If you’ve been following our adventures over the years, you’ll know that we are passionate about packing. Ensuring you bring the right clothes, shoes and accessories can make such a huge difference to your trip, and we are all about sharing our experience so that you don’t make the mistakes we have over the years. If you’re traveling this summer, you need our ultimate packing list – no matter where you are going or how long your trip is, our tried and tested formula is here to help:

The Adventures With Sarah Packing Philosophy

Before we get into specific packing recommendations, let’s first talk about our approach to creating a packing list. There are a few core things to remember that will help you decide what to bring on your trip:

1. The 15lb Rule

Wherever possible, we recommend traveling with carry on luggage only. Even when you have a longer trip planned with multiple destinations involved, you can get so much in a carry on bag. This approach also removes any anxiety around lost luggage or dealing with a baggage claim.

We’ve found the magic number for carry on luggage is 15–16 lbs (approximately 7kg). This is a manageable weight for most people to carry themselves, and covers a surprising amount of travel gear. Backpacks are more versatile than rolling bags, but both are better than pulling a large suitcase around.

Sarah loves the Tom Bihn backpacks and day bags, for their durability and high quality, but has also used the ultra lightweight G4Free backpacks successfully. Don’t forget to organize your packing with packing cubes, which make such a difference when it comes to maximizing your available space.

2. Pay Attention to the Material and Weight of Your Items

In order to maximize your carry on luggage space, it’s crucial to consider both the weight and material of what you’re planning to pack.

It may sound a little odd, but weigh each individual item (you can use a kitchen scale) before making your final packing list. You will be surprised at the difference this can make. If something is heavier, opt for a lighter alternative, such as swapping heavy jeans for lightweight leggings or hiking pants.

It’s also important to think about the materials your clothing items are made of. If you will be doing laundry during your trip, you don’t want to worry about anything that has specialist washing needs or that doesn’t do well with heat. Anything that creases badly is also not ideal.

3. Create a Capsule Wardrobe

Finally, to create the ultimate travel packing list, you’ll want to consider your clothing items as a group rather than as individual outfits.

Stick to a color palette where the vast majority of your clothing matches. We often do a black/gray/red combination, or perhaps a navy/cream/tan, where you can layer or mix and match as needed.

Year-Round Essentials For the Ultimate Packing List

We’ll talk about summer-specifics shortly, but there are some essentials that should always be part of your comprehensive checklist before traveling.

Sarah’s Box of Awesome

One of Sarah’s top travel recommendations is to carry a Box of Awesome whenever and wherever you travel. This is a small container or bag where she keeps useful items that hopefully you won’t need, but you’ll want to be easily accessible just in case, including:

• Small amounts of medicines (painkillers, antihistamines, stomach relief) and other first aid items.
• Band-aids and Moleskin for blisters.
• Safety pins, a small sewing kit, and a pair of tweezers.
• Dental floss, a mini nail file and a few bobby pins/hair elastics

The idea with this kit is that you have something on hand to help in the moment. We all have our own versions of a Box of Awesome based on our individual needs, and they have saved us or our guests countless times over the years.

Electronics and Tech

There are always going to be some electronics you will need when traveling.

Your cell phone will be used a lot, so make sure you have a durable charging cable with you. Sarah prefers to bring a long one, like 6ft long, as often outlets are not conveniently located in a hotel room. Another must-bring for your packing checklist is a high-quality backup power bank. The Anker PowerCore is a great option as it does not take up too much space in your day bag, but has a large battery capacity.

When it comes to plugs, plan ahead and look at what types are used in the specific places you are traveling to. Universal adaptors are bulky and unless you’re doing lots of international travel in one go, region-specific adaptors are easier to pack.

Finally, you don’t need to bring your laptop, a tablet, an e-reader, and a digital camera. Your smartphone will cover almost all needs, and then perhaps a tablet or e-reader/Kindle for everything else.

What to Pack in Your Personal Item

One really helpful thing we do when we travel is have a separate packing checklist for our carry on bag and our personal item. Combined this creates the ultimate packing checklist, but it means that you know for sure that you haven’t forgotten anything.

Our personal item or day bag is where we keep crucial things like passports and travel documents, a money belt, contact lenses/reading glasses, along with any prescription medication we need. This is also where we pack our electronics so they are easy to access.

Headphones are essential items for long flights, train or road journeys, especially if you’re hoping to catch up on some sleep. We swear by the Bose over-ear headphones for actually blocking out noise – the extra space they take up is worth it, trust us.

Other helpful travel accessories we’ve added to our day bag on past trips include a collapsible water bottle, a pen and notebook, a travel pillow and a tote bag that folds up.

Summer Clothing

Creating the ultimate packing list for summer trips is all about thinking cleverly about what you will need. Not only in terms of how many items of clothing to bring, but also what they are made of and how they hold up to the heat.

One of the biggest mistakes we see people make is to bring lots of clothes made with synthetic fabrics. While these can have a purpose, you’re always going to feel more comfortable in the heat wearing natural materials. Think cotton, linen, silk and Merino wool (not as heavy as it sounds) for breathable clothing that doesn’t make you extra sweaty and hot.

