I'm going out to SEA soon and the last time I travelled was cancer since it was my first time DNing and i overpacked. Want to take only a backpack this time, what setups/bags do you guys usually go with? I'll be travelling for like 8 months...
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1. Buy shit there for cheaper and realize you can drop it before returning. This goes for most clothing, bathroom stuff, and other disposable things
2. Electronics should be your primary things to focus on such as a large 65w charger for laptop charging if power goes out because it does and sucks if you need to work, buy a spare phone like a redmi 10C as a backup,
3. Buy a pair of new quality shoes
4. See all the above
Dumbest mistake is to pack shit like toothpaste, shampoo, excess deodorant, socks, or stuff. Chances are you can buy it at a far better price there
>buy a pair of new quality shoes
Not OP but also going to SEA in a few weeks. I love my shoes, but they have a lot of miles on them and the tread is just about gone. Good to know that I should buy another pair of quality Size 13 white man's shoes before going to flip-flop land.
>bring a spare phone
Cheap phone user here. What would be the downside of buying a budget smartphone with local plan upon arrival in the Philippines, versus bringing a phone from the West? Let alone bringing two phones. Most of my screen time is spent on my laptop, with the phone primarily used for call/text and Google Maps / OsmAnd when out on the street.
>not bringing a full set of clothes
In my Latin American experience, clothes sold in developing countries are inferior in quality to clothes sold in America. Stitching is always falling apart, it pisses me off. Can't speak for Southeast Asia yet, but I intend to pack a small duffel with a full week's set of quality American clothes. Having two bags gives me the option of keeping the clothes in a duffel while keeping the valuables in a small daypack, easy to bring wherever I go if I feel like it. Plus, a duffel's form factor is so much better for storing and accessing clothes than a cavernous backpack. Main downside to having two bags is having to lug two bags around, but even on a moto-taxi, I can sling the daypack on my front and the duffel on my back.
>dumbest mistake is to pack socks
LOL, LMAO even. Third World socks are absolute fricking garbage, especially for white guys with huge feet. I have six new pairs of Dickies work socks which I will be taking to Southeast Asia. Not only do they have kickass odor-fighting capabilities, they are amazingly comfortable and durable.
>buying a budget smartphone
I would say just take your phone from the west, it's what I did last time. As long as your phone is unlocked it's fine. Just buy a local sim on arrival, they were cheap as shit in Bali/Bangkok/Kuala Lumpur and probably elsewhere in SEA too.
The downside is basically having 0 use for it abroad or not realizing which local carrier it works with. Any Xiaomi you can get off Amazon will work with most stuff at home and SEA. I have google fi and so long as you don't use data for literally everything they let you go farther than what plebbit whines about.
I have a Redmi Note 12 and Redmi 10C. 10C is to go out and party+point and shoot since gcam makes it very nice, where my 12 is my job phone+home number and one I leave at home as a backup
>clothes
It depends, I assume OP is US or EU. In that case the exchange rate will bet in his favor to where he can simply buy decent shit there while still saving money and packing space. Literally buying normal walmart tier clothes or target level stuff in PH or other parts of SEA are piss cheap compared to the costs of at home. It saves me space to pack some good looking clothes to take over and my "frick it whatever clothes" just pick up there. I'm not walking around every day looking my best because some days I am going to be 100% DN and only going out to pick up food+beer and then head back to my room to work.
Seriously if you work off the USD, then SEA clothes that are good enough are usually pennies on the dollar unless going for some US brand name
Are you traveling for work? What do you plan to do?
Get a medium sized backpack, around 25L. You don't want to be one of those morons lugging around some huge backpacking backpack. If your final weight is over 7kg/15lb you're probably overpacking.
Get a medium compression packing cube, pack a weeks worth of socks and underwear as you'll want to change those daily, 3-4 shirts, a pair of pants, and a pair of shorts or swim trunks that look fine wearing around town. That's over a weeks worth of clothes including what you're wearing. You can wear shirts twice and shorts/pants 3-4 times unless your some fat sweaty bastard.
A quart sized bag for toiletries.
Don't overpack electronics. A dual port wall charger, power bank, a long cable and a short cable is plenty. All you need is your cell phone, a pair of earbuds, and maybe an e-reader if you're into that sort of thing.
Bring just the shoes you're wearing and if you want a pair of flip flops.
Then allow yourself a quart sized bag for everything else. Condoms, mini first aid kit, powdered laundry detergent, etc.
Leave yourself some room for things you buy along the way. People have a tendency to pack as much as they have room for even when they don't need it.
>Are you traveling for work? What do you plan to do?
>DN
homie he's digital nomadding so probably staying in places for 30-60-90 days a pop.
>A quart sized bag for toiletries.
holy frick no buy there it's pointless to bring anything other than what you need to get from home to your new place.
