The clothing and gear you will need for your trip depends upon where you’re going, what the climate is like, how long you’ll be on the road and your personal travel style. (Specialized gear for possible activities is another matter.)
If you’ve traveled before, you probably have some clothing and gear that you can use again. Yet, there’s no doubt you’ll have to acquire at least some stuff… possibly a lot. Fortunately, if you plan to emulate pro travelers and go with carry-on luggage only, you’re limited in what you can add.
Lucky you if you’ve got a big budget for all the stuff we recommend on this site! But what if you don’t have that kind of money? After all, the best use of your available funds is the travel itself: transport, rooms, food, activities.
We strongly urge you not to compromise on quality when it comes to travel insurance and luggage. You don’t want anything going wrong with them. Even then, there are money-saving trade-offs that you can consider without
But, with a compromise or two, you can use what you already own and won’t have to spend too much on new stuff.
Traveling light
Part of the problem is traveling light. If you want to go One Bag, the volume and weight for all your stuff is very limited. There are two ways to achieve that:
- Make your clothing and gear as space and weight efficient as possible.
- Reduce the number of items in your luggage.
Many of our product recommendations seek to achieve the first objective. But, if you can’t afford to buy those items, you will have to embrace the second strategy and reduce the number of items in your luggage. If that is not possible, then maybe you’ll travel with bulkier and heavier gear and have to get a larger (check-in size) bag.
Luggage
On the other hand, it’s a bad idea to use that old backpack you had for hiking in the mountains or that cheap wheeled suitcase you got on sale at the mall. Some travel gear, especially your main bag and day bag, should be the right type for travel. The build quality must be good enough to endure. If you have to spend on quality, spend on your luggage.
Clothing
Much of the volume and weight of your stuff will be your clothing. To optimize the volume and weight, you could buy “technical clothing.” But, if that is not affordable, you have two options available:
- Take what you already own — Search your closet for the clothes that best fit our Quality Factors for travel clothing. You might find that what you have is good enough. That means leaving the jeans at home!
- Buy new clothes that are cheaper than technical clothes — You can meet many Quality Factors with off-the-rack clothes. The most important thing is the fabric. If you can find the same fabrics that technical clothes use, you’re half-way done. For example, some golf pants are made of the same fabrics as technical pants. They’re often in the same price band as technical pants, but more likely to go on sale.
Traveling is hard on clothes, so quality still matters. Clothes made of inferior fabrics or garments that are badly sewn will fall apart quickly from hard use and frequent washing. Then you’ll have to replace them, possibly somewhere that has little selection apart from cotton or cotton-blends of dubious quality. Whether it’s something you already own or something you buy, check that the fabric is durable and the sewing is good.
One of the advantages of our recommended technical brands is that they’re very well made and will last a long time.
Travel tech
There’s a good chance you already own a mobile phone and maybe other tech that could be suitable for travel.
Phone
Is your phone capable of operation in foreign countries? Second, will it do the travel functions you need it to do? You may combine a phone with a tablet or laptop, so a shortcoming on your phone could be made up by the other device.
Tablet
The main concern here is whether your tablet is GSM-capable (does it have a SIM slot) or is WiFi only. You can use a WiFi-only tablet, but it won’t be as helpful when you’re out and about, because some (notably the iPad without GSM) don’t have a GPS chip.
Laptop
What’s the size and weight of your computer? Don’t forget to include the power cable and converter. Anything bigger than 13″ is going to be a burden.
Get gear at your destination
Gear that you need for activities can add to your expenses. Worse, it can completely bloat your luggage. Transportation for local trips or for longer journeys in big countries can be both a hassle and an expense.
There is a better way! Acquire the gear you need at your destination. There are several ways to manage it, sometimes at zero net cost.
Buy new or used
Quite often you can get new or used gear locally, although the quality may not be as high as you expect at home. On the other hand, these items are often quite cheap in middle or poor countries.
Normally, you can accept lower quality for your limited time use. For example, you can buy a winter jacket in north China that’s cheap and totally serviceable. But you should be very careful of anything that could compromise your safety, especially gear required for high-risk sports.
If you plan to stay a while in one location, a strategy that can save a lot is to buy used equipment locally, use it for your activity, then sell it before you leave. Surf boards, kayaks, bicycles, snorkeling equipment and much else can be bought and sold this way.
Since transportation can be a major expense, buying a bicycle, a motorbike or even a car can be a money-saving option, especially if you can re-sell it for near what you paid for it.
Online marketplaces like Craigslist are popping up in many countries and are an easy way to buy and sell (although you may need someone to help with the language).
Rent
You can often rent gear required for local activities. This strategy is much more than rental cars. For example, if you want to go trekking in Nepal as part of a longer journey, you don’t want to carry all that heavy clothing and boots from home. It’s easy to rent top quality outdoor clothing and boots left by mountaineering expeditions.
For items that normally rent by the day (such as motorbikes), you can often negotiate a better rate for a longer rental.