After traveling around Tanzania, Zambia, Zimbabwe, South Africa, Ghana and Morocco we landed back in the US for a month. It was a time to recharge, reconnect and repack.

The year we spent living and traveling through Tanzania provided a good introduction to minimalism, aka I just didn’t have many clothes. A de facto minimalist life, if you will. Living and traveling through Africa also provided some good real life examples of what I wanted to switch up to carry around in my 40L backpack throughout Asia for the near 12 weeks that we are here. In addition to the specific clothes that I changed out, the main things I learned about what to pack are:

• Having a collapsable, fold-up back-pack of my own is really valuable. I use it to redistribute the weight from my big backpack when we are on budget airlines and it is helpful to use if we are biking around town or going for a hike. I definitely prefer this to a non-collapsable one because if we are walking/moving around a lot I prefer to just have my one big bag, not two
• Lots of clothing lists for SE Asia talk about temple appropriate clothes with long skirts or dresses and shoulder covering. While it is important to cover knees/shoulders for temples, for me this does not necessitate a long skirt. Why must I wear a skirt to a temple? Pants and a t-shirt are just fine. Aka, long skirt ditched
• I have enough clothes that I have something to wear when the weather is hot or cold. If it really hot or cold for days on end then I will be wearing generally the same two or three outfits the entire time in that area. That’s the minimalist life, right?

Without further ado, all the things I’ve lovingly stuffed into my 40L carry-on backpack.

CLOTHES and SHOES

5 Warm Weather Tops (I decreased from 7 to 5 in an attempt to save space (6 if you count my sleeping top)

3 Tank Tops:

• 1 Black Muscle Tank from Everlane, 100% cotton (left side of photo)
• 1 Black Tank Top from Eileen Fisher, thrifted. It is 100% silk and I LOVE it. It doesn’t smell and I can wear it days in a row without worrying about stretching, deodorant, sweating, etc… (far right of photo)
• 1 navy blue and whit striped tank top I recently picked up in Cambodia at Dorsu. I was really excited to support this organization that promotes remnant fabric and fair-wage labor, made and designed in Cambodia. I ditched my very worn gray Madewell T-Shirt in exchange for my new tank

2 T-Shirt Style Tops:

• 1 custom made gray shirt with breathable, hand loomed cotton fabric from Handmade from Tanzania (far left in photo)
• 1 blue/grey linen top handmade by my talented friend Alison Kileen. I love the linen fabric (center in photo)

3 Cool Weather Tops

2 Long Sleeves

• 1 Chambray for cool weather, hiding from mosquitoes and hiding from the African sun, from a thrift store
• 1 long sleeved cotton black shirt, Madwell, doesn’t dry that quickly and probably wouldn’t get this exact one again

1 Jacket

• Patagonia nano-puff, packs down small (not bringing rain jacket, will wear garbage bag if needed)

3 Dresses 

• 1 black linen dress from Everlane. My ‘smock’ as Jason calls it. It is great because it has shape with a collar and buttons and can look nice dressed up or down. It is also loose enough in the arms to withstand lots of sweating
• 1 burnt orange Eileen Fisher slip dress, gifted by my dear friend Sarah. This works great with t-shirts/tanks on top or below to change up the style and is nice and lightweight.
• 1 black quick dry travel dress from Toad&Co, from REI. Traveling around the US and Japan with this I wanted to ditch it so badly because it doesn’t really go with the rest of my clothes, but once I arrived in the tropics of SE Asia my decision to purchase this dress has been reaffirmed. It dries quick, looks nice, is really comfortable and easy to throw on every day.

4 Bottoms (Updates from Africa- I ditched my long black skirt because I did not feel nice in it. I also ditched my jeans, because they were high risk and I never wanted to wear them because they cut into my midsection when I was sitting. Pant you don’t wear based on SITTING can not make the cut. Because sitting must make the cut.)

