Somehow we can fit a lot in our medium sized bags. We travel with 2 suitcases and 2 backpacks. Packing light and smart makes traveling easier and it’s important to know how to do it right, what to bring and what NOT.
I would have never imagined we would carry most of our belongings with us at all times, but it’s been a lot easier than I thought it would be. We hope you find this post useful and if you have any questions do not hesitate to reach out. We are always happy to help!
Estimated reading time: 8 minutes
Table of contents
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So, what’s in our suitcases?
Essentials for travel photography & video equipment
Our cameras and accessories take a big chunk of our precious and limited space, but we fit most of that stuff in our gear backpack, which we use as a carry-on bag for safety reasons. We depend on all of this equipment to create content for this blog and YouTube channel, so we don’t have a choice.
- DSLR Camera: This is the camera we use to take most of our photos and B-roll videos. We rarely use it for daily vlogs because it’s bigger and a lot heavier than our vlogging camera. We’ve had this DSLR for over 5 years and it still works great! These are the accessories we carry with it:
- 24mm lens
- Zoom lens
- Remote shutter
- 1 Extra battery
- 2 Fast processing Memory cards (useful for 4k-5k videos)
- Regular 128GB memory card
- Vlogging Camera: We love this camera and also use it for a lot of our photos. It’s small, easy to carry around and produces great quality footage. We got these accessories separately:
- Wide Lens
- 2 Extra batteries
- 3 Memory cards
- Microphone (works on both cameras)
- GoPro: We have a Hero 6 and a Hero 8. Obviously we like the 8 better, but the 6 it’s good for now. These are all the GoPro accessories we use:
- 3-way grip, arm & tripod
- Underwater housing for Hero 6 (Go Pro’s are water proof, but you need this if you go scuba diving)
- Underwater housing for Hero 8
- Extra batteries (they both use the same ones)
- Dual charger
- Bite Mount
- 4 Memory cards
- Drone: DJI Mavic Pro Platinum
- Extra battery
- 2 Memory cards
- Other accessories: Yes, there’s more!
- Gimbal (it has been THE most annoying thing to figure out how to use. But we’ll get there)
- 2 Tripods (one big one we hate and rarely use and this small one we love!)
- External USB
- Multiport Adapter
- Memory card holder
- G’s laptop
- A’s laptop
- Noise canceling headphones
- Portable monitor (G cannot work without one – We love this one because it packs like a tablet)
PS: We’ve listed ALL of our gear in our Amazon Store. It includes everything mentioned above, plus more things we add as we buy them. Check it out here!
Our suitcases, backpacks & packing cubes
- Suitcases: Somehow these 25 inch suitcases fit enough clothes to survive 6 months at a time. I think it’s all because of our packing cubes though! We don’t carry bigger suitcases because we want to force ourselves to live with less and because it’s easier to deal with lighter suitcases on taxis, trains and buses. Not to mention that a lot of domestic flights have different weight restrictions.
- Packing Cubes: There a million options for packing cubes out there, but we love the ones we have! They are great quality, affordable, they compress which is super useful and they are sold by fellow travel bloggers on Amazon. We try to support other travelers in any way we can!
- Backpacks: We have two different ones. One was definitely a investment and it’s the one we use to fit in ALL of our camera equipment. It’s amazing! Here’s the link. The other one is smaller, more affordable and it’s the one we use for day trips and exploring when we don’t need to carry all of our cameras. Here’s the link. (We have it in green, but that color is not available anymore)
- Waterproof bags: We use this bag to keep our camera gear save and dry while we are on boats, kayaks or any day trip we know things could get wet. This bag is super useful to carry on rainy days to keep your equipment and personal belongings dry. *The one we have is the 20L one and the color is ‘Bright Yellow’.
Pro packing tip: Pack a separate packing cube into your backpack if you use it as a carry-on. Bags get lost or delayed, so it’s very useful to have some basic toiletries, underwear and an outfit or two with you at all times. Trust us, we’ve been there.
You’re welcome!
Essentials to stay healthy while on the road
- Vitamins & supplements: Health comes first to us. We’ve always eaten super healthy and have taken all of our vitamins, however when we left for this trip, we had to narrow it down to just the basics because of space. Check them all out here (If you’re too lazy to click on the list, this is what we bring with us: vitamin C, vitamin D, vitamin E, Maca and Diim).
- Travel Pill Organizer: We are not animals. Obviously we organize all this stuff properly so they take the least amount of space.
- Workout bands: We make sure to work out a few times a week and do our best to stay active while on the road. We rely on our workout bands for strength exercises when we don’t have access to gyms.
- Medicines & other health stuff: Shit happens. Literally. It’s better to have this type of stuff with you and hope to never need it, than to find yourself in the middle of nowhere with a nasty rash, allergies, a fever or well, diarrhea… If you are going to travel full time, we strongly encourage you to take these basic things with you:
- Imodium
- Dramamine
- Cortizone Ointment
- Tylenol
- Aleve
- Insect repellant
- Zyrtec (we both have allergies. Skip it if you don’t)
- Cystex (only if you are prone to these)
- Sudafed (not a must, but G uses this before diving)
- Reef safe mineral sunscreen: It’s hard to find good sunscreen while you are traveling and if you do, it’s not going to be cheap. What is good sunscreen? I don’t want to get into explain it here, but make sure it’s 2 things: mineral and ocean safe. We have this spray that we love for beach days and a fancy body lotion with SPF. And for our faces, we use this one.
- Sunscreen for beach days
- Daily body lotion with SPF (reef safe but not sure if it’s mineral)
- Face moisturizer with SPF (reef safe but not sure if it’s mineral)
- Water bottles with filters: We are still getting used to how the water tastes with these filters. We try to only use them when necessary. When we don’t need to, we simply remove the filters. We have this one and this one.
Travel essentials for digital nomads
- Gotoob+ silicone travel bottles: These are not the cheapest, but God they are the best because you can squeeze the last drop! It’s the little things when you’re on the road full time. We use these for conditioner, additional body wash and body lotion.
- Shampoo bar and body wash bar: This has been a game changer! Not only because it’s the most sustainable option (no plastic waste!), but because it works. Who knew shampoo bars where a thing? We are putting together a blog post with all the sustainable travel essentials we use, so stay tuned for that! (We store them here)
- Clear Toiletry Pouches: We bought this set of 6 thinking we would only use a couple and ended up using all 6 of them. They are great for your carry on bag because you can it take it out easily when scanning at the airport. You will look like a total travel pro! We also use a couple of these to keep things even more organized in our equipment backpack.
- Laundry Sheets: These tiny things work wonders and take almost no space from your suitcase. They are definitely useful to have if you need to do laundry on the road.
- Travel adaptor: Did you know every country has different plugs? Even though you can find these on airports and even local gift shops, we travel with these ones so we have one less thing to worry about.
- VPN: We use this to keep our information safe while we work on different wifi networks. We definitely recommend having a VPN, even if you don’t travel. (Sign up here)
- Travel Insurance: Thankfully, we haven’t had to use this, but we have it just in case.
Interested in more useful resources? Let us know and we’ll send them your way!
I think that’s it. We will do our best to keep this post updated with other travel essentials we discover while we continue to travel the world full-time, as well as items we get rid off along the way.
If you have any questions, don’t hesitate to ask in the comments below or message us on Instagram.
Thanks so much for stopping by!
XO,
Aimara
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*This post may contain affiliate links as I am a part of Amazon’s affiliate program which means I receive a commission if you shop for anything at no extra cost to you.
Jumped on to see which backpack you use (love it!) and found that we share a mutual love for Tripped Travel Gear too! Tim and Fin are the best.