What do I take on a day trip? Things I always keep in my backpack

We set off on most of our trips for just one day. We leave in the morning and are back home late in the evening, so we don’t need any big gear. Still, over the years I’ve gathered a few things that I put in my backpack almost automatically.

And actually, I’ve found that the less I carry, the better. 🙂

For a day trip I really don’t need a backpack full of “just in case” things. I try to bring mainly what I actually use or what might realistically come in handy during the day.

My small and, above all, light backpack

I have an ordinary, smaller 10-litre backpack from Intersport. There’s nothing special about it, really, but I like it mostly because it is truly light on its own. It doesn’t look its best anymore, but it still does its job.

When you spend the whole day walking around a town, sights or somewhere in nature, every bit of unnecessary weight starts to tell after a few hours. That’s why I don’t feel the need to carry a big backpack when I know we’ll be back home in the evening.

My husband, on the other hand, has grown fond of a somewhat bigger backpack, so our gear complements each other quite well. When it warms up during the day and we take off our sweatshirts, they usually end up with him. 🙂

My small and light backpack for day trips

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What I always keep at hand

One of the most important things for me is, of course, my phone. And not just for calls. On our trips I mainly take photos with it, use the navigation and sometimes look up more information about the place we’re in. So I probably wouldn’t set off on a trip without it these days. And because I take a lot of photos, I usually keep it somewhere within reach so I don’t have to fish it out from the very bottom of the backpack every time.

A slightly unusual thing I carry in my backpack is a small notebook and a pencil. In the notebook I have important details about myself, such as my blood type, as well as a list of phone numbers and even addresses. A phone is a great thing, but I still prefer to have some important information somewhere other than just in my phone. And it’s also handy to be able to jot something down at any time. So paper and pencil still have their place with me. 🙂

I also carry a few really small things that weigh almost nothing, but I feel better having them with me. A small bottle of hand sanitiser, one plaster and a small gel for insect bites. Luckily I’ve never had to use it myself, but my uncle once did when wasps stung him on one of our trips. In case of pain, such as a headache, I usually have a painkiller with me too, the one we normally use at home. I don’t carry a whole first-aid kit or several packs of medicine. For an ordinary day trip, the basics are really all I need. And paper tissues, of course.

These are exactly the things you can carry on ten trips without needing them at all, but when they come in handy just once, you’re glad to have them.

And then there’s a small tube of hand cream. I hardly ever use perfume. Strong scents are usually not pleasant to me, I don’t want to attract insects with my scent, and so I don’t need it on trips. I much prefer a delicately scented hand cream that I’ll actually use.

Drinks, a snack and a small umbrella

We never set off without something to drink, of course. Most often I take plain water in a bottle. Sometimes, depending on the weather, I also use a thermos. Occasionally my husband carries my water in his backpack together with his own drink.

We usually prepare a snack in advance and carry it in a smaller cooler bag. Depending on where we’re going and how long we’ll be away, we take a little or more food. My husband has more room thanks to his bigger backpack, so he carries it, often with bananas for both of us.

On day trips I like having at least something of my own with me. You don’t have to worry about whether there will be an open shop or restaurant nearby. But of course we can still buy something else during the day if we feel like it. 🙂

Another nearly permanent part of my gear is a small umbrella. It stays in my backpack very often, even when the morning weather looks good. We’ve already had plenty of trips where the sun was shining in the morning and the weather changed during the day. And a small folding umbrella doesn’t take up that much room. I’d rather carry it all day for nothing than really need it once and not have it. 🙂

In summer I add a few extras

The contents of the backpack change a little with the season. In summer I add a small tube of sunscreen and sometimes a cap. When we set off early in the morning, it can still be quite pleasant, and you don’t even think how hot it will be in the afternoon.

I like having a cap precisely because I can simply tuck it in the backpack in the morning and take it out only when the sun really starts to burn. It’s similar with sweatshirts. In the morning we sometimes need them, but in the afternoon we don’t want them tied around our waist or carried in our hands. And that’s when my husband’s bigger backpack comes in again. 🙂

Gradually I found out that less is sometimes more

The contents of my backpack didn’t come from any list on the internet. I simply found out gradually, over the course of our trips, what I really use and what makes sense to carry. And also what I don’t have to drag along. On a day trip I try not to bring things just because they “might possibly come in handy someday”. Of course, you can’t prepare for absolutely everything, and I don’t think it’s even necessary. I prefer a light backpack with a few things that I know why I’m taking.

And when I find in the evening that I didn’t even need most of them? That’s actually the best result. 🙂

To sum up, in my backpack you’ll usually find a wallet, keys, a phone, a small notebook with a pencil, chewing gum, tissues, sanitiser, a plaster, insect bite gel, painkillers, hand cream, a drink and a small umbrella. Depending on the season I add sunscreen or a cap, and larger supplies of food, drinks and our sweatshirts are often taken care of by my husband’s bigger backpack. There really isn’t all that much. But these are exactly the things that have proved their worth on our day trips.

Things I almost always have with me

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And what do you always have in your backpack on a trip? 🙂