Family Travel Packing Guide 

The number one question that we’ve received with taking off for a trip around the world: How do you pack for a year with kids?!

Yes, it can be a little intimidating to put together a year’s worth of family needs into 4 backpacks.  We spent a lot of time and effort honing in on what’s most important.  In this post, we’ll lay out some details about our different packing categories and then show exactly what made it into each of our backpacks.  To find out what country we are currently in and to see all our worldwide travel adventures, head over to our Instagram page.

The Bags

• Dad:  Outlife 60L backpack + Naturehike Packable Daypack
• Mom: Women’s Osprey Fairview 55L backpack with detachable daypack
• Brother (9 years old): Walmart 40L Backpack + Naturehike fanny pack
• Sister (7 years old): Tactical Backpack (that we already owned) + Naturehike fanny pack 

Clothing

We focused on clothing that can dry quickly, is comfortable, and straddles the line of functional and presentable.  For example, the boys only brought Columbia pants that are nice enough for church, can be zipped off into shorts in the heat, or worn full length for hiking in the mountains.  Sure, zip-off cargo pants aren’t the fashion rage, but they are awesome when packing for a trip around the world.

Shoes

Each of us wears our hiking shoes when traveling, so only needed to pack 1 pair of sandals per person into the backpacks.  We stuck with shoes that are comfortable, have good traction, and are waterproof.

Electronics

We brought one laptop, a Go-Pro Hero 8, our Yuneec Breeze 4K drone, cell phones, 2 Kindle Fire Kids Edition, a power bank, hair clippers, and Bluetooth headphones.  One of the best travel accessories we brought is this plug adapter+voltage converter.  We can charge everything we have at one time, only need one plug, and don’t have to worry about voltage differences.  We also love having this power bank in our day-pack, because we use our phones for navigation and audio tours.

Safety

We started safety research by buying 2 Angel Watches for our trip around the world.  With an appropriate SIM card, we can track the kids in real-time if we get separated for any reason.  Angel Watch Co. has amazing customer service and works worldwide.  Hopefully, none of this is needed, but safety is always a top priority when taking a trip around the world as a family.  Jon also bought a door wedge with alarm and door lock reinforcers for when/if we are staying in hostels, areas where there is public access to our exterior door or just any time we want the extra security.  We also have these personal alarms here and here that emit a piercing noise when you pull the pin.  These go into the kid’s fanny packs to use if any safety issues arise.

Medical Kit

Band-aids, steri-strips (saved the day when Abigail busted her forehead on day 1 in Switzerland), antibacterial wound cream, alcohol wipes, super glue, wound seal, and a tourniquet should always be included.  This Tick Key is also amazing.  Jon has removed a lot of ticks from our family over the years.  Cue Point Break Music: sometimes if you want the ultimate thrill… you’ve got to be willing to pay the price of going where ticks live.  The Tick Key is by far the easiest way, it is very cheap, and it is incredibly small to pack.  Win-win-win.  We also packed topical anesthetic cream and a suture kit.  We should have packed more ibuprofen: it is accessible in Europe but quite expensive.

Day-to-Day

This is the list that rounds out our packing for a trip around the world:

• Scrubba Bag – We use Dr. Bronner’s soap and this bag for laundry when we don’t have a washer.  Another great tip is to use this bag as your dry bag.  We opted to leave our dry bag at home, because we can use this instead.  It is a game-changer to keep away sand at the beach!
• Clothesline – Many of our Airbnb rentals have had washers; only one has had a drier (and we couldn’t figure out the French settings so still had to use the clothesline!)
• Games – Magnetic chess, 2 decks of cards, dice, and Yahtzee scoring sheets
• Collapsible Water Bottles– Especially in areas of the world where the water isn’t safe to drink and it’s hot, staying hydrated with clean water is key.  These hold quite a bit and take up almost no space when they aren’t filled

Toiletries

We are firmly entrenched in the “no checked bags while flying camp”, a main reason for our backpack choices.  This makes packing toiletries a little more complicated.  We brought almost no liquids.  For liquids you absolutely need, put in TSA eligible sizes in a clear ziploc bag for security, or buy at your destination(s).  Our pack included: solid deodorant, bar of Dr. Bronner’s soap, toothbrushes with cases, floss, and toothpaste.  We included a few other family specific things: razor for Ashley, nailclippers, etc. A full list is in Mom’s Backpack.

Homeschooling

Our goal for this year is to find the balance between not setting our kids up for failure when we return to traditional school next year but still leaving as much time as possible for learning through world experiences. After all, it would be a shame to spend 6 hours on bookwork one day while the Colosseum is down the road!  As far as packing, we settled on bringing math workbooks, journals, and kindles for reading.  We go into more depth on our homeschool and education plans in this Facebook post here.

So what exactly is in each bag?!

Click the picture for detailed lists of each backpack, including the clothes in each packing cube!  

Dad’s 60L Backpack

Mom’s 55L Backpack

Brother’s 40L Backback

Sister’s Tactical Backpack

Stay connected with our blog here, and we will post updates over time about how our packing is working in real life!  We are looking to determine things we may leave behind, what we should have brought, and to compare the value of our name-brand to our off-brand gear.  For our 4 month gear update, head over here.

**This post contains affiliate links.  

If you have questions or tips for family travel packing, let us know!