Backpacking during winter
When thinking about backpacking, most people would think about Thailand, Bali, India, and so on … But a lot of backpackers also go traveling during winter, even better, some even take stuff with them for summer AND winter inside of a carry on backpack!! It’s strange to look back to it now but I aspired to be one of those people someday, I got married and started living abroad now. Still, I am still a backpacker on the inside and a minimalist in house. :p (It is now 2020 that I’m writing this blog post)
This was on my trip to Japan during winter where average temps would be around 5 degrees with some places bellow 0. For these kinds of temps, you don’t actually need that much more than for packing during summer. Just add long pants instead and a sweater.
Testing
Get yourself a backpack and start putting everything you want to take with you next to your backpack. Remember this: Your backpack is not too small, you just want to take necessary stuff with you. So if it doesn’t fit, take everything out again and say to yourself: “Do I really need this?”, if the answer is no, leave it out. Do this as many times as is necessary until everything fits.
Baseline?
So what are the very minimum basics which you would need? I don’t have a clue, but what I can say is what my basics are which I choose to take with me on every single trip.
- 2 pair of pants (1 which you will wear);
- 2 sweaters (1 which you will wear);
- 3 T-shirts (1 which you will wear);
- 7 socks (1 pair which you will wear);
- 7 pieces of underwear (1 which you will wear).
That brings everything down to a very small amount, how can you survive a 2 week trip with that amount of clothes? Washing regularly is the key. You may not like it to wash clothes whilst on a trip, but it saves a lot of space and weight!
Packing cubes
I’m a big fan of packing cubes, but I rarely use them. The only one I use is a small one for my underwear and socks. The problem is, for suitcases, they are very helpful as they have kind of the same shape, in a backpack. However, you will start losing space, it may not be much space which you are losing, but you are losing space.
Testing again
I would recommend having a walk with your backpack on with everything inside. This will show you if you didn’t pack too much or not as it will feel too heavy for you. While we are on the weight subject, if this backpack is a carry-on, please check the weight and try to stay under the allowance of what you can take on a plane. Whilst doing that you may want to check out if everything you put in your backpack is allowed to go with you as carry-on luggage.
PS.: I only realize now (4 years later) how messy my hair is in this video and how terrible of a lighting job I did, the shaky footage at the end of the video also didn’t improve the production value. XD
