Long-Term Travel Packing List: What We’re Taking for 7+ Months in Latin America

If you’re looking for a long-term travel packing list that fits into a 40L carry-on backpack, this is what we’re taking for more than seven months in Latin America.

When I tell people we’re travelling for more than seven months with just one 40L backpack each, the first question is usually: but how are you going to fit everything in there?

The answer is simple. We’re not packing seven months’ worth of clothes. We’re packing roughly one week’s worth and doing laundry along the way. I’ve packed like this for years, and carrying seven months’ worth of underwear around still seems far less practical than finding a washing machine.

This is our real packing list for long-term travel, written before we leave. I’ll update it on the road with what we actually used, what should have stayed at home and what we ended up buying later.

Because our route takes us through both Central and South America, much of this list also works as a starting point for a South America packing list or Central America packing list.

If you want to see how we planned the trip itself, I wrote about that separately in Two Months Until Latin America – What’s Done and What Still Needs Doing.

Backpack Packing List: Bags and Packing Accessories

We each have a 40L travel backpack that needs to hold pretty much our entire lives for the next seven months.

I chose this tomtoc 40L backpack and tested it on our summer trip to Portugal before committing to seven months with it. It works.

Mait chose this Inateck 40L backpack and is equally happy with his choice.

We’re also taking a foldable daypack and a crossbody bag for my phone, money, documents and other things I prefer to keep close.

Inside the backpacks, we use packing cubes. Without them, I’m fairly certain my backpack would look as though someone had detonated a hand grenade in it by day three.

We’re also packing separate bags for dirty laundry, shoes and wet swimwear, plus carabiners, a luggage scale, a small padlock and a waterproof rain cover for each backpack. The rain covers should be particularly useful for the tropical downpours and boat transfers we have coming up.

What Clothes to Pack for Long-Term Travel?

Our rule is simple: everything should work with several other pieces, and nothing gets packed just because I might need it.

One extra challenge with a South America packing list is the range of climates. Our route includes tropical heat as well as cooler high-altitude stops, so the same small wardrobe needs to work across both.

My current clothing list is:

• 1 pair of TUUB Everywear trousers – worn on the flight;
• 4 TUUB tops;
• 1 TUUB merino top;
• 1 pair of TUUB shorts;
• 2 other pairs of shorts;
• 1 pair of workout leggings;
• 2 workout tops that also work as everyday clothes;
• 1 set of pyjamas;
• 1 dress;
• 2 swimsuits;
• 2 bikinis;
• underwear and socks;
• 1 hoodie – worn on the flight;
• a waterproof jacket – also worn on the flight;
• a cap.

There’s a lot of TUUB on that list for a reason. None of it is sponsored or affiliate-linked – their clothes have simply been some of my favourites for the past year and a half.

The trousers keep their shape, the colours haven’t faded, the fabric barely wrinkles and it doesn’t seem to attract pet hair. If the rest of the collection survives seven months of travel equally well, it’ll have a pretty impressive CV by the end of it.

We’re limiting ourselves to two pairs of shoes each because they’re heavy and take up a ridiculous amount of space. We’ll wear the Columbia multi-sport shoes we bought specifically for this trip on travel days and pack flip-flops as our second pair.

Toiletries and Bathroom Essentials

Toiletries are one of the easiest categories to overpack when putting together a long-term travel packing list. We’re taking what we actually use and replacing things as we run out.

We each have a hanging toiletry bag.

I’m also taking a small personal hygiene bag for period products.

To reduce liquids, we’re taking solid shampoo and conditioner, solid soap and a solid moisturiser, all stored in a separate bag for solid toiletries.

Other toiletries include:

• electric toothbrush and charger;
• hairbrush;
• small mirror;
• epilator;
• SPF 30 sunscreen;
• SPF lip balm;
• mosquito repellent containing DEET;
• hand sanitiser.

Travel Health and Medication

There’s little point copying someone else’s medicine kit item for item. What you need depends on you and your destination.