 

• 1 pair black stretchy pants from Eileen Fisher, made of viscose, nylon and lycra, on loan from my friend Alison (perhaps permanently if they don’t make survive.) These pants are stretchy and super comfortable and do not give away when I’ve been sweating too much
• 1 pair of black Lulu lemon yoga pants. In an effort to buy things that are more ethically and sustainably made I wouldn’t buy these again but they sure have served me well so far
• 1 pair of Prana Uptown black pants- lightweight, quick dry, great for hiking or everyday wear

Sleeping Attire

• 1 pair of black shorts, Patagonia, quick dry- good for hiking, sleeping, and can wear them everyday too. I don’t love wearing shorts in general so one pair is enough for me.
• 1 Yoga Tank Tops, quick dry; my primary sleeping shirt

4 Shoes 

• 1 pair of camel colored Sabah slip-ons, no socks needed, dress up or down, mine are a bit tight but otherwise great the team at Sabah is AMAZING and replaced my Sabah’s for ones that actually fit. So now I can unabashedly share that I love them.
• 1 pair of Birkenstocks- Hands down my favorite shoes in this heat, for walking everywhere, and if I could only wear one pair the rest of the time these would be it
• 1 pair of Blundstone Boots- great for hiking and everyday wear and waterproof if we are out all day in the rain. After buying a pair of ankle height SmartWool socks these shoes have become much more comfortable on my foot and for wearing in the heat. Yay!
• 1 pair of Havaiana (knock-offs I’m pretty sure) that I bought at the night market in Cambodia for beach wear.

Unders, not pictured

• 8 pairs of ExOfficio underwear, which are the best! Quick dry, comfortable, pack small
• 3 bras; 2 regular and one sports I switched to 2 sports (both Patagonia ‘barely there’ in black) and one regular. This is a better balance for me for exercising, sleeping and actually being able to wear the sports bra too
• 1 swimsuit
• 2 pairs of socks, one is SmartWool for hiking that are tall so they can cover my ankle gap and protect me from bugs, the other are ankle heigh to hide under my boots

Packing Clothes: Cubes!

I’m a huge fan of packing cubes, like everyone else. I use three cubes.

• 1 large white Eagle Creek Cube for my bottoms and dresses
• 1 small white one for Unders and sleeping outfit
• 1 small blue one for t-shirts/tops
• Patagonia Nano-Puff has its own special packing cube. While I don’t need it often, when I need it I need it.

NOT CLOTHES and SHOES

 

 

 

 

 

Other

• 1 Scarf, works as scarf, sarong, will double as towel when needed. It is bulky but necessary. I also just added a small tan/brown scarf my friend Melissa bought me in Cambodia. TBD if it is practical but I really wanted it.
• 1 yoga mat, Manduka Travel Mat, which I love
• I came without a hat and waited to buy one when it was totally necessary, which was for touring Angkor Wat. Picked up a hap for $4. It is ok. Worth about $4.
• 1 cross-body leather purse, for kindle and wallet and headphones
• Headlamp
• Coffee mug with back-up Via Coffee (I’m a coffee addict)
• Hydroflask water bottle Just sent this home with my friend, sadly there is rarely filtered water so we always end up buying water bottles anyways.
• Bagu reusable bag Decided instead I needed a collapsable backpack of my own, mostly for shifting bag weight on budget airlines. I love the Flip and Tumble Lightweight Travel Backpack
•  Journal
• Drawstring laundry bag
• Spork!
• Extra drugs

Toiletries, Bag 1 (green) and 2 (white)

Bag 1

 

 

 

 

 

• Toothbrush/toothpaste
• Deodorant
• Face powder and brush, mascara, eyebrow pencil, and my favorite lip/cheek stain and bronzer from my friend Leyna at Urb Apothecary
• A few pairs of earrings, (my favorite from Essie Day Jewlery) and necklaces, 1 headband
• Drugs: Taking up more space than I like but just a few essentials in case we get traveler’s diarrhea, itchy, nauseated, constipated, allergic, a UTI and to prevent malaria
• Eye mask and ear plugs

Bag 2 (where all the liquids live so if they spill they only spill on each other)

• 4 silicone Eagle Creek bottles with conditioner, shampoo, Dr. Bronners multi purpose soap and curly-hair stuff
• Nail polish and remover, so I can live in luxury
• Daily face moisturizer
• Sunscreen
• I also picked up Urb Apothecary’s Willow Charcoal Face Wash and I’m a huge fan!

Electronics

 

 

 

 

 

• iPhone and charger
• MacBook and charger
• Kindle
• Headphones
• Converter
• Recharger

ALL PACKED, there aren’t really many changes from my Carry On packing for 6 weeks in Africa.  Check that out to see how it all fits/where it all goes.