Choosing the right backpack

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Most of my opinions on travel have been formed on relatively short term jaunts - a couple weeks here, a month there, or a weekend away. So while I advocate a packing light mantra as a means to free yourself from the confines of heavy bulky gear I have no experience scaling this philosophy to trips lasting a year (I'm not sure I would want to constantly travel for a year but it sounds nice). Geoff in his travel weblog Itinerant Londoner has a detailed guide to choosing the right backpack within the context of a year long trip. His final decision rests with either a Lowe Alpine Travel Trekker ND60 or a Osprey Porter 65 which at 60-65 litres are far larger than the Tom Bihn pack I use. Though large for my tastes they are still far smaller than the packs I used to see backpackers in Thailand carry - backpackers too tired and encumbered from their huge packs to actually enjoy the environment they travelled to.

Travelling solo for a year means there will be very few constants in my life. The most important of which will be my backpack. Choose the right one and it will make my journey easier…choose the wrong one and I’ll be cursing it for being like a ball and chain that I can’t escape from.

I thought finding my perfect travelling companion would be easy, I figured it was largely a matter of deciding what size I wanted and then just choosing one. How wrong I was. What I thought would be a quick decision has taken ages…so I thought I’d share what I’ve learnt along the way, just in case you’re thinking of doing something similar.

He mentions the Osprey Porter 65 and the Lowe Alpine Travel Trekker ND60. Out of the two I would pick the Osprey Porter but the Porter 46 and not the 65.
Continue at the Itinerant Londoner