Help Me Choose a Backpack for Long Term Travel!

Help Me Choose a Backpack for Long Term Travel!

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My birthday is coming up and I’m going to ask my parents to get me a travel backpack for my ’round the world trip! I know right now they are like totes against me traveling after college but I hope they come around and buy me one!

Now I just need to decide which one to get! There are so. many. options. All I know is that it needs to be big and it needs to be cute. LOL

Zach says I don’t need to pack a lot of stuff for our RTW and that I just need a small backpack. But I don’t know how I could travel without everything I own: we’re going for a whole year! I need something BIG!

I want to get a backpack because backpackers wear backpacks. LOL BUT! I’ve also been considering rolling luggage because I think with a suitcase I could go BIGGER and not hurt my shoulders.

What do you think? Will you help me choose a backpack for long term travel?

I’ve been researching options online and have come up with a few contenders:

 


Osprey Aura 65 Backpack

This backpack comes highly recommended. It even comes in purple so I know I’ll look cute wearing it. It features an “adjustable harness, AirSpeed suspension, Fit-On-The-Fly hipbelt, and hydration sleeve” — whatever THAT means. The large one has 68-liter capacity and only weighs three-pounds and ten-ounces. I don’t really know what “liters” mean in measuring a backpack (only in BEER LOL) but it looks so small online. I may need something bigger?

 

Gregory Deva 85 Backpacking Pack
This backpack only comes in LAME colors: pukey green and bland blue. BUT it is one of the BIGGEST options I could find. It does weigh 6 pounds, 6 ounces, which may be a little heavy, but it has a 90 liter capacity and I’ll need all the space I can fit on my back! (Plus Zach travels so light, he can help me carry it!) All the website says for features is that the top pocket converts to a fanny pack but O-M-G Super GROSS! I’m not wearing a fanny pack ever!

 

Eagle Creek Rincon Vita 75L (W), Night Sky Stratus
This one falls in between the Deva and Aura: it holds 78liters in total and weighs 5 pounds, 6 ounces. It only comes in black but that’s OK, I’d consider it my little black dress of the backpacker world. The BEST thing about this backpack is that it has a detachable day pack. I’ll still totes need a separate day pack for everything outside of my clothes and shoes, but it will be nice to have the option! Plus is gives tons more space. The main bag is only 55liters and the attachable pack gives a whole 20 liters more!

 

Deuter Quantum 70+10 (Artic/Black)
The Quantum backpack comes in “arctic blue” which looks a little nicer than the blasé blue the Deva comes in. This one also has a detachable backpack, which I think is a nice feature (and way better than a fanny pack LOL!). It also has an integrated, detachable rain cover that converts it to a duffel bag: which will make it easier for Zach to help carry it. The great thing about this backpack is that it is SLIM: so even though it is big (70 liters plus 10 extra in the zip-off day pack) it would look too bulky.

 

Osprey Shuttle 32-Inch/110 L Wheeled Luggage
Instead of a backpack, I might decide to get a rolling suitcase for my ’round the world trip. If I don’t have to wear it on my back, I can go BIGGER! This Osprey one is kind of fug (but I can always decorate it with patches from everywhere I go!) but it holds a whole 110 liters! That is so much bigger than any backpack I could find. So I could roll this and wear a nice-size day pack and not worry about my shoulders falling off! (Sore shoulders would be a great excuse to go for one of those nice $5 Thai massages Zach told me about, but for $5 I wouldn’t need the excuse!)

 

 

Help me choose a backpack for my ’round the world trip! Which backpack should I get? Or should I go for a rolling suitcase? What backpack do you use for long-term travel? Do you have any other suggestions?

 

 

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Help Me Choose a Backpack for Long Term Travel!

 


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4 responses to “Help Me Choose a Backpack for Long Term Travel!”

  1. OMG NONE OF THESE!!! Seriously all these backpacks are HUGE. Trust me when I tell you that you are going to hate yourself every second of every minute you put that backpack on and even MORE SO when it is huge and weighs a ton. I travel with a 40L + 10L backpack and even then I hate myself. I know no two backpackers are alike, but seriously take my advice and rethink the size of the bag you will use. Remember this is what you will be carrying on you when you arrive in a city and are lost trying to find your hostel. Sometimes walking around for an hour or two looking for it or just trying to find a place to sleep. The biggest I’d recommend is 50L or maybe a 50L that has a + 10L stretch. I don’t know those are just my thoughts. Go through peoples packing list and see what it is you will need or not need and see if you can travel with a smaller backpack. If I must choose one though I’d pick the 65L because it’s the smallest one.

    • Thank you for your comments! Maybe I will look some more and I will have to try them on somewhere and I will see. There’s just so much I need to bring I need a pack big enough. We’ll be traveling for a whole year!

  2. Hi Amy,

    To make your trip easier, go with something carry-on-sized so you have less to carry and to worry about. You’ll remember your trip for what you did, not what you wore.

    Obviously, I’m biased 😉

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