOM Portable Bluetooth Speaker
Bose SoundLink Revolve Portable Bluetooth Speaker
OontZ Angle 3 Waterproof Bluetooth Speaker
10. Cloth drawstring backpacks
Our final must have travel items are drawstring backpacks. We use these as laundry bags that fit inside our packing cubes. Using drawstring backpacks for laundry bags are great because when it’s laundry day, each person and adult can carry their laundry themselves to the laundromat or laundry place.
We purchased some cute handmade drawstring backpacks from women vendors in Mexico in 2019, but you can purchase your own cloth ones online. We like ones made of cotton or canvas rather than nylon or polyester because we can stick them in the wash along with our clothes.
Buy these super-cute cloth drawstring backpacks for your travels:
Van Caro Bohemian Drawstring Backpack
Take a look at these other travel essentials to take along on your next family trip.
Taking these must have travel items wherever we go
These are a few of the things we like to take along as we travel around the world. They really help make travel much easier for us. And they help provide some conveniences of home no matter where you are in the world.
What kinds of things do you like to travel with? Or, what are some of the must have travel items that you have at home that you just cannot live without? Let me know!
Ready to make that leap into full time travel? Use my ebook, Hey Kids, Let’s Go Travel! as a resource for tools, advice, and action steps for planning your trip.
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5 Responses
I am ordering a Carbon Monoxide detector ASAP! That is so scary – I also need that HDMI cable… this is an awesome list! I pack too many clothes and shoes – which is funny bc Im not a fashionista at home. But on the road…
Excellent tips. Read with interest and pinned for referring to later as we’re planning our own six month family travel adventure (delayed due to Covid-19, but hoping to start in 2021).
Travelling full-time with kids is such an amazing thing and I understand why you need only the essentials. This is such a useful list for families planning to do the same.
This is such a great packing list for international travel! And a great reminder for being a carbon dioxide detector.
This is such a great look into packing for a nomadic family! I would’ve never thought to bring a knife sharpener but so smart!! We also subscribe to a minimal-ish lifestyle and love it!