>Then allow yourself a quart sized bag for everything else. Condoms, mini first aid kit, powdered laundry detergent, etc.
Can't tell if troll or just stupid
Ah, I didn't know what DN meant.
I've never understood the argument of buying it there. Sure, when you run out, but you'll need to have space for it in your backpack when you travel from place to place so why not bring it with you? Do you seriously just toss out what you have and buy new toothpaste and shampoo every time you move hotels/hostels/whatever?
What's troll/stupid about that? A quart sized bag worth of miscellaneous shit is plenty.
> backpack when you travel from place to place so why not bring it with you?
Because traveling with a bunch of shit through customs, point to point, and all that gets annoying. Besides it's almost always cheaper there.
Unlqlo and other stores will have enough cheap shit for the days, and they will be a plenty, where you're not doing too much or trying to impress anyone worth a dime. Buying toothpaste, disposables, and other things simply just doesn't make sense in the grand scheme of things outside your first stop from an economic or packing perspective when you can use the space for something better.
>A quart sized bag worth of miscellaneous shit is plenty.
For DN, fewer larger bags > smaller bags ALWAYS. Most airlines, buses, and trains will allow you 2+ checked backs and carry on. Use of rubber bands will help compact things if you suck at packing.
It's one little bag of toiletries, it's not a hastle. What's a hastle is throwing shit out and rebuying it. You do you, but this whole obsession against people bring a tube of toothpaste and little bottle of shampoo with them is ridiculous. If you're packing your bag so tight that a few toiletries are a problem then you're overpacking.
>2+ checked bags and a carry-on
OP was asking about traveling light, not carrying around multiple bags.
It's not an obsession with minimalist packing, but rather, TSA rules against bringing toiletries on planes.
Not all countries have the same restrictions.
That being said, for the TSA and most countries, the limit is on the size. For a carry on you can bring as many containers up to 3fl oz/100ml that you're able to fit in a 1 quart sized bag.
If you're checking your bag you can bring as much as you want in a lot of countries. When I left Japan back to the US I check a cardboard box with a few 500ml bottles of whiskey and about two dozen 100ml bottles of sunscreen.
>Are you travelling for work
I work remotely so I'm going to be working while out there, I just like to travel around while I work
>get a medium sized backpack
I want to do this, did you find that it was enough for you? I'll be going on dates and shit too so I don't want to only pack like a pair of shorts and 3 tshirts. Want to have a casual pair of clothes for active/normal shit and then a smarter pair for dating and such.
> Don't overpack electronics
Currently just planning on bringing my laptop (bought a super portable one) phone and portable monitor the size of an ipad. I think I minimized my tech setup as much as i could, new ideas are welcome though.
>medium compression packing cube
Heard about these, are they fr? or just useless, I usually just fold shit and push it down
I use a 25L (Tom Bihn Synapse 25), and bring the clothes and everything else I recommended except I bring a pair of minimalist shoes instead of flip flops and bring a tote bag for shopping trips and it all fits with a bit of room to spare for souvenirs/food. I'm 5'11", wear size L shirts, and 32/32 pants. Yeah, the compression cubes are legit, I use the Peak Design medium one. It saves a bit of room, but more importantly keeps everything organized and your clothes don't get creased as much as just shoving them in a backpack. It's also nice because you can quickly load/unload your backpack. I can fit a 14" laptop in my 25L backpack, but I don't bring one.
If you already have a backpack figure out what size it is, buy the compression cubes and pack it up. If it isn't big enough then get something a bit bigger.
Get this
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B08THCNNCS
Power in SEA is "always so good it never fails!" until it does and you need to work, I'll never understand SighSee's praising of SEA power reliability when it actuality is is pretty shit compared to most places. This will give my Thinkbook L14 at least 1 full extra charge for a total of 12hrs working. It can be a life(job) saver in SEA. Just get a high power usb C->C cable for charging
Also pick up some cheap mousepad
Get a USB stick and load it with windows 10 or 11 for emergency reinstalls if you need it. Personally I carry an HDMI cable vs usb-c monitor so I can travel with a backup tablet+keyboard case as a "backup" PC if something were to go wrong.
Do larger fewer bags than medium sized shit, don't bother trying to think it's a carry on. This will be apparent any time you do a train, need to repack and change locations, collect shit from the airport, customs processing, and so on.
>I'll never understand SighSee's praising of SEA power reliability
The power bank is a good idea, I have a normal one for phones but I think I'll pick up a heavy duty that can do my laptop too and go with that. Also the usb with windows is smart. I already have some beater mousepad that I carry around too.
> don't bother trying to think it's a carry on
Do you usually check your bags in? I prefer to carry my bags onto the train/bus/boat/plane or wherever im going. I get paranoid about my shit being lost in which case I would be royally fricked. Surely one 35-45L bag is enough for everything right? Can't imagine they'd make me check that in.
