Packing List for Backpacking Europe

Before my sister and I left to backpack Europe for about 28 days, I read packing lists obsessively on the internet. Obsessively. I hated most of them, but that did not stop me from scrutinizing each one. It is silly, but one of the things I was looking forward to most was my own packing list blog post. I may or may not have caught myself thinking, not "when I pack I will do this and this differently," but "my post will have this better and a clearer photo, etc."

OK, confession time over. On to the packing. We will start on the outside and work our way in (people who are only interested in what clothes I packed, scroll until you get to the photo with the clothes!!)

So I have a 45L pack. This one, to be precise:

http://www.cabelas.com/product/Cabelas-XPG-Womens-Ridgeline-Liter-Pack/1348468.uts

Overall, I was fairly happy with how it performed. It held up very well (which it should have, since we were hardly the thrill-seeking, adventure backpackers.) It had sufficient (but not impressive) pockets, and access to the inside was quite good for a top-loader. My only major complaint is that it is too long for my back and therefore did not distribute weight ideally. However, that is not the backpack's fault. My other complaint is that it is too big, but we will get to that later.

To aid with the whole "living out of a backpack without losing my mind" thing, I spent around half a day stopping at, like, SIX different stores, slowly accumulating these beauts:

They were a lifesaver. You can see in a later picture how my stuff was divided into them, but this ^ picture has all of my clothes and almost all of my toiletries. All packed down into that little stack! I really liked knowing exactly where stuff was in the bottomless abyss of my backpack. If I needed a shirt, I knew exactly which handle to grab. If I had to pull out every "item" in my backpack looking for something, it was like four or five objects instead of dozens. Some people hate cubes, so try out packing with them before you take them on a trip, but I will probably always use them in the future.

This is almost everything I took with me. I'm sure there were some last minute additions, but this is the bulk of it.

Biggest cube:
-skirt/jeans/shorts
-sweater(s)
-dress

Medium cube:
-shirts

Small (rectangular) cubes:
1 for socks/tights
1 for bras & underwear

Wedge-ish bag:
-toiletries

Flat zip document "bag:"
This was a last-minute addition, it was nearly waterproof and rather structured. I highly recommend it.
It housed:
-photocopies of passport, driver's license, credit card
-printed directions to each hostel from the train station
-Eurail map & other info
-later in the trip, post-cards or other paper things I wanted to keep nice and flat were kept here.

Small "day" bag-ette (haha funny.) Another life-saver. I took my purse, but I usually only carried it for train rides. This is what I used when we were running around cities. I never worried about pick-pockets since it was attached to my wrist and I always held it like a clutch with the zipper inside my hand. It was big enough that everything fit comfortably but small enough that it was a breeze to carry. Mine was like $7 at Walmart.
-passport
-debit card
-local currency
-chapstick
-misc necessaries

The items above with asterisks by their names are items that I ditched along the way. The lock didn't work, even though I tried it like four times before we left. I threw it away at our first hostel and bought one with a key. The converter stopped working about halfway through. Funny story, my sister's iPhone cable stopped working almost immediately, so we were already sharing my cable, then my converter bit the dust and we finished out the trip with one converter and one cable. Since we were only using our phones to take pictures and use the internet when available, our battery life was decent and it was not much of an inconvenience. I realized after I saved the photo that I did not actually throw away my money belt-necklace (lol,) I just ended up stuffing it in the bottom of my pack and forgetting about it. It was really unnecessary; I thought I might use it at a sketchy hostel or something, but I only used it once at night, just for my phone. I sadly left my wonderful stainless steel water bottle behind because it was far more hassle than it was worth; I was tremendously tired of carrying it. It took up too much room inside my bag and made too much noise clipped to the outside of it, so I left it. I will undoubtedly buy another for home use, though, you cannot beat the stainless steel bottles!

The clothes!!!!!

I realized that I never took a picture after my final cuts on my clothing, so the items with red X's in the picture were eliminated before I left. The item with a green X was eliminated on the trip (explanation to follow.)

So our trip was in September. We went to Germany, Czech Republic, Austria, Italy, Switzerland, and France. Italy was, of course, warm, and southern Germany, Prague, and Switzerland were fairly cold. The rest of the places were moderate. So we were fairly accurate in attempting to pack for all contingencies. In Munich I was wearing almost every item of clothing I packed, and in Italy I could not imagine why I had not packed more hot-weather clothing. But in the end, I wish I had brought less clothing. I know everyone says that, but it's true. Next time I will bring less. So I am going to rate every clothing item I brought to show how much use I got out of it.

Here's my scale:
one: I got almost no use out of this, it was not worth its weight
two: I wore this some, but I would not bring it next time.
three: I got okay use from this, I would consider it next time.
four: I got really good use from this item.
five: I literally would have been miserable without this item.

