Pack With Me (Perth 2022)

I’m finally going to Australia, in a matter of days. Even though I’ve been planning for this trip for practically my whole life… I still feel like I’m unprepared. Though, I’m aware I’m not, and that’s just my anxiety. It’s my first ever trip out of my country, and I’ve never even been to an airport before, let alone 20 hours of flying split into 2 planes just to get there.

I want to do a post about what I’m packing: everything from my bag, to my socks. I know people say to not go out and buy all new expensive travel clothes, but did I listen to that? No. No I didn’t.

But, going back about 5 years, from the ages of 17-19, I was diagnosed with agoraphobia. I still have it, and most probably always will, but for the first two years, I was totally housebound. Yes, that’s correct- I didn’t step foot outside my front door, in a little over 2 years. Not even to the garden. And this was in, what is supposed to be, two of the most important and memorable years of my life.

My prior classmates were learning to drive, starting university, starting a family, getting their first job, going on a gap year, travelling, going to concerts, drinking for the first time (I’m in England) and making amazing memories.

I, however, was in my bed. Dosed up on a prescription sleep-medication when all other methods to calm my raging and overwhelmingly daunting anxiety had failed. The day my psychologist turned to me and said “there’s nothing else we can do to help you, alex”, was one of the worst days of my life.

I felt so very trapped. I spent my long, gruelling days, looking out my window or scrolling the internet. It was in this time I actually discovered minimalism. And then I fell down the backpacking rabbit hole. Amongst the darkness of my insomnia-filled nights, my laptop screen lit up my room, with all these… places.

Places that I longed to go to, but NEVER in a million years thought I would ever be well enough to go to. To me, back then, I thought I’d forever have to live vicariously through other people. I thought my version of seeing the world would be nothing more than liking Instagram pictures of people that weren’t ‘as pathetic as me’ – my words, many years back.

It’s a story that I may have spoken about in past blogs, and a story I will make a separate post about, as it is far too long to talk about here. This, is a ‘pack with me’ post. I am taking hand luggage only, and I am travelling with Qatar Airways. Their baggage limit, like with most airlines, is 7KG. Which I was unaware about at first, so upon finding out a few weeks ago, I started to panic (obviously) and rethink about what I wanted to take with me.

So this list has been revised many times, and I definitely do not have the time to rethink it all for a third time. I will include pictures of all my items. Everything (I think) is black, white or grey. These are just my preference colours, and have been since I’ve been a minimalist, travelling or not. Even my entire apartment is in this monochrome colour scheme, which I will make a whole post about, one day, after my trip, when I am 100% happy with how my apartment looks. And once I can print the future pictures of Perth i will take and splatter them all over my poor apartment walls.

I will also try my best to include all the brands and prices of each item, and if I remember or have time, I will try my best to include the links of everything that I can. This isn’t a list that people HAVE to travel with, as I said at the start of this post, people really don’t recommend buying all new fancy stuff to travel with, I just wanted to. Also, I am a female, but I wear 90% androgynous or masculine clothes, and 10% feminine clothes, so hopefully they’ll be something on this list for anyone.

My Bag:

Pakt Travel Backpack ($315 excluding shipping & customs)

I have made an entire unboxing post about this bag here, about why I got it, and what I initially think of it. I have had it a fair few months now and I have used it for a few local trips to see how it holds up. The last think I wanted was to start packing for Australia to find out the bag is no-good last minute and have to flap about getting a different bag within a few hours.

Although I am still using this bag for my trip, I have noticed the this bag is a lot heavier then most other bags made for backpacking. Which, in turn, has made me have to rethink about the things that I am taking with me to Australia. But, on the other hand this bag is very good quality. It is made from a very think fabric, and the back of it has a sturdy support in it which stops things from inside the bag from poking you in the back if placed in there on a weird angle.

I’ll be using vacuum bags to put my clothes into to make sure everything I want to take fits. But my Pakt Backpack should have enough room in it as I have spent forever becoming so much of an extreme minimalist that I have coped with having a lot less clothes than most non-minimalists would usually have for a trip to Australia.

My Shoes:

Nike Air Force (£110.00) & Vans UltraRange EXO (£95.00)

So funny story about these shoes. I knew I wanted to buy some new shoes to take with me, I wanted to at least look nice. So I searched the web for comfortable shoes. For anyone who has read my post about those eco friendly shoes, I had to sell them a long time ago. My feet magically grew a size overnight from a 5 to a 6 (literally not even joking) and all of a sudden, they were far too tight.

