Nomads Guide to Travel Gear

It has taken us 20+ years of travelling the world and visiting EVERY country to learn how to pack right for an adventure! We explore the world as ‘carry-on’ travellers as it offers us the flexibility of movement, and keeps our travel budget down – you could say that we’re minimalists.

As long-term travellers, we search for good quality, lightweight and durable travel gear.

We’ve learned from experience that it is worthwhile to invest in high-quality gear that initially costs more but lasts much longer.

All travellers have different requirements and personal needs while on the road. This travel gear list works best for our travel style of visiting off-the-beaten-path destinations and all corners of the globe. Let’s get started!

Our main travel bags

We travelled the world with an Osprey 40L Carry-On Backpack. We LOVE this travel backpack and 100% recommend it to every traveller! Our Samsonite Carry-On Suitcase is also listed here. Its lightweight, expandable design with extra durable wheels has been a joy to travel with.

Osprey 40L Backpack

This is hands down, the best backpack we’ve ever travelled with. Osprey bags are built for life, they’re super durable, affordable and have great features for the modern-day traveller. Gotta love that this one is a carry-on size too.

Osprey Day Pack

We’re huge fans of the Osprey brand, and this day pack is where we keep our most valuable items. This bag stays with us at all times. The design of the bag has been made with a traveller in mind, hence the useful little pockets and areas to store your belongings.

Samsonite Carry-On Suitcase

We choose Samsonite Travel Luggage for the quality and design features of their products. We just upgraded to a Carry-On Size Samsonite Freeform Hardside Expandable for our continued travels around the world! So far, it’s great!

Travel Luggage: Suitcase vs. Backpack

A common travel question. Travel backpack, or suitcase? Honestly, it all comes down to personal preference — and what kind of travelling you plan to do.

If you’re riding shared taxis overland through West Africa or hopping around the islands in Southeast Asia, you’ll probably want a travel-friendly backpack. If you spend more time in big cities or fly frequently, you might prefer a suitcase.

We visited every country in the world with a carry on backpack, but our travel style has changed more recently, and we now find a small carry on suitcase convenient for most trips. It’s useful to own both styles of quality luggage – then you have the choice for how to pack your belongings, depending on the destination.

Read more in our post – Backpack vs Suitcase – Which One Should You Choose?

Carry-on or Check-in?

Which one are you? The main reasons why we are carry-on travellers is to save on everything! We save on costs of checking in our luggage, saves time at the airport (on both ends), and we’re much more mobile. And most importantly, there’s zero risk of losing our luggage.

Travelling light with only a carry-on has many advantages, however, it depends on your personal travel style and requirements.

Which one are you? The main reasons why we are carry-on travellers is to save on everything! We save on costs of checking in our luggage, saves time at the airport (on both ends), and we’re much more mobile. And most importantly, there’s zero risk of losing our luggage.

Travelling light with only a carry-on has many advantages, however, it depends on your personal travel style and requirements.

Organising Your Travel Gear

When you’re constantly on the go, changing timezones and constantly adapting to new places – staying organised is essential. This means knowing where your valuable items are when you need to access them.

Here are our standard travel gear items for keeping organised:

Electronics & Photography Gear

We love to take photographs of our experiences as we travel the world. Furthermore, we try to upgrade our camera gear/iPhone when possible to improve our photography skills and capture better quality content.

Here are the electronic items and photography gear we carry with us:

Travel Essentials & Accessories

These are things that we frequently use on the road, no matter where in the world we’re going.

Travel Footwear

We always buy good quality footwear and we usually carry 3 pairs of footwear in our bags. We switch out either running shoes or hiking shoes, depending on the region of the world we’re visiting.

For example, we travelled around West & Central Africa with our hiking shoes, but then swapped them with our lighter running shoes to island hop all of the countries in the Caribbean.

Packing Lists

It’s hard deciding what to take on a trip, and what to leave at home.

Packing lists are great for helping you to only pack the essentials for your trip. Whether you’re planning to visit hot or cold climates and to remember things such as cultural dress codes in some countries and regions of the world, a packing list is a useful tool.

Having a packing list means you stay organized, remember the most important items, and minimize the time spent packing your actual bags.

Check out our packing lists below to help you pack like a pro!

The ULTIMATE Packing List for Europe – Essentials for 2023

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Southeast Asia Packing List – ULTIMATE Guide for 2023

Read more

Africa Packing List: The ESSENTIAL Packing List for Africa

Read more

The Ultimate Essentials Packing List for Travellers in 2023

Read more

Travel Insurance

Don’t leave home without it! It’s the most important thing you need to pack.

A good travel insurance policy will provide coverage for incidents such as medical emergencies, trip cancellations, and stolen or damaged bags.

Travel Insurance offers you peace of mind, knowing that any large expenses related to accidents, unforeseen circumstances, and emergencies won’t leave you with a lifelong debt, not to mention unnecessary stress about how to pay it back.

We recommend either SafetyWing or Heymondo (Get 5% off Heymondo Insurance).