Earlier this year, my husband and I did something crazy: we packed one backpack each, hit pause on our normal lives in Austin, and took off for a (nearly) three month adventure in Western Europe. If you’ve been reading along on my blog before, you’ve heard me talk about this countless times since I am in the middle of writing up mini travel guides to each of our stops in this adventure. I’ve also been saying all year that I’d share my packing list from this trip, and now I’m finally doing it!
Daniel and I have both had a heavy case of wanderlust for the past three or four years, and we’ve definitely done a lot more travel than the average person as a result of that. I’m also a fairly organized person and consider planning trips my favorite pastime. As a result, planning the logistics and details for this trip was not very difficult for me for the most part. The one exception was figuring out how I could (and IF I could) pack for three months in a backpack. I had never been a light packer, and it made me nervous to think about packing for all that time away in something that I could carry around for hours at a time if necessary. I spent hours digging through packing blogs and videos and catering my packing list to our specific needs for our trip: a 2.5 month long backpacking trip around Western Europe during winter with destinations in both very cold (UK) and very mild (Italy) climates.
I ended up being very pleased with what I packed, so I’m happy to share this list with anyone who might be doing a similar type of trip. This works for a European backpacking trip of any length – you just have to do more loads of laundry the longer the trip.
This post contains some Amazon affiliate links, meaning if you click on the link, I receive a small percentage of the sale, but the price doesn’t change for you.
The backpack I used was the REI Grand Tour 80 Travel Pack, and it was perfect. It had plenty of room for what I needed, and the detachable daypack was useful for carrying alone while sightseeing and for carrying valuables separate from the rest of my things while traveling by train (so I could put my larger backpack in the overhead bin and keep my valuables next to me). I also used Eagle Creek Pack It Cubes
Packing List
- Three pairs of pants (2 jeans, 1 corduroy)
- 5 shirts (comfortable, yet able to be worn to nice places if needed)
- Three t-shirts
- Two sets of pajamas
- One cardigan
- 3 scarves (2 casual, one nice)
- 1 black cotton dress (Mine is no longer available, but it was similar to this one in black.)
- 1 pair of black leggings
- 3 bras
- 10 pairs of underwear
- 1 light cotton pullover jacket
- 7 pairs of socks
- 2 camisoles
- Toiletries (This post shows the handy toiletries bag I used, and this post shows some products I brought.)
- Minimal, easy makeup (This post shows my favorite makeup to travel with, all of which I used on this trip.)
- Curling iron with European adapter (for quick hair touchups)
- One North Face hooded parka (This jacket is very light while still being warm and cozy, and it even handles a little snow just fine – perfect for a winter backpacking trip!)
- 1 pair of brown boots (that can be dressed up or down) – I wore these
literally every single day of our trip!
- Laptop
- Chargers and necessary adapters (We brought UK adapters along with us since that was our first stop, but we purchased our other necessary adapters in the country.)
- iPad Mini (for keeping up with loved ones at home and entertainment for train rides. Mine was loaded with books!)
- Headphones (for audiobook and podcast listening on long train rides)
- Luggage locks
- Folder to hold important papers (e.g. rail passes, itineraries, etc.)
literally every single day of our trip!Now would you believe me if I told you that of all the pictures we took over the 2.5 month long trip (we took thousands!), we only have one of us with our backpacks? And you can’t even see the backpacks. I can’t believe it either. This picture shows us with our backpacks on during a long, snowy walk from the train station to our hotel in Glasgow. We weren’t as miserable as we look in the picture. 🙂 Our packing situation was perfect for the trip!
Click here to check out all of my posts from this European adventure!
{Thanks for reading! Want to know a little more about me? I’m a CPA learning how to balance a career with frequent travel while planting roots at home in Austin, TX. When I’m not exploring my home city with my husband Daniel or cuddling with our chubby orange cat Banana, I’m probably planning, packing, traveling to, or daydreaming about our next adventure. After all, my travel mug collection is never complete. If you have wanderlust too, be sure to follow me on Instagram, Pinterest,Snapchat(emilya89), or subscribe to my blog!}
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