I didn’t know how long shoes from the same brand would take to arrive, plus I wanted to try them on, as I was going to be doing A LOT of walking in them and had to make sure they were comfortable. Eventually, after all my searching, I found a pair from Vans that I had fallen in love with. They looked like the pair of shoes I currently owned, but a lot newer, cleaner and looked very comfortable.

Spoiler: They were not comfortable.

I went to the shop, all alone. I had never been shoe shopping alone before, and I was very awkward and anxious, but I did it. I tried on the one pair, in 3 different sizes: a 5, 5.5 and a 6. Low and behold, the 6 was the only size that fitted me. Shocker. I tried them both on in the shop and even did that awkward walk with the sales assistant staring at me. Now this is where people will roll their eyes at me.

The shoes were comfy, yes. But, I could tell they wouldn’t be for long. For people who know what I mean, you just… know. For those that don’t, well, aren’t you a bunch of lucky ducks. But, I felt BAD for declining them now, after the sales assistant kept having to go into the back room to fetch bigger and bigger sizes as my wishful thinking lead to me to believe I was going to fit into a size that I knew wouldn’t of fitted me. So I said they were the comfiest shoes I ever put on my feet, a pure 10/10, tapped my little contactless card and off I went.

“Oh, I’ll just have to wear them in a bit” I thought to myself. and so I wore them around my house for the whole day. They SEEMED okay… Until I went outside in them. It wasn’t that they rubbed my feet like a lot of my older shoes did, but they seemed to catch on the back of my foot so much it made them bleed and caused a small cut on the back of them that looked like a blister… and was just as painful as one. I really, really like the style of these shoes, and I don’t really know how to fix this problem, because in all other aspects, the shoes does indeed fit.

I’ve now resorted into wearing the shoes along with very overpriced blister plasters on my feet, but I know this isn’t a long term solution. I’m HOPING that after wearing them for a while with the weird plasters, then eventually the shoes will get more… flexible? I’m not really sure. I have included them in this list as, if I have the room, I’ll pack them, as they go with a lot more of my clothes.

After that whole ordeal, I went back to the store. This time to a different one, and took my mother with me this time. No matter how old you get, sometimes a mother knows how to help. But I kind of forgot that I was going to Australia in September, which, at least in England, when the school kids return to their classrooms for a new exciting year. Yep, sarcasm. So as I was searching for shoes… again, every pair was sold out as parents were buying them left, right and centre for their growing bundles of joy.

Eventually, I found the shoes that I would be taking home with me. And, even after owning them for a few weeks now and having walked many miles in them, I can confirm they are indeed, very comfortable. They will be the pair I will wear on the plane, and for probably the majority of my trip, and for the whole of my trip of I end up not taking the other ones.

My Socks:

Running Eco-Design Thick Mid Socks (£6.99 Per Pair)

Wow, socks, how exciting. Said nobody ever. But, for the past several years I have been wearing organic cotton socks from the company Organic Basics, but as well as just needing to update my sock wardrobe, I wanted socks more designed for walking, preferably ones not made from cotton. By now, we all know the struggle I have with finding footwear that doesn’t cause me any damn blisters, and a lot of blisters are caused by sweaty feet, and what’s one of the main culprits of sweaty feet? Cotton socks, as cotton holds in moisture instead of wicking it away from the body like any sports socks are made to do.

Like my shoes, I was determined to go to an actual shop to get them, but only after looking extensively online and reading up on many reviews about any ones half decent. To cut a long story short, I found some on the Decathlon website one night and the next day I went out, went into their store in Liverpool for the first time, figured out their weird coding system, got my socks, then figured out their weird but wonderful self-checkout system and took them home with me.

I forgot what they’re made out of, but it is not cotton, as they are actual sports socks, so I know they’ll keep my feet nice and dry. This is the amount of socks I’ll be taking with me, five in total. I’ll be staying in an AirBnB where I will have a laundry room, which I chose on purpose, so that I can minimise the amount of clothes I need to take with me.

My Trousers:

Hollister Skinny Joggers (£39.00) & Travel Leggings (£34.99)

I am someone who likes being comfortable. I mean, don’t we all? I remember when I was a young teenager, I saw a picture of my cousin, who was only a few months older than myself, wearing clothes that firstly, made her look much older then she actually was, and secondly, that really didn’t look comfortable.

