What I brought on my trip

Here’s what I brought with me on my travel through Europe − hope it helps anyone who wants to do a similar trip!

Luggage

• 50L black backpack which I highly recommend.
• A tote bag for when I wanted to walk around and my fanny pack wasn’t enough (eg. bringing a picnic or sunscreen). Used it 3-4 times.
• Waterproof fanny pack, which I bought at Nature et découvertes but doesn’t seem to be on shelves anymore. The (Mary Poppins-style) pack contains:
  • My driving license for extra ID or emergencies that require driving. It’s not in my wallet because I want to be able to lose my wallet and not panic (too much).
  • A condom − if you cut your finger off you’ll be glad I have a rather sterile environment for it.
  • A foldable menstrual cup for emergencies.
  • Wipes for my glasses.
  • Hand cream and lip balm.
  • A notebook and pen.
  • An external battery and its cable.
  • Hand sanitizer.
  • A lighter − great for making friends.
  • My wallet.
  • My keys.
  • My first aid kit, a tiny box containing:
    • 2 bandaids
    • 2 blister bandaids
    • Ibuprofen and paracetamol
    • Burn cream
    • Itch cream
    • An antacid.

Accessories

• Kiprun 500ml foldable water bottle: when it’s empty, I can just fold it and put it in my pocket.
  • A clip to fasten it to my belt or bag.
• A sleeping mask, an inflatable travel pillow and earplugs.
• A Bluetooth keyboard for blogging while on the road − best idea I’ve had.  2 AA batteries for the keyboard, which I ended up not needing.
• An USB charger that holds 4 cables at once. And 2 cables.
• A microfiber tea towel, mostly to clean my glasses.
• Cutlery.
• A neck cover (which sometimes doubled as a headband when my ears were freezing.)

Clothing

• Underwear:
  • 5 pairs of socks. I didn’t have time to get woolen ones so I had 2 wool pairs (wonderful) and 3 cotton pairs (eh).
  • 4 boxers. I’d have liked 5.
  • 3 sports brassieres.
  • 2 reusable panty liners.
  • 1 large T-shirt and 1 loose pair of shorts for sleeping.
• Tops:
  • 1 synthetic T-shirt, which I never wore because I hate how it feels.
  • 2 merino wool T-shirts, which I wore all the time. I should have gotten 3.
  • 1 long-sleeved merino wool shirt.
  • 1 long-sleeved warm merino wool shirt that I used as my sweater.
  • 1 polo shirt for going out.
• Bottoms:
  • 2 cargo shorts for an American Tourist Chic aesthetic.
  • 1 black merino wool legging that fits under the shorts for when it’s cold or I’m visiting a church.
  • 1 pair of sweatpants for long train journeys.
  • 1 pair of jeans for going out.
• Shoes:
  • 1 pair of flip-flops.
  • 1 pair of sandals which I never wore because I need insoles and would have gladly exchanged for another pair of hiking shoes.
  • 1 pair of hiking shoes.
• Other:
  • A raincoat.
  • A poncho that is in a tiny bag that goes into my pocket (thanks mom!).
  • A hat against the sun (never wore it).
  • Swimsuit and a « nanofiber » (read: extremely small and quick-dry but also pretty rought) towel.

Health

• Sunscreen (wore it once).
• Sunglasses (wore them many times).
• My toiletries:
  • Travel toothbrush and toothpaste
  • Face cream
  • Tweezers, nail clipper
  • More bandaids and paracetamol that didn’t fit in the fanny pack
  • Medicine against diarrhea (didn’t use it) and acid reflux (should have used it but forgot I had it)
• Menstrual cup. Period underwear takes too long to dry.

Housekeeping

• One Marseilles soap bar that worked for washing myself and my clothes.
• A mesh bag for dirty laundry.
• Small fabric bags for my clothes, and compression packing cubes (they’re small bags with two zippers: you stuff them with both zippers open, close the main zipper, and then close the smaller zipper to take the air out of them and make them smaller).

I did not bring this fleece sweater and regretted it several times. I also did not bring my usual metal bottle because it was cumbersome – it made sense, but I still missed it.

I might have forgotten some stuff, but I think I got most of it covered!