Clothes for travelling on Gap Year

[Isthatmybear]

My DSD has a packed gap year coming up and really needs to sort all the clothes now as once A-levels kick in she doesn't stop for over a year!!
In the summer she's doing 6 weeks in Europe with friends, this one is more cities less beaches.
Then off to SE Asia and Australia until Christmas, very much beachy.
Then to Costa Rica for 4 months volunteering
Then wrapping it up with 3 months in central and South America!

Obviously she will be home in between Europe and SE Asia and at Christmas before Costa Rica. Then her dad is planning to go out and see her in Costa Rica before she goes backpacking again and will take a lot of her stuff home with him.
We aren't funding this her mums side of the family are.
She has savings and wants to get new cloths for going. Think the very "Gap Yah" style. Floral skirts, crochet tops and linen trousers!!
Obviously she will take some leggings/shorts work out type clothes for hikes but wants to look cute.

She's planning on getting a 70l backpack when seems absolutely absurd but she feels anything less won't be enough? She's considering getting a second smaller one for the Europe trip though.

So far she's looked at Hollister and Superdry and found a couple of bits.

Does anyone have any ideas where she can find this style of clothes? Not crazy expensive ideally but not SHEIN or Primark.

TIA

Honestly, she needs to do this on her own. Let her make her own mistakes (wanting to look "cute"). She needs cheap, practical clothing. I hope the Gap year helps her get her priorities right.

I mean is there really anything wrong with wanting to look nice?

I think you can both look "cute" and be practical. She's not planning full on outfits, little skirts with a vest or linen trousers and crop top isn't that bad really is it?

She might want to buy some clothes at local markets while travelling - they'll be cheap and climate-appropriate!

Look at eBay or Vinted and search ‘hippy clothes’ and ‘festival clothes’ to get a few cheap bits if she doesn’t mind second hand.

Of course but this is about making sure she has stuff to get her started while travelling!

I've just asked my 19 year old DD who did her gap year last year.
Her advice is patterns and dark colours are a must (whites and lights is ok too they just can't be reworn as much). She got her stuff from

• Hollister
• Superdry
• Gap
• Roxy
• Miss Selfridge (on ASOS)

She also got some nicer bits from French connection but only wore them if going out for dinner in a restaurant.

DD also recommends making sure she has a long skirt or sarong for temples.

She needs to be able to get the clothes out of the bag and wear without any ironing so bear this in mind with the fabric. Rolling clothes and up then into packing cubes seems to work better.

When I went backpacking many years ago I had cargo pants with lots of pockets and shorts. Vest tops and long sleeved cotton shirts. Travelling round Asia I would wash the clothes in a bucket and hang them to dry on a line at the beach hut so I would be choosing fabrics that dry quickly. I appreciate it might be different now though.

@OscLia 's advice is good. I'd also highly recommend ditching linen - it doesn't travel well. SIL is older but wears a lot of this sort of style and also loves her long European party stays and buys frequently from Silkfred so that might be worth looking at.

Sarong style skirts/trousers are forgiving and can be bought in lots of patterns and colours which I agree, are better for travelling as they get messed. They also take up less space in her bag.

She might want to look at a couple of nice accessories. eg a really great belt with a statement buckle or a couple of scarves she can wear in different ways.

There’s a really good website called Her Packing List which gives some excellent advice on packing for long trips, what to take and how to keep belongings safe. Might not be quite the outfits she’s looking for but will give some useful pointers on fabrics etc.

I would suggest not trying to buy clothes for the whole year now. Buy some things for the summer, and then in the autumn she can top up before her next trip. She will discover items that she likes more and likes less when she gets more experience, so no point buying a load of stuff straight away. Same with the huge rucksack. She might see after the summer around Europe that it is better to travel lighter. If she still wants to buy a 70l rucksack, then she can do it in the autumn.

I'm in the camp that this is for her to sort out. I literally couldn't think of anything worse than my parents getting involved in my clothes when I went backpacking. However, I know you want to avoid the likes of Primark but I wouldn't invest much in clothes as they will be ruined by the time she has finished travelling. Lightweight shorts and T-shirts for SE Asia is all she needs and she will probably want to het the usual backpacker clobber available when she is out there.

Rather than getting two separate backpacks, she could one that extends to give her a bit more flexibility in space. 70l is a heck of a lot though. I had a 55l that extended to 60l and I couldn't imagine lugging around any more than that.

She isn't going to have enough time.

She gets back, it's 1 week at home, then 5 days in Greece then less than a week at home then off to SE Asia for 4 months.

Clothes get ruined by hand washing and hot climates so nothing special.

Is there a special reason why she wouldn't have time to do some clothes shopping and buy a backpack in a week?

I mean ideally she relaxes, packs and spends time with family. Plus it's A-Level results week so that will be happening.

Nothing to add on the clothes front

Make sure she has a waterproof cover for the backpack or at the very least a few large bin bags to cover it when raining. I remember all my stuff getting soaked when the bags were out in the open on some wet journeys

I am SO jealous!

