Our good friends Sharen and Keith recently did a 6 months trip around the world with only carry-on, and it worked well for them, so during our initial talks about luggage, we could see it might work for us as well. It was certainly a tempting thought not to have to wait for luggage or lose luggage at airports. On the other hand, Andy always seems to bring at least half his closet, and it would NOT fit into a carry-on! Andy note: I am not keen on washing underwear in a sink!!
Hiking Poles
One of our passions is hiking, and the legs are not what they used to be, so we both need to use hiking poles - especially on long downhill trails. We knew for sure we would be doing a three day hike in the Swiss alps, a five day hike in the Himalayas, and day hikes in Italy and Vietnam. We also new we would not be allowed to bring our poles in the carry-on luggage, as they would be perceived as potential weapons. So, the questions was weather we should bring our poles and check in luggage or buy some poles along the way and just bring carry-on? We were leaning towards bringing our own poles, so we would have the freedom to go hiking when we feel like it or the opportunity arises.
Type of Luggage
What type of luggage should we travel with: suitcase? backpack? sports bag? luggage with or without wheels? We would be doing more overland travel by public transportation than flying, some periods we would be moving around a lot and thus live out of the luggage, and we would need a smaller backpack for day trips. We looked at luggage online, read travel blogs, and visited stores selling luggage and outdoor gear.
So, we finally decided to go with a 55 L check-in backpack with
- Zip-away straps, so they don't get ruined by conveyor belts
- Space for hiking poles in the compartment for the straps
- A smaller day pack which zips on to the big backpack
- A sports bag shoulder strap for staying at 'non-backpacker hotels'
- A separate compartment for wet stuff or shoes
- A full zip a la sports bag, so we don't need to take everything out to find something (a lot of backpacks have top openings)
- Space for (some of) Andy's clothes and shoes
Now we 'just' need to figure out how much and what to bring!
Everyone has baggage! The key is to find somebody to help you unpack!
- Anonymous
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