I traveled to Europe for 13 days with just one backpack. Here are the best things I packed and 4 items I wished I left at home.

I recently took a two-week trip through four European countries, and I did it with just a backpack.

I flew from NYC to Berlin and traveled by train from Germany to Austria, Italy, and Switzerland.

I explored cities in each country on foot, taking photos and notes along the way. I also stayed in a variety of accommodations, from train bunks to unique Airbnbs and luxury hotels.

Packing for this trip was hard for me. It was the lightest I'd ever packed for the longest trip I'd ever taken. But after a few practice packs, I was surprised to find that I could fit everything I truly needed in just one bag.

Traveling with just a backpack works for me because I find I have less stuff to worry about losing or forgetting when getting from one location to the next, and it leaves my hands free when commuting.

Plus, fitting everything in a backpack means I don't have to check luggage and pay the accompanying fee, or feel the anxiety of whether it will make it to my destination.

For this trip, I used a 32-liter backpack, the largest one I own, to hold everything I needed for two weeks. I packed my work computer, camera, and chargers; snacks, toiletries, and medications; one packing cube stuffed with clothing, and additional necessities like a raincoat, a tote, and a pair of shower slides.

While I longed for more outfit variety, I was glad I packed so little. I didn't feel as weighed down by my backpack as I have on previous trips, so I had more energy throughout the day.

When I pack light, I usually bring laundry sheets, which are small, dry, scented squares that look like dryer sheets, but they're actually pads of laundry detergent that turn into a bubbly soap when mixed with water. They're great for using on the go, and I like to pack them while traveling so I can do my own laundry in sinks and then air dry my items.

But I wanted to save more space on this trip, so I brought a 2-ounce bottle of Dr. Bronner's Pure-Castille soap, which is an all-in-one soap that cleans everything from dishes to teeth, according to their website, and also works as body wash and laundry soap.

I thought Dr. Bronner's soap worked well for my laundry and left my clothes smelling fresh. I used it as body wash, too, and I could even clean my teeth with it in a pinch, according to their website. I plan to travel with it from now on instead of laundry sheets and a separate container of body wash.

No matter how lightly I'm packing, I always make room for my electric toothbrush. Although I find it bulky, with a battery, charger, and case, maintaining my usual hygiene routine away from home makes me feel more comfortable while traveling. I've used an electric toothbrush for 23 years and swear by it for keeping up my dental health, so didn't want to swap to a manual toothbrush that could cause me to miss hard-to-reach-spots or build up plague, as dentists have previously told Insider.

Another necessity I packed was for my hair: the Sea Spray from Lush. I hate doing my hair. I like to just let it do what it wants, avoiding heat products and gels, but this hair product has my heart. Made from mostly natural ingredients, according to the Lush website, the spray adds texture and shine. I find that this product is easy for me to apply with just a few spritzes, and I think it always makes my hair look good with minimal effort. That's why I never travel without it.

For clothing, I brought quick-dry shirts and pants made of thin, moisture-wicking materials that are designed to dry quickly in the sun.

Most of my quick-drying clothes are from Under Armour or Prana and are good for exercise, but I thought they'd serve a dual purpose on this trip considering my laundry strategy. I dried my freshly-laundered quick-dry clothing on the balconies of hotel rooms and the porches of Airbnbs, and it never took longer than 20 minutes.

I was also satisfied with the versatility of the clothing I selected. With mostly neutral tones, like my gray t-shirt and navy sweater, as well as pops of color, like my purple striped long-sleeve tee, every article I brought paired well with everything else. So I wore every combination of pieces to have as many different outfits as possible. While I still longed for more variety in my style abroad, I was impressed by how many outfits I was able to make with such a small selection.

I find that shoes take up quite a bit of room in my backpack, so I try to travel with just one pair. I thought these black and grey New Balance sneakers I got from Asos were the perfect everyday shoes for this trip because they were comfortable enough to walk around in all day without hurting my feet. And with a neutral color scheme, I think they looked good with every outfit.

Besides my pair of sneakers, I also brought a pair of rubber slides to wear in the shower.

Unless I'm at a nice hotel, I prefer to wear shoes in the shower when I'm traveling. I can be a bit of a germaphobe, so having a layer of protection between my feet and the floor makes me feel at ease in places like in the outdoor shower at my Airbnb in Switzerland, or the tiny home hotel in Germany where the toilet and the shower shared one floor.

My Members Only jacket is my go-to travel jacket in the fall, and I thought it was the perfect pick for this trip since it's comfortable in various temperatures. Since this jacket is a little big on me, I was able to fit long-sleeved layers underneath on cooler days. And it's black, so I think it goes with everything.

It also has four pockets, one of which is hidden on the inside. I used that pocket to hold essentials like my phone while walking around each city.

I checked the forecast during the week leading up to my trip and saw that some locations were expecting rain. I packed my smallest rain jacket so I could wear it alone on warmer rainy days and layer it underneath my windbreaker on cooler days.

