Interrailing Series - Essentials and Packing

My 3 week trip has fastly creeped up on us, with only 1 day left until we go! 

From I have posted my last blog post in this series, I have been collecting all the bits and bobs needed for our travels....which has turned out to be a lot. 
From first aid essentials to travel pillows, we have collected a great haul of stuff which I believe to be necessary for going Interrailing. 


So, firstly of course, you are going to want to make sure you have all of the important documents you need for the trip, such as:

-Passport
-Interrail Pass
-Travel Diary
-Travel Insurance 
-EU Health Card (if available).

Now on to the interesting stuff. These are the essential items I believe are going to be extremely important to us while on our travels:


Backpack/Suitcase

In this case, we are bringing backpacks on our travels with us, rather than a suitcase. This is simply due to the fact that we feel that a backpack will be much easier than a suitcase to lug about on trains and through cities etc. We also researched a lot into the topic when trying to decide which option was best and overall we found better reviews for bringing a backpack over a suitcase. 

The only issue with this is that a backpack (depending on the size) may not fit as much in it as a suitcase. This is a good and a bad aspect as if the backpack fits less in it, it should then be a lighter weight to carry.
This is an important factor in then deciding what backpack you bring. 

The backpack we have decided to bring is a 50L backpack.
We bought this backpack on Amazon and is available here.

Smaller Day Bag

In order to save you having to bring your bigger backpack through the city while you are adventuring, it will be useful to bring a smaller day bag which will be beneficial for putting items you will need throughout the day into it. 

An important tip in relation to bring a smaller day bag would be to make sure that it zips close, and specifically has at least 2 zips so that you are able to lock your bag through the 2 zips with a padlock.

Money 

This is obviously a very important item for your trip. However, I would not recommend carrying around large amounts of cash in your bag or on your person. For us, we have decided to get a travel card, there are many different options for these, a popular one being the post office travel card, although do a little research online and you might find one that suits you better. We have opted to go for the 'Revolut' travel card, as it provides all the currencies we need. 

It is easy to use, you just download the app, add £10 and the card will be ordered at a charge of £4.99, you then just top up the card with money through the mobile app and are able to use the physical card tp pay for things while you are away and can also take money out at ATM's.

First Aid Kit

When discussing a first aid kit, I'm talking everything you could possibly need in case of an emergency! For us, we purchased a small first aid kit which had some plasters, scissors, bandages and tape in it, which we got in a pound shop! Then to add to the kit we bought all essential tablets necessary, such as painkillers, headache tablets, vitamin c tablets, energy tablets, allergen tables.....basically anything you think you could ever need....better safe than sorry. 

Hygiene Essentials 

We decided to not bother with items such as shampoo, body wash etc as they are heavy items that will take up a lot of room, we can just buy them when we get there. However, here is a list of items we believe to be essential for situations such as travelling on trains etc. 

- Face wipes 

- Antibacterial wipes 

- Hand sanitiser 

- Insect spray

- Toothbrush

- Mini toothpaste

- breath spray

- Mini deodorant

Train essentials 

Some trains can be very long, uncomfortable and boring, so I have a few essentials in order to try avoid this.

- Travel pillow

- Ear phones 

- Portable charger 

- Puzzle book

- eBooks (hard copies are too big and heavy!!)

- Earplugs 

- Sleeping mask 

Other Items 

- Travel towels 

- Sun cream 

- Waterproof phone case 

- Padlocks 

Packing 

In terms of packing, of course I am leaving everything last minute! 

But in order to get the most space out of my backpack, I will be rolling up my clothes to make them smaller and to be able to fit in more items, I need as much room as I can get!

To help me with this I have been watching YouTube videos of packing ideas to optimise space (these are so helpful)!

I will be off on my trip in the next few days and I am so excited I cannot explain! I am ready for an adventure and to explore different countries around Europe. My next installment in this series will most likely be an update when I get home of how my trip went, places I liked and places I maybe didn't enjoy as much (if there is any). 


Thank you so much for following this series, see you in the next installment within the next 6 weeks!

Lots of love, 

Siobhan McKerr x