There are so many things I’ve learnt about backpacking, and I can’t believe it’s been four weeks already. Four weeks since we hopped on our first flight from London to Bucharest, Romania.
In those four weeks, we’ve visited Romania, Dubai and Sri Lanka. We’re still in Sri Lanka at the moment, on a month’s trip around the country. We definitely didn’t expect to stay here so long when we were first planning, but the country is incredible and we don’t want to leave.
Even though it’s been a somewhat short time already, I’ve learnt quite a lot in the beginning that I wanted to share and hope to help you if you’re thinking of going backpacking in the future.
Here are 20 things I’ve learnt about backpacking in the first four weeks.
1. Pack less
A pretty obvious one that we heard time and time again when researching before we set off backpacking, but we still packed too much.
Even with many rehearsal packs and removing a number of items each time, you can still remove more and manage with so much less. There are a number of clothes and items I wish I’d left behind now in hindsight.
Listen to everyone who tells you, pack less. And when you think you’ve finished packing, remove some more.
2. Packing cubes and compression cubes are not the same thing
Don’t make the same mistake I did. I ordered packing cubes thinking they were compression cubes, and it turns out, they weren’t.
So all of my clothes are in one packing cube in my backpack and my boyfriend luckily had an extra compression cube that I could transfer my underwear, socks and swimming suits/bikinis into to give me more room.
Double-check that you’re ordering compression cubes!
3. Pack light clothes over tight clothes
I packed a lot of small tops and dresses, but the only clothes I want to wear are my baggiest and loosest clothing because you will sweat. A lot.
My two Uniqlo tank tops with the bras built in are great since I don’t have to wear a bra, but they’re clingy and make me sweat. The looser your clothing, the better.
4. Consider the bulky clothes you’re wearing when jetting off
This could probably be added to the list of mistakes I made, but when we left London, we were headed to Bucharest in Romania first. This meant we couldn’t wear the same things we would be wearing in Sri Lanka.
So off I jetted in a warm jumper, a wooly quarter-zip and my long leggings. I didn’t factor in how I would fit these things into my backpack once I was travelling around in 30-degree heat.
Make sure you consider the clothes you’re wearing when you first take off, and if they’ll fit into your backpack!
5. Make room for buying things
You’ll clearly know by now that there is no additional space in my backpack, which unfortunately means I can’t buy anything on my travels unless I remove something that I brought with me (which will very likely be happening).
Make sure to save some extra room (which will be very tough, I know) when packing so that you can pick things up along your travels.
6. You gotta take the good with bad
You’re going to be moving around a lot when backpacking, staying at numerous variations of accommodations. Some nights you’ll be sleeping in accommodation that feels like a five-start luxury stay, and some nights you’ll be counting down the hours until you can leave and move on to your next location.
Not everywhere you stay will be incredible and without fault, but you’ve got to take the good with the bad, the rough with the smooth. Hopefully you’ll have more good than bad.
7. Be prepared for the wildlife
So far on our travels we’ve been to Bucharest, Romania, Dubai and Sri Lanka. We’ve seen a lot of wildlife during our time in Sri Lanka and it’s been both amazing and a little terrifying.
Elephants in Sigiriya, monkeys in Ella, snakes in Pinnawala, lizards in Tangalle, many geckos in some of our hotel rooms, and even a large cockroach/beetle in our hotel bathroom in Welligama.
You’ll hear dogs barking through the night, monkeys on your roof, geckos in your room and birds every morning. But you’re if you’re in Sri Lanka, you can’t really avoid it so make sure you’re prepared.
And bring plenty of mosquito spray!
8. Factor in days to do nothing
You won’t be able to maintain travelling and moving around every day for months on end. You’ll need time to recharge your batteries and catch up on rest.
Make sure to add days into your travels to do nothing other than rest.
9. Don’t feel guilty for spending a day indoors
You might feel like you’re wasting a day of travelling by switching off, doing nothing and staying inside, but sometimes it’s more than needed.
Whether it’s a day inside under the air-conditioning because it’s 35 degrees outside and you simply no longer *can’t*, or it’s a day in bed with Netflix and some snacks. Don’t feel guilty for it, because you need to the time to recharge so that you have the energy for your action-packed and travelling days.
10. Treat yourself once in a while
If you’re backpacking, you’re probably trying to stick to a small budget. This will probably include hostels, packet noodles and roughing it on buses and sleeper trains.
But don’t forget that while yes, you are backpacking, you’re also on holiday. So treat yourself once in a while. Have the iced coffee, have a nice brunch, have a massage.
Enjoy some of the finer moments while still living below your means.
11. You don’t need makeup, just suncream
Probably a regret of mine is packing my full makeup bag. It’s day 24 of our travels as I write this and I can’t remember the last time I applied any.
Especially in Sri Lanka, as soon as I step outside my face is dripping in sweat, so I don’t think any of my makeup would be able to withstand that.
The only thing I’ve been applying to my face for the last three weeks is Lancaster SPF 50 Face Suncream, and I’ll be running to the nearest Sephora when I can to top up on more face suncream the first chance I get.
12. Pack aftersun
It’s no secret that I burn just glancing at the sun. In 16-degree heat in Ireland, I could turn into a lobster if I’m not careful, so I’ve been extra vigilant on this trip with the heat, as I’ve been burnt too many times in the past (figuratively and literally).
I’ve been applying my SPF 50 daily and only managed to get my feet roasted by accident on the beach in Tangalle when I thought I was fully under the shade of the umbrella.