I caught the most rain of the trip during my second day in Vienna. Although it was pouring, I was able to walk around the city all day and stay relatively dry thanks to the jacket. When it cooled down at night, I wore my windbreaker over the rain jacket and felt cozy.

On travel days, I used a tote to separate and hold personal belongings I wanted quick access to so that I could stuff my backpack in the overhead bins of planes and trains.

This made it easy to quickly find items I needed, such as my headphones, while keeping my bulky backpack out of the way. By stowing my backpack on the shelf above me, I was able to maximize leg room, too.

On non-travel days, I left my backpack at my hotel or Airbnb and explored with a lighter load in the tote. The tote was large enough to fit all the essentials for a day out on the town, including my camera.

Different countries have different outlet ports, so I thought my outlet adapter was one of the most important items in my backpack. One side has a European plug and another has one US outlet port. On the bottom, there are four USB ports. I brought my iPad, phone, laptop, and camera on this trip, and I was able to charge them all at once with this device. Since this particular converter has plugs for outlets in Europe, the UK, and Australia, I think it will also come in handy for potential future trips.

I bought several ebooks on my iPad to be able to read as much as I wanted on the trip, and to avoid bringing physical books that would take up too much space.

Most of the books I read were travel guides. Before my trip, I downloaded some guidebooks for each country I visited. When I was on my way to each destination, I read about the sights that awaited me. These books helped me decide how to spend my time in each location and built up my excitement for my upcoming adventures.

During my trip, I downloaded a few episodes of my favorite TV shows to bring me comfort when I was feeling homesick, which for me was usually around bedtime. I also used my iPad to draw cover art for my band with the Procreate app, so I spent some time sketching designs for upcoming singles. Watching TV and exercising hobbies that I do at home made me feel more grounded while traveling.

While I take photos digitally for work, I shoot and develop film pictures as a hobby. For me, this includes manually loading film into a mechanical camera and taking my time with each shot before developing the negatives in my kitchen using a combination of chemicals.

I hadn't brought my film camera on previous work trips, but since Europe was my longest adventure yet, I packed my Minolta Autocord to help me find a work-life balance by taking film photos just for myself. When I was in work mode, I shot digitally, and during my breaks, I took pictures with my film camera. This made me feel so much more creative during my trip, and I think I got some great photos. Although this camera is quite heavy for its size, I thought it was worth bringing to feel inspired and maintain an artistic mindset throughout my European adventure.

With hobbies like film photography and playing musical instruments, I can't afford to eat out every meal, whether I'm at home or traveling. So packing meal bars and snacks for travel days helped me save money I would have spent on munchies in airports and train stations.

During my 8-hour flight from NYC to Berlin, I saved money on an in-flight meal by consuming an entire bag of Combos. On busy days spent exploring, I often had RX bars for breakfast or lunch to save money and keep me energized.

However, I also think it's important to try local cuisines while traveling to new places, so I maintained a balance of meal bars and dining out during my trip. I made sure to taste things I hadn't before, like kebab and fresh pasta.

I brought way too much film for this trip. I packed eight rolls of film and only shot four of them due to some rainy days. Plus, I was surprised by how easy it seemed to buy film in Europe — if I'd needed more, I could have stopped at one of the many film stores I passed in Vienna and Berlin. In Vienna, I even spotted a film vending machine on the street.

Because I overestimated how many film pictures I'd take, next time, especially if I'm traveling to Europe, I'll bring half the film I think I'll use.

I find that rolls of film feel bulky in my bag if I have too many, but my camera lenses feel even bulkier. I brought two lenses for my digital camera: a zoom lens and a lens with a fixed wide angle. I think I could have just brought the zoom lens. Although I used both, I thought the majority of the shots I got could have been taken with my zoom lens, which has a pretty wide setting and can take close-ups.

I brought a maxi dress for days when I wanted to dress formally. But apart from different jackets over top, my dress looked the same to me every time I wore it. And since it was so long, I thought it took up the amount of space in my packing cube that a pair of shorts and a couple of more shirts could have taken. Replacing the dress with a pair of nice shorts and some blouses would have given me nice outfits that were more versatile.

I brought 10 pairs of socks for my two-week trip since I'd had trouble drying my socks in just one night on previous trips, leaving me wishing I had packed more. But since I booked two nights in most of the cities I visited in Europe, I found I had plenty of time to dry my socks. I probably could have done with six pairs to leave more room in my bag for small souvenirs.

Apart from having less stuff to keep track of and less weight on my back, the best part of packing so lightly was saving room for trinkets to remind me of my trip. In Vienna and Zurich, I bought tiny framed paintings of landscapes to display on my desk at home. In Venice, I purchased three 3D puzzles, which came in small, flat packs, to put together and display once I got home. I also picked up a few other flat items I like to collect that slid easily into my backpack, like bookmarks and a thin, paperback photo book.

With so many reminders of my European adventure scattered around my apartment in NYC, I think having fewer belongings during my journey was worth gaining extra space to bring a piece of each place home with me. And next time, I'll pack even lighter.