Packing For a Week in a Backpack

Back in June, I visited one of my best friends in Cape Cod with our usual crew, and we all had a blast. She came down to Texas for a day so we could go to a Harry Styles concert (judge me all you want, the man is a genius), check into the beautiful Sweet Tooth Hotel, and have a sleepover in the airport while we waited on our flight to the East Coast.

As you can imagine, it's expensive to plan a trip like this, and we were thinking of any way we could save money, from taking a bus from the airport to finding the best place to leave my car for the week, and one of the things we landed on was packing for the week long trip in a backpack.

Yep. Everything we needed in a backpack. About 5 outfits, toiletries, a second pair of shoes, my camera gear, accessories, laptop, chargers, all of it fit in a standard sized backpack.

We researched how to do it since we booked our flights, and as the date got closer, we only got more and more concerned that everything wouldn't fit. But, as it turns out, people pack this way all the time for backpacking, and I honestly should've known about this for tour. But here are some tips I found that helped me put a week of my life into my backpack.

1. Minimalism is key.

So I've never been good at living a minimalist lifestyle. I have way too much stuff, and I have no idea what to get rid of because I actually use a lot of the things I have. Problem being, I have way too many hobbies. So this was a huge challenge for me, but I think I did pretty well for at least a week.

I just had to pack everything I absolutely needed. If there was little to no chance of me using it, I didn't need to bring it. My hair basically stays in braids, so I just needed to bring a hair tie, and we were staying with a friend, so there was no need to bring soaps, hair products, or lotions. That was space saved there. I brought black shorts and pants, so it didn't matter what shirt I wore, the outfit would always look good, and a lot of short sleeved shirts and tank tops because I could always wear a jacket if it got cold (and I'll touch on that later). 

As far as camera gear, I used the week as a challenge for myself. Pick two lenses, and that's what I had to shoot with. I chose my 50mm and my 20mm, both primes, both small, both easy to squeeze into small spaces. I avoided bringing things like a large hard drive, my GoPro and accessories, tripods, etc., because I didn't know for sure if I would even take them out. I saved so much room by thinking minimal that I could actually fit more clothes than I thought I could originally, which is never an awful thing.

2. Pack the right way.

Something that really helped me was learning how to pack. I talked about this a bit earlier, but I'm going to go more in depth with it here. There are so many videos about how to roll your clothes and the best ways to pack, but that's only half of it. You should be considering what you're bringing, as in what clothes you'll be shoving into your bag. A good rule of thumb is to not pack 5 different outfits, but to pack things you could mix and match and turn into different outfits. For example, bring a pair of jean shorts and different colored shirts, different necklaces, rings, earrings, etc. Mix and match the shirts and accessories, and there you go.

If you absolutely feel like you need to bring a bulkier item, there's a way to bring them with you that may be a bit uncomfortable, but it's going to come with you.

3. Wear bulky items to the airport.

I'm sure you've heard this one before, but when you wear your jackets, heavier shoes and long pants, that's just more room in your bags for smaller items. So I wore a hoodie and a pair of overalls to the airport (because honestly, how do you pack overalls??) and wore my larger Authentic Vans while my Lo-Pros were shoved in the bottom of my backpack.

Wearing the hoodie actually helped, even though it was hot outside, because (as it always is) it was freezing in the airport. And by the time we got to Cape Cod, it was a little chilly there too.

4. Unpack if you can.

When we got to our friends' place, our base of operations, I grabbed a large shopping bag, and dumped all of my clothes into it. Yep. I just unpacked my clothes so that I had an empty bag, free to carry around as I wanted. It came in handy having a place to ditch the rest of my clothes, and it saved my back a lot of stress. I tend to do this if I'm staying at a hotel, as well. And for day trips, I'll keep a spare outfit and a toothbrush handy in case I end up having to spend the night somewhere hours away, like a day trip to New York that may last longer than a few hours.

I know that many people reading this will probably not be able to do this though. My suggestion, put the things you'll need for sure (wallet, passport, camera) on top and things that can wait (clothes, spare shoes, souvenirs) underneath. This way, you don't need to pull everything out or dig in a stuffed bag just to pay for a coffee. Also, take advantage of pockets and compartments on your backpack.

5. Share Space

We're all close, so if one of my friends didn't have space for a shirt, I'd be willing to try to fit it with my stuff and vice versa. Granted, we didn't need to share space, but it's the thought that counts, right? Regardless, if you're travelling in a group and you're friends, try sharing space. Get a friend to wear a spare jacket if you need the extra room it'll take up, or ask them to stash a shirt away for you if they have the room. 

So the next time you go on a trip, I hope you consider challenging yourself to save some space and money like we did and only bring a backpack.