Planning
What to pack: a checklist so you forget less
Pack for the days you will actually have, not for every version of the trip.
The Traveller Journal7 min read
In this article
This list is not here so you take everything. It is here so you do not forget what actually hurts to forget, and so you leave at home what only travels just in case.
Use it as a filter. Cross out what does not apply. Add what your trip needs and this page cannot guess: a specific medicine, a size, a tool. Rules for liquids, batteries and cabin bags change with the carrier. Check them near the date, with whoever is taking you.
If the trip is already shaped, the list can live in the packing chapter of Plan, next to the cities it belongs to. You tick things off. A bag that already worked can be saved for the next trip.
The order of the trip itself — place, days, stops — is in how to plan a trip. This page is only what fits in the bag.
Documents
Visas, travel authorisations and how long a document must be valid depend on the passport and the destination. Check them on an official source before you leave. This list does not replace that.
- Passport or identity document in date, in your cabin bag
- A digital copy and a paper copy of the useful page, kept apart
- Visa, authorisation or required insurance, if your case needs it
- Driving licence, only if you will drive
- Transport bookings and the first nights, available offline
- Policy number and the insurer's phone, not only the email
- The health card, or whatever you use at home, in case you need it on return
Money
- One card you already know works abroad
- A second card, in a different part of the bag
- A little cash for the first transfer, or a clear cash machine on arrival
- A word to your bank if your destination tends to block payments
- A small amount kept apart, in case you lose the wallet
You do not need the whole budget in notes. You need not to depend on a single card.
Clothes
Think in layers and in washing, not in an outfit per day. For a week, many people are fine with clothes for four days and a wash in the middle.
- Underwear and socks for the days between washes
- Tops that dry
- One warm layer for the coldest night of your dates
- Something for rain if the forecast is unclear
- Shoes you have already worn, the ones you will actually walk in
- One set you can wear on the journey if the bag is delayed
- Something to sleep in, if you do not trust what will be there
- Something smarter only if there really is a dinner or a visit that asks for it
Wash kit
What you use every morning at home, in travel size. The rest almost never gets opened.
- Toothbrush and toothpaste
- Deodorant
- Sun cream, if there is street or water
- Soap, or the product you do not want to replace
- Wipes, or a bag for whatever comes back damp
- A comb, a razor, or the minimum of your routine
- Whatever you use for your period, enough for the trip
- A cloth bag for dirty clothes
Basic health
Do not build a hospital kit. Take what you already know how to use.
- Your usual medicine, in the cabin bag, with the name of the active ingredient
- A painkiller you already take
- Something for your stomach, if you usually need it
- Plasters
- Repellent, only if the place and the season ask for it
- A prescription or a doctor's note if you cross borders with a treatment
If you depend on a medicine, do not count on finding the same thing at the pharmacy when you land. Take the whole trip, and a little more in case you come back late.
Tech
- Phone and charger
- A spare cable, if losing it leaves you stuck
- A plug adaptor, checked for the country
- A battery pack, in the cabin bag
- Headphones
- Copies of documents that are not only on one device
Download maps and tickets before you leave the house. The first hour in another country is a bad time to depend on a network.
Beach
Skip this block if there is no water.
- Swimwear
- A towel that dries, or the certainty there will be one
- Sandals
- Sun cream, even if it is already in the wash bag
- A dry bag for the phone and wet things
- An extra T-shirt, because salt does not forgive
Mountains or a walk
Skip this block if you are not leaving the pavement.
- Proper shoes, not city shoes "just in case"
- A rain jacket and a warm layer
- Water and something to eat for longer than you think
- A head torch or a flashlight, with a battery
- A hat, or whatever covers you
- A map, or the route available without signal
Tell someone which way you are going and what time you mean to be back. That does not go in the bag, and it weighs less than any thing you forget.
A city trip
- The shoes you can walk in for hours
- A light layer for air conditioning and transport
- A small bag that leaves your hands free
- A bottle you can refill
- A folding umbrella if the sky on those dates is not to be trusted
If children are coming
Only if they are. Each family knows what it really uses. This is the minimum that hurts to forget.
- A document for each child
- An extra change of clothes in the cabin bag
- The medicine you already use, not a new one "just in case"
- Something familiar for sleep: a cloth, a book, the usual object
- Food they recognise, for the journey
- A bag for clothes that come back wet or dirty
You do not need to bring the bedroom. You need the first night to have something they already know.
What does not deserve the space
- "Just in case" you have not used on the last two trips
- A second pair of smart shoes
- Towels from home, unless you know there are none
- Extra books. One. The rest can be the phone
- Full bottles of shampoo
- Clothes for a climate you will not have
If you cannot lift the bag with room to spare, you have packed someone else's holiday.
Before you lock the door
The bag can be perfect and the trip can still start badly because of what stays plugged in at home.
- Documents and medicine in your bag, not in the hold
- Windows, keys, water and lights
- Fridge and rubbish
- Plants, post or animals, with a specific person
- Chargers that should not stay on
- How you get to the station or the airport, and what time you leave the house
- A phone with battery, and the ticket where you can open it offline
- A copy of the first night's booking
Leave a gap. The trip almost always puts something in your hands — a book, a bag of food, an object you had not planned — and a full bag has nowhere to put it.
When you come back, the photos do not need the same space as the socks. If you want a way not to drown in the camera roll, it is in how to organise travel photos.
Keep travelling
Planning
How to plan a trip, step by step
Planning is not filling every hour. It is deciding what kind of trip you want, and leaving the rest in its place.
Planning
How to build the perfect travel itinerary
An itinerary does not choose the place. It spreads the days so the trip can actually be lived.
Memories
How to organise photos from all your trips
A camera roll sorts by the hour. A trip is found again by city, and by the few photos that still say something.