I keep my electronics in my backpack with me at all times
1x Laptop
1x tablet
1x backup cellphone
cables+power bank+accessories
then maybe some backup shirts/shorts/etc just enough for a change of clothes and some padding for the electronics. Everything else in checked bag or overhead bin.
The problem with doing more smaller bags is you tend to run out of space and budget transportation methods LOVE to charge you per bag out here. So max out the carry on size bag with something such as https://www.amazon.com/Rockland-Luggage-Rolling-Duffle-Black/dp/B000SRL6TY/ and then a good sized backpack you can pop under the seat as a personal item. I use https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07V4R4Z77/ .If you need more go for it with another suitcase but at that point you might as well go with another 22 inch or 25 inch device. Again rubber bads are a great way to help compact things would recommend
As said earlier the best way to compact size is dropping things like bathroom/toiletry/extra c items in favor of things you can pick up there.
>you can wear shirts twice
Not if you're in 35c degree weather every day lol. You start sweating the second you go outside, I'm a lanklet and still have this problem.
I don't care much for SighSee during travel but you need to at least have hygiene standards
>I don't care much for SighSee during travel but you need to at least have hygiene standards
This is kinda important OP, the shirts and clothes you buy are generally made around the environment and weather. Sure it's great to pack nice clothes to turn some heads when going out, but you are digital nomading like myself. There will be long stretches of time if not days/weeks where you just don't do shit for most of it and being comfortable and you don't give a frick other than just going to sit at the bar or grab some food without caring how you look.
Pack some good clothes and boxers for yourself, focus on things you need to do you job with the space you have, and then pick up shit when you get there to feel comfortable. I think I picked up like 5 T-shirts, 3 shorts, 10 pack of socks, and some boxers for like 20 or so USD. Were they great quality? Not really. Did I care? Nope, working some odd hours to match my timezone at home there are about 3-4 days out of the week I simply do not give a flying frick how I look when I go to grab some beers at 7am then get a meal at noon, walk around a bit and come back to pass out around 3PM. Keep in mind humidity will not stop in SEA, December can be 80-90F depending on the wind and 80-90% humidity. You'll be thankful the days you just can feel feel relaxed without worrying about messing up your clothes
only pack:
3 underwears
1 jeans
2 shirts
laptop
simple as
50L backpack is for scared white people who think they're going camping in SEA countries
bring 25L backpack you won't overpack
you remove the inconvenience of having to carry a bit more clothing to an airport/ bus/ train then on to the next hotel (which does not have to be a laborious process at all), to gain the inconvenience of having to wash your clothes every day. no wonder everyone can smell you nasty pieces of shit from a mile away
It's Southeast Asia, you don't even have to bring all the bulky cool-weather shit you need in most of the rest of the world. This means there is absolutely no reason to skimp on undies or shirts, which should be changed once a day (before bed) at the very minimum. In a humid climate, clothes that have been sweated in will stay nasty and breed bacteria until they are washed. Imagine wearing the same sweaty, smelly pair of pants for multiple days of exploring the city. Of course, if you sit indoors in the A/C all day, your clothes will stay fresher longer, but white men tend to have more of a masculine body odor than Asians do, so they should maintain a higher standard of cleanliness to fit in.
I spent three months in SEA with a 7kg carry on.
There are two realizations you need to make to start packing light:
1. You really don't need all this shit
2. Shops and laundries exist abroad
Get a week's change of clothes, your laptop, a charger and you're pretty much set. I had a waterproof jacket but frankly you can live without it, monsoons are predictable and are relatively quick intermittent showers, not the annoying "whole day of light rain" temperate garbage. You can always buy yourself one for cheap locally.
Somebody mentioned packing cubes and I second this. They sound like a scammy gimmick but it's a blessing to have your loose socks separate and compressed without the fricking plastic bag rustle.
Toiletries debate really depends on whether and when you're planning to use air travel after you've already made it to SEA. You can consider grabbing a CONDENSED toothpaste or shower gel. Those last forever and are tiny compared to a huge package of the local product that's meant to stay on the bathroom shelf, not travel with you in a backpack. And they're small enough to legally pass through security. It beats throwing out half a bottle of shampoo everytime you board a plane. Granted, none will last you 8 months.
Other than that, consider a backup charger because you're guaranteed to eventually forget one in a hotel room and it's a pain in the ass to find an electronics store that won't israelite you when you're stuck with dying hardware. Power bank. Extra ear plugs if you can't sleep without those, they seemed oddly hard to find. A thin money belt to wear under your pants is nice too, lets you carry more cash with you without worrying about pickpockets nabbing more than a half-empty wallet.
get wet wipes instead of TP
>SEA
I know what you are gonna do there