You’ll never meet a traveler who, after five trips, brags, “Every year I pack heavier.” The measure of good travelers is how light they travel. You can’t travel heavy, happy, and cheap. Pick two.
Limit yourself to 20 pounds in a carry-on-size bag. A 9” x 22” x 14” bag fits under most airplane seats. At Europe Through the Back Door, we’ve taken thousands of people of all ages and styles on tours through Europe. We allow only one carry-on bag. For many, this is a radical concept. “Nine x 22 x 14 inches? That’s my cosmetics kit!” But they manage and they’re glad they did. And after you enjoy that sweet mobility and freedom, you’ll never go any other way.
When you carry your own luggage, it’s less likely to get lost, broken, or stolen. (Many travelers claim that airline employees rifle through checked luggage.) A small bag sits on your lap or under your seat on the bus, taxi, and airplane. You don’t have to worry about it, and, when you arrive, you can leave immediately.
Too much luggage marks you as a typical tourist. Con artists figure you’re helpless. Porters are a problem only to those who need them. With one bag hanging on your back, you’re mobile and in control.
Backpackademia: What to Bring?
How do you fit a whole trip’s worth of luggage into a small backpack or suitcase? The answer is simple: Bring very little.
Don’t pack for the worst scenario. Risk shivering for a day rather than taking a heavy coat. [Editor’s note: CS does not recommend this for singers, who must avoid colds! But you could wear the coat on the plane instead of packing it.] Think in terms of what you can do without—not what will be handy on your trip. When in doubt, leave it out.
I’ve seen people pack a whole summer’s supply of deodorant, tampons, or razors, thinking they can’t get them there. The world’s getting really small; you can buy Dial soap, Colgate toothpaste, Tampax, Nivea cream, and Bic razors in Sicily. Tourist shops in major international hotels are a sure bet whenever you have difficulty finding some personal item. And if you can’t find one of your essentials, ask yourself how 300 million Europeans can live without it.
Backpack or Suitcase?
Hard-sided suitcases with tiny wheels are impractical. Bobbling down Europe’s cobblestones, you’ll know what I mean. (If you want a wheeled bag, get a soft-sided bag with bigger wheels.) If you are a suitcase person who would like the ease of a backpack without forgoing the “respectability” of a suitcase, try a convertible suitcase/backpack with zip-away shoulder straps. These carry-on-size bags give you the best of both worlds.
Entire books have been written on how to pack. It’s really quite simple: Use stuff bags (one each for toiletries, underwear and socks, bigger clothing items, camera gear and film, and miscellaneous stuff such as a first-aid kit, stationery, and sewing kit). Roll and rubber band clothes, or zip-lock them in airless baggies to minimize wrinkles.
Clothing
The bulk of your luggage is clothing. Minimize by bringing less and washing more often. Every few nights you’ll spend 10 minutes doing a little wash. Be careful to choose dark clothes that dry quickly and either don’t wrinkle or look good wrinkled. You should have no trouble drying clothing overnight in your hotel room.
For winter travel, add a down or pile coat, long johns (quick-drying Capilene or super-light silk), scarf, mittens, hat, and an extra pair of socks and underwear since things dry more slowly. Layer your clothing for warmth, and assume you’ll be outside in the cold for hours at a time.
Remember, in your travels you’ll meet two kinds of tourists: those who pack light and those who wish they had. Say it once out loud: “PACK LIGHT.”
What to Pack
• Shirts. Bring up to five short-sleeved or long-sleeved shirts in a cotton/polyester blend. [Concert attire, jewelry, one set of dressy clothes for party. Make sure other clothes are dressy enough for rehearsals. Don’t look like a tourist.]
• Sweater. Warm and dark is best—for layering and dressing up. It never looks wrinkled and is always dark, no matter how dirty it is. Some people prefer sweaters with buttons or zippers.
• Pants. Bring two pairs: one lightweight cotton and another super-lightweight for hot and muggy big cities. Jeans can be too hot for summer travel. Linen is great. Many like lightweight pants/shorts with zip-off legs. Button-down wallet pockets are safest.
• Shorts. Take a pair with pockets—doubles as a swimsuit for men.
• Swimsuit.
• Underwear and socks. Five sets (lighter dries quicker).
• One pair of shoes. Take a well-used, light, and cool pair, with Vibram-type soles and good traction. I like shoes by Rockport, Ecco, or Easy Spirit. Sturdy, low-profile, colored tennis shoes with a good tread are fine, too. [Add dress shoes..]
• Jacket. Bring a light and water-resistant windbreaker with a hood.
• A tie or scarf. For instant respectability.
• Money belt. You could lose everything except your money belt, and the trip could still go on.
• Money. Bring your preferred mix of a credit or debit card, an ATM cash card, an emergency stash of traveler’s checks (optional), a couple of personal checks, and some hard cash. Bring American dollars for situations when you want to change only a few bucks. I rely on an ATM card with a credit card and $400 in cash as a backup.
• Documents and photocopies. Bring your passport, airline ticket, rail pass or car rental voucher, driver’s license, student ID, hostel card, and so on. Photocopies and a couple of passport-type photos can help you get replacements more quickly if the originals are lost or stolen. Carry photocopies separately in your luggage and keep the originals in your money belt.
• You’ll want a careful record of all reservations (bring the hotels’ written confirmations).
• Small daypack. A small daypack is great for carrying your sweater, camera, literature, and picnic goodies while you leave your large bag at the hotel or train station. Fanny packs (small bags with thief-friendly zippers on a belt) are a popular alternative but should not be used as money belts.