I would also assume she'll be buying stuff while travelling. So she just needs a bunch of cheap and cheerful stuff from any of the websites mentioned here. And less linen.

I agree with whoever said about too much white - it gets dirty really quickly when travelling and the laundry in SE Asia at least is hit and miss. They can ruin nice clothes.

I would encourage her to get a few nice cover up shirts for the sun.

Gym clothes are very useful, cycling shorts especially so I would get a few of those. Lots of travellers live in gym clothes.

Crochet tops are very in right now, and easy to hand make so she could try looking on Etsy for something like that. or there’ll be plenty in Europe.

Bum bags are extremely useful for keeping valuables safe - hard to pickpocket if worn on the front.

Decent quality sandals are a must because she’ll probably be doing a lot of walking. And socks if she’s planning on hiking.

But overall I’d try to tell her not to get too much!! Lugging around loads of clothes she never wears will get tiring quickly.

I’d get a few good quality pieces in breathable material (avoid polyester) and then the rest can just be simple crop tops and shorts.

Cheap shorts and t-shirts, sarong-type skirt, trousers. Jumper/fleece. Things with lots of pockets.

She can buy stuff on the way. I'd focus on good walking boots - but I replaced mine at a Borneo street market after my boots got nicked.

But she needs to do it. She'll be carrying it all and wearing it.

If she can, a rucksack with wheels is good - I have an 80l Osprey one, so I can carry it or wheel it, depending on the terrain. It's predecessor covered a fair bit of the world with me, but had no wheels. It did have a separable daysack though.

I cringe when I think how much I took the first time I went travelling for a long time. I didn't know how to pack light and couldn't prioritise what I needed, took far too much and seriously regretted how stupidly heavy my backpack was. She should focus on layers & separates that can be mixed and matched. Soap leaves and a washing line she can hook up anywhere.

I also volunteered in Costa Rica - a long time ago now - and remember that you need some half decent gear if you are going to be in the rainforest. Wellies, and long trousers/sleeves and a baseball cap as I recall. Definitely not beachwear, but maybe that depends where she'll be. I suppose she'll get some sort of packing list from the organisation/place she's volunteering with. FWIW, to get to where I was volunteering I had to hike 8km up a mountain path at 3000m altitude, with said backpack on shoulders. Hence regret...

Some more advice from DD.

She got compressible packing cubes, basically double zipped. The saved so much space.

Depending on exact dates, September and October can be quite rainy in Thailand etc. so a little rain coat is a must.

She did lots of little tiny crop top type tees as the took the least amount of space, same for the little jersey skirts (though ideally skorts).

Gym clothes too, she took a couple of gym leggings and vests, a gym type quarter zip and a fleece. She used the fleece on overnight buses as a pillow so did a double job.

Taking plenty of underwear is a must, for whatever reason DD really struggled to find pants in SE Asia?? Weird but yeah.

The only thing DD did which she doesn't recommend is taking a sentimental item. She has a stuffed duck that she is overly attached too. She took it with her in her daypack and end up anxious about losing it.

70l rucksack is massive. She won’t be able to keep it with here on some public transport at that size.

My best combo for travelling most places (excluding full on rainforest hikes) is eastpak xs handluggage size suitcase ( it’s soft sided and has excellent wheels), and a day bag size rucksack. You can take both on as handluggage ( rucksack by feet) which keeps flight costs, time and lost luggage down. On trains it fits above head and by feet, on buses and coaches same so no risk of stolen luggage underneath. In hostels they both fit in lockers. The suitcase is handluggage size, so if you end up in places with lots of stairs or cobble stones, you can easily carry as needed also

Even if you go for 1,2,3 months, you don’t ever need more than 1 weeks worth of clothing imo.

I agree with pp regarding a small daypack. Usually you leave your large backpack at a hostel and toddle off with the bare minimum. I also recommend packing cubes, they saved my sanity when travelling and saved so much time with not having to pack/unpack everything when you were trying to find one tiny thing at the bottom of your bag. You can get cheep ones from Amazon.

She would honestly be better off investing in one decent large backpack rather than one for Europe and one for Asia. Osprey is a good brand and comfortable. For a cheeper option, I had a Lowe Alpine bag and thought it was great.

DD agrees with a lot of this (though doesn't think wheels are worth it - might be personal).

The other DD didn't agree with was exact amount. DD had enough tees/tops/dresses for 12-14 days. She stands by this as it meant with a couple of rewears she really cut having to do laundry. For bottoms she did less. She spent 25 days in Thailand and only did one quick hand wash. Everywhere else she managed to only do washing on her scheduled rest days between countries, which helped a lot.

But definitely yes to being able to keep it with you, so much safer that way.

DD had an osprey where the day pack attached to the main bag. I think all in it was 65l. She did hikes with the bags so anymore would have been crazy.

I made the mistake of leaving my 'favourite' clothes at home as I didn't want them to get ruined, but that meant I was wearing clothes that I didn't really like so felt uncomfortable a lot of the time. When I got home (after a year) fashions had changed and those favourite bits were no longer my favourite and so had just been a waste of money. So, in short, she should take clothes that she actually likes!