“Your clothes don’t look very comfortable…” I commented. “Oh Alex” she patronisingly said. “Girls shouldn’t wear clothes for comfort, we’re meant to dress stylish” she added. And that may have been about ten years ago now, but that conversation has never left my mind. I have never really dressed ‘like a girl’ in some peoples standard, but I have made it my mission, since that day when I was a teenager to find clothes that make me feel both stylish AND comfortable.

I was searching the web one night for pants. I had enough shorts for my trip, but I am aware I am going to Australia in September, which is not the hottest month for them, its their spring, and the nights there can get a bit colder then in the daytime, so I knew I wanted some long pants. I really didn’t want to take jeans with me, they are very bulky, very uncomfortable, and they take FOREVER to dry. But I didn’t want to wear normal joggers, as although they are comfortable, they just look very scruffy. Most decent ones are quite thick and take forever to dry so I as on the hunt for something very specific indeed.

I wanted something as comfortable as joggers, but that looked more… structured, than casual joggers. I wanted them to be of a good material but still not taking forever to dry like typical jeans do. I wanted them to have deep pockets, which automatically excludes any trousers from the woman’s clothing section. And if possible, I wanted their to be a zipped pocket, as I just feel more at ease with my phone being in a zipped pocket.

After searching online all evening, I finally found the ones I went with. I don’t usually like buying from high-street stores, but this trip was very VERY important to me and I wanted to see the clothes I’d be buying in person, the last thing I wanted was to order something online to not like it, for it to not fit me or for it to not arrive in time. Although I had been planning most aspects of this trip for many years, the clothes I would actually be taking with me did somewhat slip my mind.

The trousers are from Hollister, and they had many colour options available, but I obviously chose the black ones. But, the grey ones with the black string were nice too. I got a first pair of them and took them home, I tried them on and it was only then I realised they had a secret zipped pocket! I had initially missed that when my half-asleep brain was obsession over them the night before. they are called skinny joggers, and wearing them heels like you’re waring (slightly more structured) joggers, but due to the material, they look like jeans… kind of.

the one thing I have always hated about traditional jeans was the lack of waist… flexibility. You had to buy a certain size according to your waist size, and at least for me, they would either be miles too big and would fall down and I would spend 90% of my days pulling them up, or they should be too small and they would dig into my hips or my stomach and would be very very painful. These wonderful pants didn’t have a zipper or a button on the waist, just a lot of stretchy goodness.

I knew I needed more then one pair of pants, so as well as buying a second pair of those same pants (yes, I loved them that much), I wanted to get some leggings too. The only problem I’ve always had with leggings is their LACK OF POCKETS, and usually ones that do have pockets look so bulky that they can no longer even really be classed as leggings. As I said, I want to look stylish, and the last thing I want is to constantly look like a hiker everyday of my trip.

Then I found the fine specimens that I bought, they, like my socks and a few other things that I’ll take about later, were from Decathlon. I saw them online, and just like my weekly routine consisted of at this point, the next day I excited went there to see them, feel them, smell them… you know, the usual. I have been an annoying in-between size for months now, so I didn’t know what size to get, but I went for the size I am in the majority of pants, which was the smaller of the sizes, and they fit perfectly. Like, when I say perfectly, I mean, it felt like a glove.

They were not bulky at all, and they had THREE zipped pockets and another pocket on the left leg and a further fourth zipped pouch on the waist band, which doesn’t fit much in it, but, considering these are designed for travellers, they would be great for storing money in. The front of the leggings are made from a vert thick and heavy-duty material, but the bottom of the leggings are made from a softer and silver material which stops that painful bunching in the… knee pit? area, tat happens to me a lot with other thick pants.

My Underwear:

Merino Wool Mountain Breeches (£14.99 Per Pair)

Oh. My. God. The trouble I had to obtain these was unreal. before these, I, again, had underwear from Organic Basics. I’d had them for far too long though, and travelling soon or not, I needed new ones. But slowly, I aim to change all my clothes from cotton to marino wool, or the next best alternative. I want to travel a lot, and everyone online always recommends it as its a “miracle fabric” or something. So the first thing I got in merino wool, was one pair of these underwear, just to see what they were like, how the fabric felt, etc.

And I fell in love with them, the material felt nice and felt very… hygienic, which is always one of the top selling points for this fabric, which I can see why. They are very thin, but not in the kind of way to suggest that they are cheaply made. They do not have any loose threads, and their texture is really hard to describe, there is nothing else that i have ever owned that I can compare them too.