• Camera. Put a new battery in your camera before you go. Bring film and lenses. Store everything in a low-profile nylon stuff bag, not an expensive-looking camera bag.
• Picnic supplies. Bring a small tablecloth, salt and pepper, a cup, a washcloth (to dampen and store in a baggie for cleaning up), and a Swiss Army-type knife with a corkscrew and can opener (or buy the knife in Europe if you want to carry your luggage on the plane). A plastic plate is handy for picnic dinners in your hotel room.
• Ziplok baggies. Get a variety of sizes. They’re great for packing leftover picnic food, containing wetness, and bagging potential leaks before they happen. The two-gallon jumbo size is handy for packing clothing.
• Water bottle. The plastic half-liter mineral water bottles sold throughout Europe are reusable.
• Wristwatch. A built-in alarm is handy. Otherwise, pack a small travel alarm clock.
• Earplugs.
• First-aid kit.
• Medicine and vitamins. Keep medicine in original containers, if possible, with legible prescriptions.
• Extra eyeglasses, contact lenses, and prescriptions. Many travelers find their otherwise-comfortable contacts don’t work in Europe. Bring your glasses just in case. Contact solutions are widely available in Europe.
• Sunscreen and sunglasses
• Toiletries kit. Sinks in cheap hotels come with meager countertop space and anonymous hairs. Bring a nylon toiletries kit that can hang on a hook or a towel bar. Put all squeeze bottles in zip-lock baggies, since pressure changes in flight cause even good bottles to leak. Bring a little toilet paper or tissue packets (sold at all newsstands in Europe). Fingernail clippers and tweezers (for retrieving lost bank cards) are also handy.
• Soap. Not all hotels provide soap. A plastic squeeze bottle of concentrated, multipurpose, biodegradable liquid soap is handy for laundry and more.
• Clothesline. Hang it up in your hotel room to dry your clothes. The handy twist kind needs no clothespins.
• Small towel. Although $30-a-day travelers will often need to bring their own towel, $60-a-day folks won’t. I bring a thin hand towel for the occasional need. Washcloths are rare in Europe. While I don’t use them, many recommend quick-drying synthetic towels.
• Sewing kit. Clothes age rapidly while traveling. Your flight attendant may have a freebie for you. Add a few safety pins and buttons.
• Travel information (minimal). Rip out appropriate chapters from guidebooks, staple them together, and store in a zip-lock baggie. When you’re done, give them away.
• Map. Get a map best suited to your trip’s overall needs and pick up maps for specific local areas as you go.
• Address list. Taking a whole address book is not packing light. Consider typing your mail list onto a sheet of gummed address labels before you leave. You’ll know exactly who you’ve written to, and the labels will be perfectly legible. Or just send mass e-mails as you go (bring a shrunk-down print-out of your e-mail address book in case you can’t access it online).
• Postcards from home and photos of your family. A zip-lock baggie of show-and-tell pictures is always a great conversation piece with Europeans you meet.
• Small notepad and pen. A tiny notepad in your back pocket is a great organizer, reminder, and communication aid.
Optional Bring-Alongs
• Robe or nightshirt.
• Inflatable pillow (or “neck nest”) for snoozing on the plane.
• Pillowcase. It’s cleaner and possibly more comfortable to stuff your own.
• Hair drier. [Editor’s note: one singer got wash ‘n wear hair for auditioning in Europe!]
• Light warm-up suit. Use for pajamas, evening lounge outfit, instant modest street wear…
• Teva-type sandals or thongs.
• Slippers. Great for the flight and for getting cozy in your hotel room.
• Small flashlight.
• Stronger light bulbs. You can buy these in Europe to give your cheap hotel room more brightness than the 25- to 40-watt norm.
• A good paperback.
• Radio, Walkman, MP3 player, or recorder. Some recorders have radios, adding a new dimension to your experience.
• Collapsible cup.
• Office supplies. Bring paper, an envelope of envelopes, and some sticky notes.
• Mailing tube. Great for art lovers, this protects the posters and prints you buy along your trip. Trim it to fit.
• Collapsible umbrella.
• Tiny lock. Use it to lock your backpack zippers shut.
• Spot remover. Bring Shout wipes or a dab of Goop grease remover in a film canister.
• Insect repellent. Especially for France and Italy.
• Gifts. Local kids love T-shirts and hologram cards, and gardeners appreciate flower seeds.
• Hostel sheet. Hostels require one. Bring your own (sewn up like a sleeping bag), buy one, or rent a sheet at hostels (about $4 per stay). It doubles as a beach or picnic blanket, comes in handy on overnight train rides, and will save you money in other dorm-type accommodations. [If you are auditioning in many cities, think about this!]
• Small roll of duct tape
• Electricity
• Try to go without electrical gear. Travelers requiring electricity need a converter to make their American appliances work on the European current and an adapter to allow the American plug to fit into the European wall. Many travel accessories come with a built-in converter. Look for a voltage switch marked 120 (U.S.) and 240 (Europe). Often, buying a new travel appliance with a built-in converter can be cheaper than buying a separate converter (often $30) to use with your old appliance. Regardless, you’ll still need an adapter. Secure your adapter to your appliance plug with duct tape; otherwise it’ll stay in the outlet (and get left behind) when you pull out the plug.
British/Irish plugs have three big flat prongs, and continental European plugs have two small round prongs. Many sockets in Europe are recessed into the wall. Your adapter should be small enough to fit into this hole so the prongs can connect. Cheap converters with built-in adapters have prongs that are the right size but are unable to connect.
