If you are planning a trip, & intending to pack light, you may find our top ten items useful.

1) Lock & lightweight cable: when staying in hostels or budget accomodation, room safes are seldom available. A lightweight cable & combination lock enables you to lock your rucksack to a bed or cupboard securing your items. It’s also handy on the road when at a cafe etc to prevent opportunists looking to snatch a bag.

2) Kindle Fire: lightweight & easier to transport than a laptop. Books, internet & social media all in one. (Mine was a leaving present from work & the best pressie ever).

3) Quick dry underwear: although not the most exciting thing to write about, it certainly a necessity on the road when laundry services are limited & you are packing light.

4) Lonely planet guides: tip if you download the free samples on Kindle, you will save your money.  The free samples usually include: Top 10 places to visit & maps. This is often enough to help you plan what you want to see & your route across a country.

5) Travel plug: only one place we stayed had sink with a plug. When you’re clothes washing most days, a travel plug is essential. We lost ours 2 months in!

6) Solid shampoo bars: saves room & removes the worry of liquids in carry on bag. I brought 2 Lush bars & 5 months in, I still have 1/2 bar left.

7) Zip lock vacuum bags: shrink your clothing to a fraction of the space needed, whilst keeping them airtight.

8) Wax earplugs: life in hostel/hotel rooms gets very noisy. Also useful if you want some sleep on buses/planes.

9) Travel washing line

10) Rain Ponchos: Sad to say after 5 months of beautiful weather, we hit the rainy season. Glad we put them in.