My Packing Strategy That Works for ANY Trip Duration

In this video, I'll break down exactly how I pack for a one-week trip, a one-month trip, and a one-year trip. Diving right in for a one-week trip, right off the top, in general, if I can fly carry-on bags only, that's what I'll do, and especially for such short trips. Budget airlines are often the direction I go, which means even a carry-on item size would be an extra charge. So a small, personal item bag is what I pack, since that's all that's included in the fare. First, I've developed a uniform for flight days, and for me, it looks like this. White sneakers, which are the only shoes I bring, and thankfully the industries I serve for work, even on business trips, this is completely acceptable. Next, clean, minimalist joggers, a golf shirt, and a thin, full-zip hoodie, since even if I'm going to a hot destination, indoor establishments can really crank up the AC. Beyond what I'm wearing, I really don't pack a lot more clothes. For a one-week trip, I'll pack only one more going-out top, either a solid t-shirt or another golf shirt, and one pair of pants. I'll also pack a sleep-only t-shirt, as well as a pair of shorts, also for sleep, and if the mood strikes, they can double as swim trunks as well. For underwear and socks, I only pack two pairs of these Hanes Moisture Waking Long-Leg Boxer Briefs, and two pairs of these Fruit of the Loom Dual Defense Socks, which means three pairs total, including what's worn my body on the day of the flight, because my habit is to hand-wash the socks and boxer briefs I wear each day before I shower every single night. Then hung to dry and ready to be worn the next morning, but I still pack that extra set in case. The same could be said about clothes, but because I spend at least 150 days abroad per year for work, for almost a decade, since way before I even started this YouTube channel, I've relied on Unbound Merino when I travel. This segment sponsor is what enables me to primarily travel carry-on only, thanks to three key properties of high-quality, super-fine Merino. First, it's both naturally antimicrobial and tremendously odor-resisting, which means countless travelers can wear the same Unbound outfit every single day for a week straight or even longer, without needing to wash nor offending other people's noses. Second, it's so soft and comfortable, nothing like what we typically associate with wool because super-fine Merino, the kind that Unbound uses, is even finer than human hair. And third, especially useful for travel, it's tremendously wrinkle-resistant too, perfect for compact carry-on only packing. But it's the downstream benefits that have been most noticeable to me. Enabling carry-on only travel means that instead of paying at least $35 US dollars per flight for a checked bag, as someone who sails on at least 20 flights a year means that I save at the very least $700 US dollars every single year, and that's just checked bag fees alone. And best of all, Unbound Merino's been kind enough to let me share a discount off your first order with them, and you can find that secret discount code down in the description below. Thank you so much to Unbound Merino for sponsoring this portion of the video. Either way, all my clothes go into two compression packing cubes, one for the public-facing clothing and the other much smaller one for my socks and underwear. And with the first bucket of clothing out of the way, let's move on to tech. For a one-week trip, especially for work, I of course need my laptop, but also my phone, earbuds, power bank, and charging peripherals, and lastly, my travel adapter and USB Type-C cables, one short, one long, both of which can push through an overkill 240 watts. So I can confidently charge all my devices without needing to pack the brick nor cable that came in the box with each of them. And that even includes the one thing I always pack with me, a flashlight, which also can charge with one of those USB Type-C cables. Next category is hygiene, and right off the bat, I am someone who is totally okay with using whatever shampoo and body wash my accommodations has. Where I cannot sacrifice is my electric toothbrush, tongue scraper, face wash, and again, an ongoing theme of me being a sweat factory, my mini shower puff to get a really good scratchy lather. And finally, because it's just a one-week trip, I'll also pack a small container of laundry detergent since I only need enough to wash my socks and underwear every night. These all go into ziplock bags, and pro tip, a lesson I learned the hard way, use at least two ziplocks. One for stuff that involves the mouth, and one for everything else, because if a leak happens, it's shockingly difficult to remove that disgusting taste of face wash or laundry detergent from the toothbrush bristles. And with hygiene wrapped up, all that's left is the support category. I'm fortunate enough to not require any ongoing medications, but for peace of mind, I do pack a small pouch with the following items. A bare bones first aid kit for Then, as a notebook weirdo who literally uses my notebook and pens more than I use my phone, even on short trips and especially for work trips, I pack my regular-sized Traveller's Company notebook and Lamy Safaris. And perhaps the most important support item to me, my extra pair of prescription glasses, since vision is very important. And yet replacing prescription glasses abroad can be challenging. But they get stored in a thin neoprene glasses case, and like everything shown in this video, you can find a link down in the description below. To round out the support category, I of course need my passport wallet, and for the occasions, even on work trips, where I have a few hours to myself and don't need to bring my computer, I have my everyday carry sling, the Tomtoc T33 as