Anyway, after wearing them, I wanted more, but, low and behold, the universe was against me on this mission. I thought I could have simply gone back onto the website, added a few more into my basket and waited for them to show up at my door… No. That was indeed not the case. Upon arriving back on their website, I was met with words that most minimalists seem to not care about… SOLD OUT. I didn’t write it in capitals for dramatic effect- that was literally what I saw.

Well, okay then… I mean, they must come back into stock soon right? I signed up to their waiting list where they would email me if it came back into stock. And… I was waiting months. The time to travel was edging ever closer and I was starting to panic. I started to question myself. I had never once been unable to sleep at night with the thoughts of underwear. Never. Every morning I would check my email before checking ANYTHING else. This was really not okay.

Then, one night I was sound asleep. It was a matter of less than 2 weeks before I flew to Australia, and a push notification for an email came through my phone. Usually these don’t even wake me up, so I never even bother putting my phone on silent, but the second i heard it, I just knew. I, shot up in my bed one eye still closed, the other not far off, and I reached for my phone. I opened my Mail app and… There it was. The BACK IN STOCK notification I needed. May I state, this was 3AM. Yet, I bought more of them that instant. (These are new at the time of the photo being taken).

My Skirt:

(I no longer have a valid link as it was discontinued)

I am usually not a skirt wearing person. I am fond of them, but in my normal life, I tend to be a bit of an introverted loner, and don’t really go anywhere where I would wear a skirt. This isn’t new, but I have never worn it, it has sat in a drawer for probably over a year now. Hence why I no longer am able to find the link for it. The black thing pictured above it are tights, I didn’t bother giving them their own category as I only have the one pair and the only time I would ever wear them is with this skirt.

My T-Shirts:

Hollister Sports Knit T-Shirts (£19.00 each)

OneAndOther.io Geometric T-Shirts (£30.00 each)

Junkbox Apparel Land & Sea T-Shirt (£30.00)

None of these shirts are made from my new favourite fabric, marino wool, which is sad. But I just didn’t have the time to find ones that I liked and all the ones I looked at were out of stock. I really am noticing a running theme here. But, I got some other ones that I really like! The first picture are actually the ones that I got the most recently, I really wanted some thin shirts, as it is going to be hot, and also so they dry quickly. So after a lot of searching I found these! After excitedly trying on all my clothes, they look very nice with leggings!

The second picture are t-shirts from a company on Etsy called OneAndOther.io, which I always thought was a great quirky name. The lighter of the grey t-shirts I have had for a long time and never had a single loose thread on it. the quality of these shirts are amazing. They are, from what I remember, 100% organic cotton, and they are slightly thicker than most t-shirts. But i still decided to get twi more for my trip for the slightly cooler days.

The last picture is a t-shirt from JunkBox Apparel, who again, is on Etsy. i have had a few of their clothes before, I own a grey plaid shirt that i am not taking with me, and the quality of their clothes was good and I don’t know, I don’t have a good reason for buying this shirt apart from the fact I liked it. But, I guess that is what minimalism, and living a meaningful life is all about. Not restricting yourself to only things you have a good explanation for owning, sometimes it’s okay to own things simply because you like them, or they make you happy.

My Bras:

Merino Wool Sports Bra (£24.99 each)

Wow, I hate bras. And I nearly had as much difficulty getting these as I did for the underwear from the same store, as they’re both the same brand. I came to the conclusion at this point that they must be popular. In past posts, I have discussed my hated for this article of clothing. But, these days I am feeling a lot more feminine, so I have made the compromise of wearing sports bras. These were super overpriced for what they are though.

My Shorts:

Gilly Hicks Running Shorts (£35.00)

I got these as an impulse purchase, but I didn’t realise how great they were until some time later. They have a part on the inside of the leg that is tight on my legs which feels really nice, I don’t know why. and it has zipped pockets! I thought these would be good if I ever go to the beach but want to bear something slightly longer then just swim shorts. I don’t know what they’re made from what they’re made from that sort of fabric that dries super fast.

Gilly Hicks Mesh Shorts – (£29.00 each)

What is pictured here is the girls and the guys version of the same shorts. I really liked them as they are mesh and will be super cool for Australia. But knowing my brain, I never know what I will feel like wearing from one day to the next. Some days I am more masculine presenting, and others more feminine presenting, so I loved them so much that I bought them both. The link will take you to the guy’s versions, though I think they are both the same price. I couldn’t access the women’s ones when making this as the sight was down.

