Un-Pack With Me...Learn from my Mistakes (4 Months Backpacking Europe with a Carry-on)

About your accent, I saw a few rude comments and I just want to say, 1. it is very clear. and 2. everyone has an accent! They are just being mean

I would like to sincerely thank you from the bottom of my heart, every video I have searched for has been some influencer/supermodel wannabe packing ridiculously and being sponsored by something or other. This concept you have done where you unpack in front of the camera and share the good and bad ideas of packing for backpacking is AMAZING and the entire video feels so much more real than anything else I have seen. I am subscribing and watching a bunch of your other videos. And again, thank you so much for this video it helps out a lot.

Me glued to this video to learn how to pack right as if I'm heading off travelling 🤓😅

Washing your clothes with your shampoo is why a lot of nomads use Dr. Bronner's...face wash, body wash, shampoo, laundry, dishes, pets, + more, all natural, mild, eco friendly biodegradable.

I don't use microfiber towels, I use microfiber cloths that I buy for cleaning (bought specifically to dry myself). I keep them in a tiny waterproof bag. I wash clothes in the hostel in the sink. I used to overpack, I now do the wear one, wash one, spare one thing. A tiny sewing kit and safety pins is great for maintaining your clothes. But I don't care about fashion anymore. I bring a lightweight fleece to keep warm. A light scarf is fantastic for keeping warm or making into a dress or a bag. Multi purpose makeup helps reduce the amount of items you need. I use soap instead of shower gel as it lasts longer, is cheaper and weighs less. It's easy to bring through the airport too. If you get blisters, bring blister plasters. I travel to Europe, the US and Asia regularly and only ever bring handluggage. Make sure what you bring is, lightweight and dries easy. I'd never bring jeans or a denim jacket as they are bulky and take time to dry.

Absolutely agree with your last regret - do not pack white clothes!! I could have thought that one through myself before I went travelling to do farm work... but even if you're just going hiking or on city trips: your white clothes will just turn grey with a hint of brown, no matter what you do

Suggestions: -Loop your elasticised hair ties through any zippers on or inside your backpack and any other pouches. Saves space and you'll always be able to find one. -Bring some laundry sheets in a small ziploc bag. You can cut the sheets into thirds for bathroom sink handwashing or throw 3 into a washing machine. -When traveling, wear your bulkiest and/or heaviest outfit (including shoes); it'll save space in your backpack and reduce its weight on your back. I like the idea of bringing a collapsible food container. I've been toying with the idea myself (I have a trip coming up soon), and the one you showed takes up even less space than I was imagining. It also occurred to me that the sealed collapsible food container could also be used to contain other things during travel, saving more space in the backpack. You might consider simplifying your makeup and carrying it in that container. When you get to your lodgings, you can use a cup to hold the contents and free the container for food. Gets rid of that bulky makeup bag.

Learning from the experiences of others means not having to repeat them on your own...thank you..

I'm definitely team Fairview 40 and Teva sandals without question. The first time I travelled I had a 65 litre pack, a 39 litre pack, a small travel shoulderbag thingy, and a travel pillow and , bottle hanging off everything, I even had to carry my Lonely Planet in my hand because there wasn't a spare inch of space for it. Talk about taking everything for every eventuality. It was ridiculous, even for packing for different climates. These days I can live easily for months out of my Fairview 40 plus the same travel shoulderbag and that's it. I dont wear dresses or shorts (nobody needs to see my fat 65 year old legs!), but I pack 3 pairs of black pants (2 are stretchy viscose with zipped pockets and one loose rayon pair), a pair of yoga leggings, several Icebreaker merino cool-lite tshirts, a couple of patterned rayon tunic tops, a couple of long-sleeve merino tops, a polar-fleece jacket, a rain jacket, a large piece of plain rayon fabric that can be used as a sheet, a sarong, a shawl etc, a sunhat. Plus underwear, socks, and one pair of merino long-johns. My yoga pants, long-johns or undies with a tshirt work as pyjamas and as day clothes/layers. Plus my tevas, my track shoes, and jandals (flipflops). I dont even take a swimsuit, just use a tshirt and yoga pants and remain covered up like the local women do (Asia and India). No makeup (I never wear the stuff), my phone and kindle, battery pack, small JBL speaker, earphones, earplus and eyemask, travel pillow, waterbottle, silicone food containers, and utensils. First aid kit and minimalist toiletries bag. Easy peasy. Going away for a weekend in my own country (New Zealand) entails a much longer thought process and the same pack!! 😂

I used to do my makeup on the train so would carry all my makeup in a small bag. My tip - find everything in stick form that you can blend with your fingers. Skip the foundation, bring a great concealer. Find a cream blush stick, a cream bronzer stick. Liquid eyeliner with its own brush tip (or a pencil but don't forget a sharpener). Eyeshadow sticks you can blend with your fingers - a matte and a glittery one. Brow products are usually in a stick anyway, as are lip products. A mascara, and a powder compact, plus a good compact mirror. You can get it all very small, just no palettes and limit your brushes, particularly face brushes are bulky.

Great video! There are so many packing videos pre trip, but it's good to know what was useful and what wasn't

I love seeing little memories wash over your face as you pull each item out of your bag. I hope you had a sensational trip!

So helpful! I'm an Aussie leaving for Europe in 2 weeks and I loved how you shared "what you would do differently" - thanks for this great video :)

Im not planning on backpacking, never have been backpacking... Defs have no reason for me to watch this video however i am completely invested 😂

you are SO right about the first aid and the shoes. my biggest regret when i travelled with a backpack to europe a few years ago was not bringing a shit ton of bandaids and disinfectant, but also not bringing good enough shoes and stuff to wrap my ankles. now i do have hypermobile ankles which means my feet shift around a bit too much but still it’s better safe than sorry. long story short i got a life threatening infected blister and wound up in the hospital on IV. something to clean wounds is SOOOO important and when hiking i highly recommend wrapping your ankles or putting some kind of protective tape wherever you tend to get blisters.

Great video with some helpful tips, it's always great to learn from other people's experiences. My tip is to invest in good hiking / trekking shoes (waterproof!) and don't bring sneakers at all. Sadly most of them come in weird designs, but your feet will thank you. As you mentioned, don't bring anything that's white, especially no shoes with a white sole. Also you don't need makeup. Bring a comfy dress or sweatpants you can double use for during the day and for sleeping at night. If you have a light sleep, use ear plugs and then wear noise cancelling headphones over them. Don't rely only on your phone for tickets and other documents. Print everything important on thin paper (double sided) and throw it away afterwards. You won't have fun if you can't show your ticket because your phone decided to die for no apparent reason and you have to pay a second time - or you can't enter at all.

the makeup bag size isn't an issue. the bag you chose is very flexible, so it'll compress down to whatever the size of the contents are. it's better to have more room to rummage through, as long as the bag's form is compressible. just take less makeup stuff, or find smaller brushes, or have a compact makeup organizers that reduce deadspace.

I loveee this video! Felt like a friend unpacking in front of me and talking to me <3 loads of love

Pack a dry bag, a couple of tumble dryer balls and some soap/laundry sheets and you got yourself a mobile manual washing machine (the dry bag is also handy for beach and aquasports). And with some elastic bands you can make a washing line

Thanks for sharing your experiences. As to doing laundry, I travel with a ziploc bag of laundry SHEETS. They work great and no risk of spilling!