well. And as you can see, even in this lightweight daypack by Bellroy, that confidently sits into any budget airline's restrictive personal item size allowance. All of this fits no problem, and in fact, standing it up, you can still see there's more space left over, which means, if you do have a slew of medications, and for the ladies, a makeup bag, all of those can also be pouched up and fit in here no problem. But now, let's move on to how I pack for a one-month trip, or rather, what gets added and what gets changed compared to the one-week trip loadout. For longer trips, I almost always fly legacy airlines, not budget carriers. This means the first change is scaling up from just a personal item size bag to both a carry-on compliance sized one as well as a personal item too. If you've been with me for a bit, you know that for years I've been using the Pact Travel Backpack for my carry-on, and for my personal item, it's been the Bravo Sling Max by Alpaca. Kicking things off with clothing, honestly, not much gets added. Starting with the socks and underwear though, I do now pack 7 of each of my boxer briefs and socks, because for trips of a month or more, I just end up finding a laundromat to do my laundry once a week like clockwork. And instead of that very small packing cube, I swap them to this double-sided one by Pact. For my core clothes though, compared to just these that get packed with me for my one-week trips, for trips of one month or more, I'll add a third pair of pants and two more tops, and it's not because I need them. At that point, it's just for sheer variety, and the two extra tops might not even be Merino wool, it might be this Uniqlo button-up or this Simon's Henley. Before the loadout, I'll use two medium-sized compression cubes, one for all the tops and one for all the bottoms. And as you can see, because the Pact Travel Bag behaves like a traditional hardshell rolling luggage in that it clamshells open evenly, literally every piece of clothing can go into the clamshell half on the left. With clothing out of the way, we can move on to tech. For the tech, I still need to pack all the things I do for my one-week trip, but I also pack my Sony a6700 and these two lenses, plus my wireless microphones in this small pouch, because I might want to make YouTube videos. I have another separate extra pouch for extra batteries for the camera, but the batteries themselves are these ones by Neewer, because look, they've got USB Type-C ports directly on them, so my USB Type-C cables that charge all my other tech also charge these. Which means I don't need to pack the dedicated Sony battery charger if I used OEM Sony batteries. Awesome. However, because I'll need to charge more items every night than if it were just a one-week trip, I pack an entire charging kit with this dedicated USB charging hub and plug adapter and more cables so there's enough juice flow to charge everything overnight while I sleep. Onto hygiene, although I'm still good with using the shampoo and body wash on my accommodations, I do want to bring extras for a month or more. You know, nail clippers, extra toothbrush heads, and other random toiletries. So I swap from just two Ziploc bags to still putting liquids into Ziploc bags, but storing all of that into this dedicated toiletries bag called the Travel Kit Version 2 by A.I.R. As for the support category, that stays more or less the same as the one-week trip loadout, with the only difference being a travel emergency medical insurance policy. But that takes up no space at all, and as you can see, there is still so much space, and neither the two front fast access pockets nor the full-depth expandable pocket have been used yet. Which means any random extras like, say, a winter jacket if I were going somewhere cold, or souvenirs I might choose to buy can comfortably fit in there. With the one-month loadout complete, let's move on to how I pack for a one-year trip, and you ready for this? Because if I did not make YouTube videos, how I pack for one month is exactly how I pack for a one-year trip. But because I really enjoy making these videos, every December when I leave Toronto to go on my half-year business trip for my real job, I now also pack a full check-in luggage, and that gets used for just two flights. The first flight from Toronto to my long-term Airbnb in Taipei, and the last flight from Taipei back to Toronto. All the other 20 to 30 flights where I ping-pong across different countries throughout Asia during that 6-month work trip, I just pack, at most, that one-month loadout setup. But going back to that check-in luggage for my first and last flight, it's because I basically pack all of this. This entire rolling stand setup, collapse the softbox and light into this large check-in luggage by Monos, and set it up at that Airbnb, and I feel so lucky, because I've developed such a great relationship with that Airbnb host where they basically block off their property from December to June for me, since I do rent at least 5 months straight. But look, at the end of the day, pack and bring whatever you want and whatever makes you happy. If I could choose the one takeaway I hope you get from this video, it's that clothing is just always way over-packed, which ultimately causes more stress. And to be clear, you don't even need merino wool to pack light. You just need the willingness and know-how to do laundry while abroad. And to really prove it, you can see exactly, in-field, the three ways I do laundry while travelling in this video right up here. If you're feeling lucky though, this video down here is the one for you. I'll link both on screen for a few seconds so you can choose which one to watch next, but while you're deciding, consider subscribing and hitting that bell so you'll be notified the moment new videos just like this one drop.