So if you guys don’t know yet, we travel on a budget… this means backpacks, cheap hotels with splurges on epic experiences and adventures that we will cherish for the rest of our lives. Usually we pack 1 backpack each, Jason uses a 40L and I use my 36L Osprey Sirrus. On our next trip we are trying something different! You see, I bought Jason an awesome camera bag for Christmas, which definitely does not fold up due to all the padding on the inside, which is kind of a bummer but it is an amazing camera bag! Anyhow, we definitely needed a proper camera bag for our travels. The camera bag then would end up as a second piece of full size carry on luggage which is definitely not allowed on some airlines, so I came up with the idea of fitting all of our clothing and toiletries and other necessities into one 40L backpack.
Naturally Jason thought I was crazy, so I threw 7 shirts each and 3 pants each and other jackets into a bag to prove that there was plenty of room for everything! He then agreed that we will try travelling with only 2 backpacks total, one camera bag and one clothing and toiletry bag!

 

Carry On Restrictions for Airlines

Different airlines have different restrictions, our upcoming flights are on Virgin Atlantic, Emirates and the Jetstar.
Virgin Atlantic allows you to carry on one piece of hand luggage along with a handbag. Emirates definitely only allows one piece of carry on luggage, we found this out the hard way when we were flying to Vietnam! Finally good ole Jetstar, two bags weighing no more than 7kgs. Challenge Accepted!

 

Why do we travel carry on only?

We opt for carry on only travel as part of budget travel game plan! Find out other ways we save money while travelling below!

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What to Pack for Minimalist Travel

Airport Outfit

Sometimes it’s hard to pack everything into your backpack! Like those chunky hiking boots or snow boots. We always stick to wearing some of the bulkier stuff on the plane, even if it means leaving Barbados in snow boots!

Women’s Airport Outfit

Fur lined leggings

Comfortable t-shirt

Bra + Panties

Socks and my bulkiest pair of shoes, hiking boots, snow boots or even sneakers.

Sweater for on board the plane

Mens Airport Outfit

Jeans

Comfortable t-shirt

Boxers

Socks with bulkiest shoes, so again, hiking boots, sneakers, or snow boots.

In Our Backpack

5-7 T-shirts for him and her in small packing cubes. For active trips we tend to lean towards more dri-fit t-shirts.

2 Pairs of pants. I usually opt for another pair of furry leggings or just 2 pairs of hiking pants depending on the trip.

Rain Gear. This consists of rain pants and a rain jacket for each of us.

4 Socks each.
2 sports bras + Underwear for 7 days.

1 pair of flip flops for hostel showers or public showers.

1 Warm Jacket each. Depending on the weather where we are travelling it will either be a heavy jacket like this, or we opt for something a bit lighter like this.

 

Toiletries

Silicone Travel tubes. We are using these for some liquid dish soap for our New Zealand campervan trip, when we were in Whitehorse and even Iceland we had to end up buying full size bottles of dishsoap and leaving them behind, not this time!

Redmond Earthpaste. We are also putting some of this into our smaller silicone tubes. Other than toothpaster, the majority of our other toiletries are solid. You cna check out all of our DIY solid toiletires here.

Shampoo Bar. Jason could literally just wash his hair with body soap, but my hair is a bit more difficult! I DIYed this shampoo bar for my own hair and it is amazing!

Bar Soap. We will be taking our 100% vegan, luxury soap which I also made! These have in shea butter so they should help keep our skin nice and moisturized.

Lotion Bar. I created this simple lotion bar with a bit of citronella which should hopefully keep any bugs at bay!

Deodorant. I have been using my homemade concoction. Jason still uses regular deodorant which is also solid.

Laundry Soap bar. Since we have opted for dri-fit clothing for our New Zealand campervan trip specifically, I decided to take a DIY laundry soap bar to wash clothes in the campervan!

Camera Bag

Sony a6500. This is Jason’s go to camera, for filming and photography and he is absolutely in love with it.

Moza Air. Jason’s newest toy, it helps stabilise his camera to improve the quality of his video footage by eliminating any shakiness!

Nikon D3300. This is my old faithful, I’ve had this camera for about 4 years now and I still love it! I have recently upgraded to a couple of prime lenses which are my go to lenses, like this 16mm one for landscapes and this 50mm for everything else basically. I also got an intervalometer to take timelapses with this camera!

Tripod. An essential in our books, for night photography, long exposure photography and even timelapses. We can’t travel without it!

Mavic Pro and Remote. We upgraded from our DJI Spark because Jason wanted to get some better quality drone footage. This is even better since it packs up really small in the backpack!

GoPro Hero 7. This is now our favourite camera to vlog on, the stability is amazing and the colors are fantastic! If you have watched any of our vlogs you can see it in action.

Rode Microphone. This is attached to our GoPro via the microphone adapter, and this mic is fantastic. It produces really professional sound for the price even when it’s windy!

Cables, batteries and SD cards. Essentials! Don’t forget these or else you wont be able to charge your cameras or phones or even take any pictures!

Laptop. Jason will be taking his Mac Book Pro in order to move footage on to our hard drive while we travel and even start editing a few videos on the road.

Check out our favourite bag for travel!

Stacey is giving you a look at one of her favourite backpacks she has ever owned and why it is great for travelling carry on only!

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