So it’s a good thing I had packed aftersun as I knew I would be needing it at some point. Make sure to pack some!
13. Better to not plan too far ahead
We were told this before embarking on our travels, but completely agree. When planning our travels, we designed a rough route of how many days we would stay in each country.
We thought we would only stay in Sri Lanka for around 10-14 days, but have ended up spending a month here. We’re so glad we didn’t plan too far in advance and book our flight out of Sri Lanka so that we could spend more time here.
Bear in mind, some countries like Indonesia require you to have a flight booked leaving the country before you enter, so you can’t be as lenient with your travel for certain places.
14. You’re backpacking experience doesn’t have to look like everyone else’s
When I thought about backpacking, I thought of full moon parties in Thailand, drinking from buckets, drunk karaoke and staying in hostels with 20 other people in one room.
However, your backpacking experience can be unique to you and doesn’t have to be the typical gap-year experience.
For us, we’re slow travelling and in the 24 days that we have been travelling, we’ve had one alcoholic drink which was in a rooftop bar in Dubai. We’re not consciously not-drinking, but we’re happy enough with a Coke and Coke Zero (which are hard to come by in Sri Lanka so it’s often a Sprite) and don’t want to wake up with a hangover in the heat and while travelling.
Make your backpacking experience what you like – you don’t have to follow the crowds.
15. You’ll get homesick but you’ll get over it
It’s only been just over three weeks, but I have had a moment or two where I’ve felt a little bit homesick. And if you’re someone that knows me reading this, you might be slightly confused as homesick is a very rare feeling for me to experience.
But when moving around from hotel to hotel, grabbing buses here and there, breathing in the pollution of the tuktuks, trucks and more around the congested cities, I started to miss the fresh air of the countryside and the comfort of my own bedroom that didn’t have any geckos.
But it was a fleeting moment, I recognised it, and reminded myself why I was travelling and why I decided to leave the comfort of my corporate job and life in London. I also realised I was due my period and was likely being emotional.
16. Locals are there to help you, but be mindful of those that aren’t
No one knows the place that you’re travelling through better than the locals who live there. Don’t be afraid to ask them questions, ask for directions or to ask for their help.
We’ve experienced a lot of kindness from strangers and locals during our travels, but you also need to be mindful of those who see dollar signs when they see you approaching with a backpack.
As an example, we were waiting for a bus (somewhere we didn’t realise wasn’t actually a bus stop) when a tuktuk driver was trying to convince us to go by tuktuk instead and told us that the buses weren’t operating and that it was Sri Lankan New Year.
Another local then told us the bus stop was 100m from where we were standing which was why the buses weren’t stopping for us and when I Googled it, Sri Lankan New Year wasn’t for another week. Don’t take everyone at face value!
17. Know that there’s a reality behind the Instagram photos
Behind the gorgeous videos of travel creators snorkelling with turtles, living their best life on the back of a motorbike, experiencing beautiful sunsets on the beach, there’s also a reality that you don’t see.
You don’t see them lugging their 16kg backpack on their back in 30-degree heat. You don’t see them speeding along on a public bus trying not to vomit, and you don’t see them with an upset stomach unable to leave the vicinity of a bathroom for 12 hours.
18. Night flights might save you money, but may not be worth the hangover feeling the next day
We had our first night flight on the way to Sri Lanka. It was at 2am leaving Dubai, getting into Sri Lanka at 8.30am.
While this saved us a night’s accommodation and ensured we arrived in Sri Lanka at an early time, it also meant that we didn’t sleep for a very long time.
And when we arrived in Sri Lanka, we weren’t able to check into our hotel until 2pm, meaning we had to stay awake for hours after landing while not feeling our best.
It’s almost like feeling hungover, running on a lack of sleep and changing timezones. Not something I’d fully recommend, but it can be worth saving on the accommodation if it makes your trip last longer.
19. Some hotels can be as cheap as hostels
When backpacking, you might be jumping straight into looking on Hostel World before you look at hotels on Booking.com. We haven’t had to stay in a hostel just yet as we’re finding hotels to be very cheap.
Our hotel in Bucharest was £30 per night, and our hotel in Dubai was £45 per night. Some of the hotels we’ve stayed at in Sri Lanka have been as cheap as £10 per night (all prices for two people, so split this in two to work out the price per person).
Make sure to look for hotels as well as hostels if you’re travelling and need a night to yourself if solo-travelling. But if you are, I know hostels might be better so that you can meet other travellers.
20. Bring the pharmacy with you – you will get sick
I was a little nervous about the amount of tablets I’ve taken with me in my backpack in case it got flagged in the airports, but it’s much better to be safe than sorry.
I’ve got headache tablets, diarrhoea tablets, travel-sickness tablets, flu tablets, Lemsips, Strepsils, Rennies, plasters, bug spray, the works. And that’s before it comes to my beauty product bag.
So far I’ve needed a few headache tablets as the fumes in the built up areas of Sri Lanka weren’t mixing well with me, and then I had some bad period cramps. I had a bit of a dodgy stomach the morning of our Yala Safari tour which wasn’t great timing, but thankfully I had packed some Immodium.
Sorry for the TMI but I want to be as honest as possible with my backpacking experience.
So there you have it. It’s been four weeks of travel and these are the twenty things I’ve learnt so far. There’ll definitely be more as I go along, but I’ll come back in a few weeks and write a new post with new learnings.
Related blog post: The OC Backpacking Diaries: Week One
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