Are you thinking about a big trip overseas? Planning on backpacking the world? But if you find yourself stuck at home, mulling over the contents of your backpack, here's some handy advice for any prospective traveller. If in doubt, don't bring it along. If it's likely to annoy you or others, don't bring it along. Remember that rule about setting aside everything you want to take and then halving it? Well apply that, ruthlessly. This even applies to nifty little technologies that you can't live without at home. Maybe, just maybe, you should appreciate your trek through the Swiss Alps, Ladakh Range or Inca Trail without the MP3-player and headphones, but let's just have a look at some other backpacking baddies.

Everyday life's little essential, the mobile phone is a bit of a love/hate relationship provider for any traveller. Sure, bringing one along doesn't contribute to any future chiropractic bills (unlike the litres of beer smuggled out of the Czech Republic), but you don't want to spend the whole trip on your mobile phone UK texting your mates that you wished they were there. Of course, there's the obligatory SMS to your mum every so often, checking in and reporting your Caucasus Mountain location whenever you get reception, but that should be about the limit with mobile phones overseas. Save your great deals on mobile phones for home, when you can actually meet with your mates and tell them about your adve nture face-to-face, but otherwise, switch off your mobile phones UK and leave them in your bag.

A clear-cut hassle when backpacking is bringing along a laptop. If you're living somewhere long-term, then a computer is great. They're great in a protracted Siberian winter for watching pirate DVDs, super if you're earning a living as a writer, or a necessary evil if you are a student researching in a foreign country. Otherwise, leave them at home. It's not worth the hassle of transporting, protecting or the fret of the data you'll lose if it gets nicked.

A nifty little digital camera with a colossal memory is, on the other hand, an absolute essential. Admittedly, snapping away photos all the time can be obnoxious and obtrusive - but face it, being a tourist is what you are there for!

To recap - computers never, MP3s at train stations, mobile phones for Chechen war zones and cameras frequently. Stay tuned for my next travel tips about washing socks in basins...