My 7kg backpack packing secrets

In my daily life, I am a quality manager for a well-known French brand.

I control the standards, make sure that everything goes well in the production plants, analyze the defective products …

Pressure, stress, urgency describe best my daily life. So when it’s vacation time, I need air. I need to be far away, very far from it all. I travel, to the end of the world, alone, to find myself – no more people watching over my shoulders. The inner silence nourishes me.

As a woman, I use Nomadsister to find free accommodation at local women hosts. It makes me feel safer.

However, due to my professional habits or my personality, trip after trip I notice what I don’t need to bring. I then try to avoid useless, heavy-weighted items. Every time I go on a trip, my backpack size reduces and weighs less.

Results? When I traveled in Mexico for three weeks this summer 2017, my backpack weighed only 7Kgs! I remember the surprised look of the airline passenger check-in officer when I checked in my luggage “Is that all you have?” 

1. A 7kg backpack : why travelling light

 

I am more mobile, I can run after a bus (if I need to), I protect my backbone, I do not feel shoulder ache at the end of the day. To be more mobile: I don’t have to leave my bag in a hostel, so I can handle any unexpected situation. A meeting, or an invitation? No problem! I am ready. I have everything with me! 

I don’t take anything valuable with me, but no one knows that so I’m still a target for potential thieves.

Therefore, I limit the risks as much as possible. I can easily place my backpack between my legs on public transport (bus, train) without having to put it in the car trunk/ baggage storage (thus no risk of theft during transfer stops). I can wear it on my front in crowed places to avoid pickpockets, even though I already reduce the possibility to access to the pockets by covering it with a rain jacket. 

It is an amazing sensation, that is, being relieved of all this materialistic life that consumes us everyday. The less we have, the less we have to lose, I feel my mind liberated. (No, I’m not a hippie! I wash and change clothes everyday, I maintain my feminine side.) 

2. How to pack a 7kg luggage bag efficiently?

 

1. Travel where it’s hot
You reduce considerably the weight of the backpack. No need for a sleeping bag, a bed sheet is enough. No need for warm clothes.

2. Marseille Soap Natural and ecological, I wash everything with it.
My clothes, my body and my hair. So I have no liquid product with me.

3. The minimum of clothing
3 T-shirts, 2 pairs of pants, 3 sets of underwear.
No more! I hand-wash my clothes every night, which I then hang with pegs on a rope and leave to dry. There is always a way to hang your clothes. For example, it’s very easy to do so between the bunk beds in a youth hostel.I also found zip-off pants that can thus covert to shorts.

4. Every object counts!
If I need to take scissors with me, it will be the smallest one. How about a towel? Made of microfiber. A toothpaste? I found some powder toothpaste that I can put into a small box. The down jacket? Extra light. If you do this for every thing you put in your bag, you will greatly reduce the weight.

5. To the question “will I use this?” The answer is always: NO!
You know why you’re traveling. If you go on a business trip you will not hesitate to take your heels, but for a backpacking holiday you can do without it! An unexpected elegant evening? The man of your life awaits you maybe? A little light dress and sandals will do the trick! 

3. Detailed checklist for a 7kg backpack

 

 
-Main backpack + light weighted backpack 
-Rain jacket for the main and light weighted (secondary) backpack 
-Backpack strap 
-Freezer bag + garbage bag (to assort items and protect them from humidity) 
-Body belt + classic purse (to separate your money, the idea is to not have all your money in one purse) 

 
-Passport
-Visa
-Plane tickets 
-International driver’s license
-Summary of reservations
- Itinerary inserted into a soft A5 plastic file (so it’s waterproof and won’t be all torn up being folded in four in your pocket) 
 -Photocopies of ID cards (I never leave the original ID card at the a hotel or a hostel reception). Also, remember to make a backup copy on your phone and in your e-mail of all ID card and travel documents. 
-Cash + credit card 

 
-Watch (to avoid taking out your smartphone whenever you want to know the time) 
-Phone + high speed USB charger + car charger if you will rent a car -Power adapter
-Mosquito repellent plugin 
-USB key (to copy music from my hosts!) 
-Pen + Notebook- Small flash light + Swiss army knife + number padlock (avoid the keys that are likely to lose)
-Clothes pegs + a hanging cord 

 
-A pair of glasses + sun glasses 
-Contact lenses (daily disposable ones = more hygienic) + a small mirror 
-Minimum make-up (sample sized mascara, eyeshadow…etc)
 -Sunscreen + anti mosquito(insect)spray 
-Marseille soap 
-Scissors 
-Shoe deodorant powder
-Essential oil (after a day of walking, when we remove the shoes and we are staying in a hostel room with others…)
-Basic medicines (Paracetamol, Spasfon) + plasters 
-Condoms
 -Moon cup
-Toothbrush + toothpaste powder + cotton bud 
-Nail clipper + body shavor + needle 
-Microfiber towel
-Sleep mask + ear plugs 

 
-Extra light jacket
-Rain jacket
-Hat
 -3 T-Shirts
-2 pairs of short pants
-3 sets of underwear
-1 light dress
-Hiking shoes + a pair of sandals
 -Bed sheet

Voilà!

For my next trip, I’m thinking to remove two three items from the list. But well, I think it’s pretty good already! 

 
-To say that you are married to a government man
-Ideally have a picture of him in military dress + weapon
-To sign up in Nomadsister platform! (You can stay for free at local woman’s homes, meet female travellers from all over the world.)