Long story short…we always wanted to do a backpacking trip around the world…well at least a part of it, so what better place to start than South East Asia?

  Why SE Asia? Well...you get the whole package: amazing places to see, perfect beaches, great food, kind and lovely people, interesting culture and the big plus, everything is really cheap. Also, SE Asia is very tourist friendly, so it’s perfect for backpacking beginners.
  First step accomplished: we established an itinerary for almost 3 months: Thailand, Vietnam, Cambodia, Malaysia, Indonesia and Thailand again (we had to divide Thailand in two because being from Romania you only get a 15 days tourist visa). 

We wanted to be 100% safe during our travels so we went to a travel clinic in Barcelona (we used to live there back then) and got vaccinated accordingly to the areas we were about to visit.

I know a lot of people who went travelling without getting vaccinated but ...better safe than sorry, right?

  Next step: We got the backpacks.

To be honest Chris (my better half) did the research when it came to the backpacks.

I went full girl on this one and I wanted mine to be colourful and pretty! Don't judge, we all have our moments :).

Eventually we both chose Osprey ones and they turned out to be great in quality, comfort and space.

Did you just assume my backpack?! And yes it's the purple one! 

  I went with the Osprey Sirus 36 and it was perfect for me considering I'm 1.60 m. It has a lot of pockets, two of them in front which are very useful. 

 Chris went with the Osprey Farpoint 55, which has a detachable smaller backpack that can be carried easily on the front, this way you can store all your valuables there and have them always in your sight.

  One of the main reasons we chose to pack light and go with small backpacks was to avoid checking in the luggage so many times, considering the high number of flights we had.

These two were the perfect size for a free carry on and we had no issues with any airline in Asia when it came to taking the backpacks with us on the plane.

The only airline company which had a smaller carry on size permitted was the low cost Wizz Air, which we took while returning home. With this one we had to pay an extra fee for the backpacks, but still cheaper than the check in baggage.

Therefore, travelling without checked in luggage is both money and time saver.

  And last but not least: One way ticket to Bangkok.

 I'll tell you all about Thailand in the next post, until then...

  xoxo,

  O