Our basic kit usually includes paracetamol, cold medicine, allergy medicine, loperamide, Rennie and Espumisan, plus blister plasters and a few regular plasters.

For this trip, after discussing our itinerary with a doctor, we also have prescription medication for risks specific to our route, including medication for malaria prevention and altitude sickness.

For a longer or more complicated itinerary, I’d recommend a travel medicine consultation before departure rather than buying medication simply because another traveller packed it.

Electronics and Camera Gear

We’re fairly minimalist with clothes. That philosophy begins to wobble slightly once we get to electronics.

We’re taking:

• phones and phone chargers;
• laptop and charger;
• headphones;
• 10,000 mAh power bank;
• 20,000 mAh power bank;
• DJI Osmo Action 4;
• tripod;
• 2 travel adapters;
• 2 headlamps;
• 2 waterproof phone pouches for beach days, boat trips and anything involving the sea.

A camera and tripod aren’t essential, but we like documenting our trips. We tested the tripod in Portugal and loved being able to take proper group photos without recruiting strangers. Photos taken by strangers have an impressive tendency to be blurry, tilted or missing half of someone’s head.

Practical Extras for a Carry-On Packing List

This is the part of a carry-on packing list where you’re most likely to find something you hadn’t thought of.

We each have a LifeStraw Go Series filtered water bottle, plus six replacement carbon filters between us.

According to the manufacturer, the membrane filter removes 99.999999% of bacteria, 99.999% of parasites and 99.999% of microplastics. The carbon filter helps reduce chlorine and odours and improves the taste of the water. It does not remove viruses.

So the bottles give us more flexibility, but they are not permission to scoop water out of any random puddle in Latin America and hope for the best.

We’re also taking a travel clothesline. If we’re washing clothes roughly once a week, that seems more useful than another three just-in-case tops.

Our microfibre towels take up little space and dry quickly. Most places we stay will provide towels, but we already know a few places on our route where having our own will be useful.

Finally, we’re packing a tiny repair kit with a needle and thread. It takes almost no space and could save a backpack strap or piece of clothing later.

Documents, Money and Security

Passports and any required vaccination certificates are coming with us, of course.

We’ll carry some cash and several bank cards and keep them in different places. If one wallet or card disappears, I don’t want to discover at a bus station in Colombia that our entire financial strategy consisted of one Mastercard.

We’re also putting inexpensive AirTag-style Bluetooth trackers inside the backpacks.

Is That Really Everything for 7+ Months?

For now, yes.

This long-term travel packing list follows one simple rule: a longer trip does not automatically require more stuff.

The biggest difference between packing for two weeks and more than seven months isn’t the amount of clothing. On a longer trip, you need to think more about different climates, laundry, keeping devices charged, staying organised and dealing with things that don’t go to plan.

The same logic works for a shorter trip. A sensible backpack packing list doesn’t need to become twice as long just because the trip is twice as long. Less stuff means less to carry, fewer things to lose and less time spent repeatedly packing your entire life back into a bag.

What We’re Leaving Off Our Long-Term Travel Packing List

We’re not carrying seven months’ worth of shampoo, sunscreen or other consumables. We can buy more along the way.

We’re also not packing a huge selection of shoes, ten outfits for imaginary just-in-case scenarios or our entire medicine cabinet.

A 40L backpack is brutally honest: eventually, it simply says that’s enough. Then you have to decide whether the seventh top matters more than being able to close the bag.

Did We Forget Anything?

We’ll probably be better qualified to answer that once we’ve actually spent a few months carrying all of this around.

Right now, I think we have the important things covered, which is exactly why I wanted to publish this long-term travel packing list before we leave.

If you’ve travelled long-term with a backpack and spot something we’ve overlooked, let me know. We still have time to change the list – with one condition: any new item needs to justify the space it takes up in a 40L backpack.

I’ll update this post from the road with what turned out to be brilliant, what was completely useless and what we ended up buying first.

And when I pack for the next long trip, I suspect the rule will still be the same: every item has to earn its place.