Shoes shoes shoes.
(1) pair boots - Dr. Martens Felice five
(1) pair sandals - Birkenstock Odessa four
(1) pair $2 flip-flops for showers (always wear them. Foot fungus is miserable.) five

(1) black dress - Target Mossimo - discarded due to lack of use.  one
(1) black skirt - Target. three
(1) pair blue jeans - bootcut, medium wash. five
(1) pair jean shorts - rolled cuff, medium-light wash. four
(1) pair black lounge/yoga/pajama pants. I hated these with a passion, but at the same time, you need pajamas. Just choose wisely. four

(1) black pullover - oversized, loose knit. three
(1) black cardigan. five
(1) black long-sleeve tee. three
(1) grey 3/4-sleeve shirt. two
(3) tshirts (black, grey, grey stripes). five
(2) tanks (purple, grey) - racerback. four and two (I would take one, not two, next time if preparing for the same weather as on this trip.)

(1) scarf three

Not pictured:
(1) black tights (HUE opaque sheer black tights will change your life. They look awesome, feel awesome, and I swear they never wear out. Link to Amazon below) five
(2) wool or wool-blend boot socks (cream, black) four
(3) regular socks four
(1) regular bra three
(2) sports bras (I am among the freakish part of the population that prefers sports bras) five
(5) pairs underwear. I had two pairs of Champion underwear as a cheaper alternative to "travel" underwear. They worked great. But then my regular underwear was fine too, so.  five - duh.

Accessories:
Watch five
one ring (to rule them all) four

Clothing purchased on the trip:
pair of grey tights (meh) and pair of black leggings (crap) one
black fleece jacket four



Toiletries:

So, I am a very low-maintenance person, but I have long-ish huge wavy/curly hair. So I will always look at "toiletries" and see "hair products." Here's my list:

-two travel-sized toothpaste tubes
-toothbrush with cover
- 30-pack of natural-mumbo-jumbo exfoliating face wipes (my skin only tolerates select cleaners)
-one bar of Dr Brommer's peppermint soap
-mascara
-eyeliner
-one small eyeshadow compact-y thing
-chapstick
-tinted chapstick
-travel-sized bottles of:

• sulfate-free shampoo
• heavy conditioner
• light conditioner
• hair goop (magical curling custard-type product which I fondly call Angel Snot)
• hair gel

-tiny mirror (a lifesaver)
-several hair-ties
-small collection of bobby pins

Also, just a mention, I brought 1.5 towels. I purchased an extra-large quick-dry microfiber towel which cost a whopping $30 but was worth every cent, and then I also folded up a small flour sack towel (which I swear by) and whipped it right into my other towel's mesh sack. I always wrap my hair in the flour sack towel (a two-pack costs like $1 in the Walmart dish cloth section) before getting out and drying myself off. If you have longer hair, it cuts down on drippage so much and is also more gentle on your hair. Wet hostel bathroom floors are nasty. Don't contribute to them.

Electronics:
iPhone 4S
charger cord
iPad 2
charger cord (I only brought the USB to Lightning part of the charger since I could use my iPhone charger's plug)
Photojojo Telephoto and Wide Angle/Macro lenses for the iPhone
two pairs of earphones

I brought along two books and my journal. The journal was fantastic to have along. I only made it through one short book, because I cannot read on trains or any other form of transportation. If you do not have motion sickness, bring at least one book (almost every hostel has a book exchange, although some were quite poor.) However, I also recommend not reading too much on trains. It is a fantastic way to see the countryside and even if the scenery is not thrilling, it is still a new place to take in. I downloaded the audiobook The Girl Who Played with Fire before we left, knowing that I would not be able to read much, and it was the best decision ever. The audiobook is like 16-17 hrs long, and I finished it on the plane ride home. It was fantastic entertainment on the train and still allowed me to keep my eyes glued out the window, when I was fortunate enough to have a view. My sister can read on trains and she got through five or six books during the month. If you like or can even tolerate audiobooks, definitely download one. And make it a long one.

Just a few last miscellaneous mentions:
I highly recommend stuffing a handful of healthy bars into your bag. I packed 3 or 4 Luna bars and wished I had brought more. Grocery stores can occasionally be hard to locate and having a backup plan that does not involve an 8 euro sandwich in the train station is essential.

My reusable shopping bag was the greatest decision. You can see it in the second to last photo, on the right. It rolls down to a tiny tube shape, and it holds a lot. I believe it's an Envirosax (or very similar,) I picked it up at the National Gallery of Art in DC on my most recent visit. It carted my laundry bag to the laundromat (we wimped on sink laundry,) carried my groceries (many grocery stores in Europe expect you to have a bag,) toted my shower supplies, and generally saved my butt. I definitely recommend the investment.

Let me know if you have any comments or would like to know more about my packing list, my trip, my life, anything!