When we packed for our round-the-world trip in 2015 we were packing for six and a half months across Southeast Asia, Australia, Hawaii, Polynesia, the USA, Mexico, and South America — four people, all climates. These are the lessons that held up across the whole trip.
The Core Rules
- Clothing: three of each — 3 t-shirts, 3 shorts, 1 long pair of trousers, 1 warm fleece per person. You will wash regularly everywhere you go.
- Toys: only what fits in their own backpack — if a child buys something new on the trip, they give something away. This rule saved us from bag chaos and also made the kids genuinely value what they owned.
- Duct tape is essential — we used it on bags, shoes, cots, and once a broken bus window seat.
Electronics That Earned Their Weight
- GoPro with mounts and spare batteries — water-proof, shock-proof, and the kids can use it.
- Panasonic FZ200 — our main camera for six months; still performed well throughout.
- Intocircuit 26000mAh powerbank — large but kept us powered through long bus rides, flights, and remote guesthouses without sockets.
- Two iPads for the children — primarily for long-haul flights; worth every gram on a 14-hour leg.
- Two Kindles — lighter than books and the only practical way to read across many time zones.
- Baby monitors — essential if you want to sit outside or in a common area once kids are asleep, without being stuck in the room.
Health and Safety
- Medicine: Ciprofloxacin (antibiotic for serious gut issues), Panodil (paracetamol), Imodium. Each of these was used at some point.
- 2 impregnated mosquito nets — non-negotiable in Southeast Asia and South America.
- Autan mosquito spray (3–4 cans) — stock up before you leave; availability and quality varies wildly.
- Full first aid kit.
- Beach shoes for kids — a long history of cut feet on coral and rocks.
Footwear Strategy
- One pair of hiking sandals each.
- One pair of hiking shoes each.
- Beach shoes for the kids.
- Nothing more — shoes are the biggest space wasters in a family bag.
What We Would Change
- A lightweight travel clothesline (we used 15m of strong cord, which worked but was overkill).
- One fewer camera bag; the second ended up rarely used.
- A small inflatable air mattress for emergencies — we used it once in six and a half months, so in hindsight it was optional.
- Rain covers for every bag from day one, not as an afterthought.