I don’t have a link for this one

I can’t remember where I got these from, I think it was H&M. I have had them since last year, and I know they look thick, but they’re made out of a nice canvas material and before I got all of these other shorts, these were my favourite. So I am taking them with me as a safe and comfortable option as they fit me very well and they make me happy.

Adidas Beach Shorts (£33.00)

I use to have the whole bikini to match, but to hell was I wearing that! Nope, sorry, not for me. But, I liked the shorts, so I kept them. They are very short, and the only time i can actually seeing myself wearing these is under that skirt instead of tights, but they light and thin, so maybe they will come in use at some point.

My Tank Tops:

Merino Wool Tank Top (£19.99 each)

These are from the same brand as my underwear and bras, and are also made from merino wool. The feeling of these is super weird. They fit nice though and are true to size. They don’t feel like cotton, but instead like a very vert fine wool. They aren’t too thin or too thick, and I don’t really know what else to say about them.

My Hoodies:

Icebreaker Merino Hoodie (£175.00 each)

I have had these hoodies a little while now and they’re very cool. They are made from a thin material so I thought they would be perfect for packing and going to a hotter climate. I obviously got one in grey and one black, i thought i could wear alternating colours with those thin grey and black t-shirts I have, may look lame but I think it’s cool.

I did get another hoodie, as I saw online it had zipped pockets and to find that in a none sports related hoodie is very rare, but as I ordered it online, I didn’t get to feel it, and when it arrived, it was a lot thicker then I thought, so that will stay at home to wear when i come home in the winter. Brrr. I am chilly just thinking about it.

Other Accessories & Miscellaneous Stuff:

Firstly, this is the only cap I am taking. Anyone that knows me in real life knows I have always been an avid hat wearer, but, a while back I stopped wearing hats for a while. The reason for this will be explained in a post I plan to write after my trip. But I knew I needed to take something to protect my head from this deadly Australian sun that everyone goes on about. I liked this cap because it was all black even the logo. 10/10 from me indeed.

This is literally what it says, it is a packable jacket, it is waterproof, so great for the rain. But it is also very thin, because I have heard that even when it is raining in Australia, it is still warm, so I knew I needed something waterproof but not warm.

My iPad Mini 6 and Apple Pencil 2nd Generation. This will be coming with me in my smaller personal item bag. I have a few cool appsI’ll be able to play on the plane if I get bored. It wasn’t NEEDED per-say, but it has all my books on there. Because as a minimalist, I only really have ebooks, I also have all my colouring on there, through an app and I obviously have all the tv streaming services so I am sure it will come in handy at some point on my trip.

This may look like a weird handbag thing, but it is in fact A foldable backpack. I was looking for one of these for a while and I am usually fussy with weird little things like this. I took a chance and got this one from an online shop as I, for the life of me, couldn’t not find anything like this in an actual shop. But surprisingly, this is a really good quality bag. It opens up with a zip and the pouch you can see folds out to be the front pocket of the backpack. This is so, when I go out I can take something smaller than the big backpack that I’m taking, but bigger then my small bag. Just incase that i want to go out for the say and want to pack a hoodie or snack.

This is a travel towel. I did try to get one in grey, but there were no decent brands around my area that did it in grey that I could have gotten from an actual shop. So for now, I shall have to cope with dark blue. But I wanted to go to an actual shop to get this as i needed to feel it, it is made from some form of microfiber so it is very soft but also very thin and fast drying! Things like this are so versatile, toy can use it as a blanket at the airport, a towel for the beach or a picnic blanket for a park!

This is my liquids pouch, plus a toothbrush, and all the liquids I’m taking. I am very simple and minimal when it comes to this stuff. My way of looking at it is: take the bare essentials to last the first few days, and if after that you need a top up, or something fancy to spray on yourself, get it on one of the many times you pass a shop while exploring. I have shampoo, body wash, deodorant, toothpaste and a toothbrush. Simple.

So apart from a few other little bits, this is all I am taking on a trip to the other side of the world, for almost one month. I still seems so surreal to me that I am actually going. Sure, it might be be exactly how I planned, but i like to believe that it will all turn out okay in the end. This is something I never in my right mind thought i would ever be able to do, and being in a position where I am now well enough to do so, makes me so proud of myself, even if nobody else is.

I promise to post more after my trip, I have so many exciting plan for my website for the end of the year and the start of next year. If you made it this far then thank you so much for reading. If you like the things I post then please follow my blog for updates on new posts. One day I will sort out a posting schedule, which I am pretty sure I promised to do at the end of last year, but this year has been such a fast-paced whirlwind.