Along with the material of your clothes, consider longer sleeved tops, long or cropped pants and maxi or midi skirts and dresses. Wearing shorts might seem like a good way to stay cool, but wearing longer, looser clothes is a better way to beat the heat in our experience. These types of clothing items keep the sun off you, helps avoid mosquito bites and are more versatile overall.

Summer Clothes Packing List

For a 1-3 week trip, these are the core items we start with. Depending on the weight you’re comfortable carrying/how much space you have (or if you’re doing checked luggage), you can expand from here, but this is a great base to work from:

• Tops: 4 sleeveless, 2 long-sleeved, and 4 short-sleeved.
• Layers: 1 lightweight cashmere sweater or cardigan for cooler evenings and heavily air-conditioned planes or trains, 1 ultra-light packable rain jacket for unexpected summer storms.
• Bottoms: 1 pair of lightweight long pants (2-3 pairs for men), 1 skirt and 1 dress (or 2 dresses), 1 pair of leggings.
• Underwear: 7 pairs of underwear, 2 bras, 3-7 pairs of socks (depending on your main footwear choice being sandals or not).
• Summer essentials: 1 lightweight scarf (to be used as a wrap or sarong as needed) and 1 bathing suit or bikini if you’ll be near water during your trip.

The combination of these basics will provide outfits for a week comfortably, and then with other items and some laundry, you’ll be set for the rest of your travels.

What Footwear to Take On a Summer Trip

Once you have decided on your clothes, you can turn to your shoes. This is actually easier, as one of our top packing tips is that you never need more than 3 pairs. Chances are, you don’t really need that heavy pair of hiking boots or beautiful heels.

The exact type of footwear you’ll need of course depends on where you’re going and the activities you’ve planned, but in general, you will need:

• A Walking or Athletic Shoe: This should be a high-quality athletic shoe that you will be comfortable in being on your feet all day in the heat. It is vital that you have really broken in any walking shoes you buy, to make sure they will actually support you during your trip. Insoles will help here too.
• A Versatile Flat Shoe/Sandal: This should be a dressier but still practical option. A smart walking sandal is a good idea, as you can swap these out for your main walking shoes if your feet are tired, but still be dressy enough for an evening.
• A Pair of Flip Flops or Lighter Sandals: These are essential for a few reasons. Firstly, they are perfect to wear around your hotel room, to go down to breakfast or the pool. Secondly, if you have beach time planned, you will want something lighter on your feet. And thirdly, they are very light and will easily fit in your luggage.

Comfortable footwear will always be better than fashionable footwear, so leave the brand new dress shoes at home and opt for something reliable. It’s also a good idea to pack shoes in neutral colors, so that they go with everything.

Summer Footwear Suggestions

Looking for specific shoe recommendations? Some of the most popular with the Adventures with Sarah team, as well as our fellow adventurers are:

• Teva Mush wedge flip flops
• Skechers Reggae Slim sandals
• Propét Travel Walker sneakers
• Keen sandals for practicality and comfort
• Teva sandals
• Skechers Go Walk sneakers
• HOKA Speedgoat sneakers
• Taos sandals for comfort and style
• All Birds sneakers

Summer Toiletries and Sun Protection

The final element to the ultimate packing list for summer travel is your toiletry bag. Often overlooked until the last minute, between liquid restrictions and space in your luggage, it’s just as important to think about your toiletries as your clothes and shoes.

While not every airport will require you to keep your liquids in a quart-sized clear bag, with 3oz maximum size containers, it’s a good idea to aim to meet this requirement for peace of mind when traveling.

One way to get around this when you pack toiletries is to bring solid versions instead of liquids. Nowadays there are lots of great options for shampoo, conditioner, deodorant, sunscreen and even perfume. These tend to be the bulkier toiletries, so this frees up space in your quart bag for small containers with your skincare, toothpaste and make up to fit.

You can also bring a little to get you started and then purchase what you need locally when you arrive. However, we find this only really works if you are going to be based in one place for your trip, as otherwise you then have to try to fit these new items into your bags each time you move to a new location.

Summer Toiletry Must-Haves

These items are always in our bags when we depart on a summer trip:

• Insect repellent: There is nothing worse than dealing with a super itchy insect bite in the heat.
• Sunscreen with high SPF: The only thing that might be worse than insect bites is a sunburn. UV levels can be very different to what you are used to, so even if the temperatures aren’t super hot, make sure to layer up with a good sunscreen.
• Extra items for our Box of Awesome: In the summer, we make sure to add some bite and sting relief, re-hydration salts (like Pedialyte powder) and more blister care (Moleskin), as heat and sweat make blisters much more likely.
• Travel laundry essentials: Chances are that you will need to do some travel laundry on the go during a summer trip. Laundry sheets are excellent because they are dry, take up very little space and work just as well in a hotel sink as a washing machine. A small travel washing line is also a useful item if you know you’ll be doing laundry regularly on a longer trip.

The Adventures With Sarah Team Packing Essentials

We’re sure that you’ll now be able to create the ultimate packing list for your summer travels with our advice and recommendations, but if you’d like more suggestions, we have plenty more tips and tricks for you in our blog and also on Sarah’s YouTube channel here. Wherever your summer adventures take you this year, we hope you have a wonderful time and do let us know what your stand-out items are – we love hearing from the Adventures with Sarah community.