I used to be the person that would bring the biggest suitcase on a trip. Through the years I’ve realized that even when I brought a big suitcase I didn’t wear 3/4 of what I brought. I’ve been working on minimizing my wardrobe for the past few years and it’s made me realize how little I actually need. This concept transferred over to travel and I’ve been slowly bringing less and less on our trips and it feels so good.

We recently got back from traveling around Norway, Sweden, + Denmark for 16 days. It was a DREAM. I’ll write more on the specifics of the trip later, but here I wanted to share the answer to the question on got most after I shared that I was only bringing a backpack. The burning question many of you had was, “What did you pack?” Understandably, a lot of you were skeptical this would be enough for me to even make it through the whole trip, but once I started hearing the skepticism I wanted to take the challenge a bit further. I wanted to move the challenge from “Packing for 16 days abroad in a backpack” to “Packing for 16 days abroad in a backpack AND not repeating an outfit.” Here’s proof that I stepped up to the challenge. Please know I have nothing against outfit repeating at all (I am a frequent “offender’) this just felt like a really fun challenge to push myself to be resourceful.

The main reason for bringing just a backpack was because we were moving around constantly and it was so much easier to just carry one thing. Plus, Europe’s cobblestone streets are stunning, but really not fun to roll a suitcase on. Below I am sharing my thought process when packing and a list of everything I packed to make it possible. I also share some of the things I wish I would have brought and some things I wish I would have left at home.

Please know, I am not a fashionista. I’m just a practical lady that wanted to pull together some comfy outfits that made me feel good and let me focus on experiencing the culture and sights around me. I knew we were going to be very active (walking 25,000+ steps a day, hiking, biking, etc.) but also sitting on trains and planes and ferries. Comfort was my highest priority. After comfort I tried to focus on packing some solid basics that could be mixed and matched — neutral colors, dresses that could be layered over, etc. This allowed me to bring fewer items because everything went together. I could easily thow my chambray shirt over my linen dress or wear it over a cropped tank with shorts for bike riding. Layers was a really important component I considered when packing. I wanted to make sure I had a variety of options because the weather could fluctuate.

This was the longest we had traveled period and it was definitely the longest I had ever lived out of a backpack. I’d definitely do it again, but here are some things I would bring with me next time and some things I would leave at home. I hope this brings you some packing inspiration for your next adventure.

Things I wish I would have left home:

The active dress I brought isn’t my favorite. I feel like it is a weird length (like it needs to either be a bit longer or shorter to make it flattering).

Things I wish I would have brought:

A rain jacket (we got lucky and it didn't rain on us much at all during the trip, but the security of that additional layer would have been nice)
Instead of the active dress I would have brought this active skirt instead. It would have been more versatile to swap out tops to create more variation.
A pair of linen shorts. It ended up being pretty hot in Flam (80F+) and my only option was to wear my sweat shorts - which was fine, but another option would have been nice and wouldn’t have really taken up much room.

The Packing List

Bottoms
- Madewell Jeans - Similar here
- Linen pants - Similar here
- Aerie sweat shorts - Similar here
Tops
- Cable knit Sweater - They’re out of the color I have, but color that is in stock is gorgeous. Hold out for a sale. They always have good discounts.
- Chambray shirt - similar here
- White tank
- Black tank
- Brown t-shirt
- White t-shirt
- Crop tank (I contemplated bringing the skort that goes with this too for more versatility and in hindsight it would have been a good addition.)
Dresses
- White linen dress - Similar here and here and here
- Black linen dress
- Athletic dress - I cut mine to be shorter, but I want to get it hemmed to be even 3 inches shorter.
Outer layer
- Jean Jacket
Shoes / Accessories
- Swimsuit - Similar here
- Baseball hat
- Earrings (x2)
- Sneakers
- Sandals
- Canvas tote
- Crossbody bag - Similar here
Undergarments / Sleepwear
- 1 Sports bra
- 10 pairs of underwear (see note below)
- 1 nude colored bra
- Pajama set

Notes

Packing cubes are game changes. They keep things organized into categories (I usually do: tops, bottoms, dresses, sleepwear + undergarments, etc.)
Here’s the backpack I took. I like that there are pouches on the front that allowed me to put things I wanted to reach quickly. It also qualifies as a carry-on. I’d say the quality is on par with the price point. I got it about 6 years ago and it’s got some rips in it now, but for less than $60 and the amount that I’ve put it through, I think it’s fair.
Day 1 + 2’s outfit are the same because we ended up having to stay in London overnight and my bag was checked to Copenhagen (Omaha made me check the bag because the flight was too full already) - I only almost cried which after not sleeping for 48 hours felt like a win.
I knew we would have access to laundry halfway through our trip so I only packed enough underwear for that (plus a few extra). If your airbnb doesn’t have laundry there are usually laundromats that you can post up at for a couple hours (obviously this depends on where you are traveling, but a good option to look into).