Introduction

Everyone will have a different idea about what to take, but here are enough lists to get you going, whether it's a 4 month jaunt through South America or 7 years around the world!

A word of advice about clothing. Throw away jeans and cotton clothing, in favor of lightweight, quick-drying synthetic shirts and pants which can be washed in a sink and will dry overnight. Instead of cotton or wool sweaters, take fleece and an electric vest. The reduction in weight and bulk is substantial. The fact that you can easily wash them yourselves in a cheap hotel room and have them wearable in the morning is the bonus.

Not counting our riding leathers, during 2 years non-stop travel through four continents, we each had 3 shirts (long sleeve only, with ability to roll up and button sleeves), 2 pairs of (non-riding) pants with zip-off legs (so no shorts needed), a light fleece sweater, bathing suit, socks and underwear. Nothing wore out on the way. All shirts and pants and fleece are still in service, 6 years later.

Assume no laundromats in most of the world, and plan accordingly. On our first trip, we started with cotton shirts, which disintegrated within about 6 months from the washing treatment. Modern synthetics are very durable, any good camping store will have a huge selection. Some now have UV protection built into the fabric.

Last comment is about cookwear and stoves. If you decide not to cook, you will spend more on food, but you can find food virtually everywhere you can go two-up. We seldom used our cooking gear, and eventually pared it down to a very small and lightweight set, kept mostly for emergencies, but I don't think we used it at all in South America.

On This Site

Grant and Susan Johnson's 1996-98 Round the World packing list

Peter and Kay Forwood - Round The World 1996-2003 Travel Inventory

HUBB Thread on this topic plus advice on clothing

"Preparing to Leave" Checklist, by Cynthia Milton

Detailed "Preparing to Leave" Checklist (Download the Word document)

Andy Miller's Packing and Purchase List (Download the Word document)

An Africa spreadsheet - everything from Ken Keller's Africa trip: "Myself and my friend (Dominator and NTV650 respectively) travelled from Lagos, Nigeria to Dublin, Ireland in 2000, without any major problems. We travelled through Benin, Togo, Ghana, Cote d'Ivoire, Mali, Senegal, Mauritania, Western Sahara, Morocco, Spain and France.

The spreadsheet (has) all the information regarding route, equipment, costs, etc. It won't 'fit' everyone's trip, but it might give people an idea of how to go about storing all their information in one place."

Download it in Zip format - 100kb. Unzips to an xls.

Other Lists

Motorcycle oriented

Erin and Chris Ratay - RTW 1999 - 2003 - Packing List plus costs and shipping info

Dag Jenssen and Bente Brathen (Rocinantes Travels) packing list

Patrick Lueth and Lorenz Kerer (Transasia 2001) packing list

Easy Reader Tourguide - Motorcycle Camping - The List

Anna Motodiva, (Anna Girardin, France/USA) Alaska to Ushuaia, packing list

Paul and Zoe's packing lists - the first trip - and the second trip

Backpacker oriented

Mats Henricson's The Universal Packing List Version 9.5.0

Bicycle oriented

Round the World by Bike (bicycle) - Al Humphreys List