Let’s start with what to carry all of your belongings in on your travel adventure. Do you go with a suitcase or a backpack? You have to decide what is best for you, your age, and your health. Carrying a backpack versus a suitcase does require more energy and puts more pressure on your shoulders, hips, joints, and knees. You will be carrying your luggage on planes, trains, and buses as well as up and down stairs and along streets. Your luggage will need to be made of durable material and can handle the weather and abuse you are going to give it.
When I travel, what do I carry? I have a Kelty Flyway backpack – it is 43 Liters in capacity, it is ~20″ high (fits in overhead), and it has a waterproof cover that when cinched closed doubles as strap protection in the event I need to check it.
Backpack or a Suitcase – I chose Backpack
- Weight – suitcases with wheels typically weigh a couple pounds more than a backpack because of the extra hardware required for the wheels and telescoping handles. I would prefer to allocate that weight to something I need/own especially if there is a carry-on weight limit.
- Mobility – I have no issues walking along a cobble stone street or traversing over a narrow bridge in Venice.
- Size – It fits easily in most airplane overhead compartments.
- Full Flights – The first thing the airline does is find the carry-on luggage that is a suitcase and have passengers start checking them at the gate to make room on the plane. With my backpack, I have never been asked to check my bag; they just let me through and onto the plane.
At some point I will no longer be able to travel with my backpack – age, injury, whatever. When that happens, I will be looking for a 20″ suitcase that is as light as possible, 360o wheels, and durable material. The suitcase that meets these criteria at the best price, is the one I will travel with.
How I chose my backpack
- Kelty has been around for many years and receives positive feedback around quality and customer service. Kelty backpacks are also reasonably priced..
- Note: I have noticed that the Flyway is not longer available. When I get to the point I have to replace it, I will head to REI and find a similar backpack.
- Internal Frame – distributes the load which makes it easier to carry my belongings. An internal is smaller and less cumbersome than an external frame.
- Padded hip belt – weight is carried on my hips and not on my shoulders.
- Padded Straps – helps with any weight being carried on the shoulders.
- Laptop Storage – there is a slot near the back-plate to give the laptop some extra protection
- A couple of things that are unique to my Kelty backpack:
- It has a separate pocket on the bottom that can be used to store shoes (or laundry)
- The main zipper is a “U” shaped zipper, and opens the backpack about 2/3rds of the way (not top loaded). This wide opening gives me easy to access what is in the main compartment. I have noticed more and more backpack brands are going in this direction, some open all the way similar to a suitcase!
- Side pockets
- There is a mesh pockets on either side for water bottles, a tri-pod, or an umbrella.
- There is also a large, zippered pockets on either side for my Travel Rest, glasses case, or munchies to grab while traveling. They are designed to make it easy to find, access, and go.
- Top Pocket – perfect size for liquids. I can easily pull them out for security screening and can quickly put back after I am through security.
- Rain protection – a rain-cover is tucked away in a dedicated pocket. It has 2 uses – to protect my belongings from the rain as well as cover the backpack for extra protection if I need to check it.
- One Negative – the zippers do not lock. When I am traveling via train or bus, I want to secure and lock my backpack so someone cannot run on, grab, and jump off before I can stop them. To compensate for this I added wire cables to 4 of the zipper pulls that are long enough such that I can lock all 4 zippers together. It is not full-proof but my intent is to slow a thief down or persuade them choose an easier target.
What else I travel with
In addition to my backpack, I also carry a purse designed for travel. Yours could be a laptop bag, a small camera bag, or purse.
Here is the entire set of luggage Mike and I took for a 5 week trip through Europe (I have since upgraded my purse to the Travelon Anti-Theft Classic Mini-Shoulder Bag purse). We even packed semi-formal outfits for when we went to a musical in England or for formal night on our cruise.
I added these wire cables to the zipper pulls on my backpack. This allows me to lock and secure all of the zippers together while I am traveling.
This is the Travelon Purse I use. They are nice looking, have some great safety features, and it comes in many colors.
I want to point out I purposely picked my backpack and purse to be black. I chose those colors for a couple of reasons.
- Black is “slimming” so my backpack and purse look smaller than they are. If my backpack looks smaller, then it must weigh less!
- I do not want to stand out. If I have a bright red backpack or purse it screams “Look at me!”. My goal is to blend in and be less of a target for thieves, beggars, security, airlines, etc.
Regardless of whether you end up with a suitcase or a backpack, you will want something lightweight and versatile that meets your travel needs. And if flying is part of your trip, remember to consider size restrictions for airlines so you don’t end up checking your luggage.