Jill and I sold pretty much everything we own and are traveling the world full time. Below is a list that represents virtually everything that I travel with. Jill has created her own gear list HERE. Below is just the stuff that I carry.  My full 70L pack weighs about 36 pounds, and my 30L weighs about 17 pounds. When we want to do a multi-day hike, I leave laptops and other things I don’t need in the daypack in hotel storage or with people I know, to save weight.  Traveling as a couple, many of the camping items we share. I own these items and recommend them from personal use. A few of the items I am planning to upgrade to in the near future.  At the moment I am planning to upgrade my 70L pack and water filter.  I also want to downgrade my stove to the twig burning stove shown below, from my current Optimus Nova+ multifuel stove because of issues with bringing the empty fuel bottles through airport security as well as the annoyance of finding fuel and the additional weight.  However, the Optimus stove is probably the best multi-fuel stove I have ever used if you consider the convenience factor on the trail and if you don’t need to fly anywhere.  I am keeping the Optimus stove for camping in the Canadian Rockies, and for camping where regulations do not allow wood burning stoves.
Some of these items I leave in storage with my family because our plans for the year don’t require them. For example as I write this, I am not carrying the cookware set, stove, water filtration system or hiking boots.
Some of the links below are affiliate links so I earn a small commission if you click and buy. It is greatly appreciated if you do! It helps fund what we are doing and encourage us to review more gear.
Backcountry Camping Gear
If I was traveling as a single person, I would delete the tent + pillow + thermarest + cookset, and replace with a Hennessy hammock tent (I have owned and recommend, requires large trees with about 12 ft spacing) and a very small lightweight stainless steel pot or billy can.
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Clothing
The list below is for our regular style of travel, staying in B&B’s or renting places for months at a time. For serious backcountry trips, I travel without jeans, normal shirts or shorts and no swim trunks. Instead, I take one hat, one pair of footwear, 4 changes of clothes with only quickdry shirts and only one pair of hiking pants that convert to shorts.
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Electronics
For serious backcountry camping trips I do not carry the laptop and accessories. With powerful smart phones and free offline GPS apps such as OsmAnd, there is also no need for a car GPS. For trips where we expect to drive a lot, I carry a smart-phone sized Garmin Nuvi 3490LMT with car kit adapter because of the superior turn by turn navigation.
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Photography
We used to travel with crop-sensor (DX) Nikon DSLR cameras and about 6 lenses. This became very cumbersome for any type of travel due to size and weight of the lenses. For people who want more than just one lens, I highly recommend you consider the micro four thirds camera system. It has the most comprehensive set of lenses to choose from on any mirrorless camera system, and the quality of the lenses is also top notch. The lenses are less than half the size and weight of DSLR lenses. Although there are full frame sensor mirrorless cameras available, their lenses are much heavier because large sensors require large lenses, there is no getting around that fact. Comparing the image quality of a modern micro four thirds system with pro lenses vs. a modern full frame system, in good lighting it is difficult to tell the difference. All my camera equipment including body, 4 lenses, 5 batteries, cleaning kit, foam partition, charger, filters, rings, caps, capture clip, is about 5 pounds (excluding tripod).
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Nicknacks
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- Curtis’ Full Time Traveler Gear Guide With Camping Gear - November 22, 2015
- Top 10 Waterproof Daypacks for Any Adventure, 27-35L - November 21, 2015
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13 Comments
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Interesting traveler gear guide. Even though we travel quite differently, I was surprised to see how many things we carry in common.
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Wow what a great arsenal! At 67, I cannot do this sort of thing anymore and look for comfort all the way. That is not to say I did it when I was young either! You are certainly a pro at these things!
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This is a full-on gear guide! I love to camp out but I cannot go all out like you do. With mild scoliosis, it kind of gets in the way of a big pack.
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Awesome travel gear list. Not sure how much weight this list of things bring to, it looks very professional. I have given up using my 55l backpack due to back health issues, but have great memories of the old backpacking days!
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WOW! That’s quite the list! We’re doing full-time travel right now as well, but not any camping… I’ll definitely keep this list handy for when we decide to venture out to sleeping outside under the stars! 🙂 And yes, I absolutely agree with traveling with your own GPS… it gets expensive to rent one when you rent cars and it’s great for even walking in a city to find stores and restaurants.
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I don’t travel full-time but I do carry quite a few similar things on my regular trips. It sounds like you’ve really found what works for you and what doesn’t (in the case of the stove) Its good to have a list, re-think it when you need to and also recommend these things to other travellers. I personally love my backpack and waterproof plus a good pair of hiking shoes (not boots). Dry, comfy feet and a well designed pack will see you through most experiences!
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Author
It really is an ongoing process finding the gear that works best, as well as finding out what you don’t actually need to bring. When airlines keep decreasing checked-luggage weight limitations, it is beneficial to really minimize the gear. For travel, usually less is better. For example we haven’t been doing a lot of camping, so I could have reduced my pack weight by about 10 pounds!
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Great list! I use a lot of the same stuff, and some I don’t, which I intend on borrowing 😉 . I shared this on my Facebook page too!
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Great list. It’s definitly nice to be able to split the weight when you are with someone else! I have a thermarest as well, and love it! We’ve been wanting to get a couple of Paracord bracelets and a multi tool, as well. Both would definitly be useful!
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Oh my god, now I now why I don’t travel full time – I wouldn’ be able to lift it up – much to heavy for me. When I have half of what you’re carrying I already consider it heavy 😀
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You’re kitted out for serious adventure Curtis! Thanks for sharing a sneak peak into your backpack, I’m afraid mine isn’t anywhere near as organised!!
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Thanks for sharing your thoughts on traveling as a couple.
Regards
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[…] I’m only one half of this traveling duo, Curtis has created a separate list of his own. A lot of the camping gear we are traveling with is shared between us and Curtis carries all of our […]