BootsnAll Travel Community

Hey all,
My first post which is always rather exciting, or not. Anyway a couple of quick questions for all you lovely people.

Is it unrealistic to do a RTW trip for 2 years taking only carryon?
Been looking at the Tom Bihn Aeronaut and the MEI Voyageur (both about 40L) and as much as I like the idea of the small pack, I get the feeling that as I'll be in some places for a fair amount of time it could be a tad unrealistic. I like the mobility idea but want to be able to drop everything and bugger off to the fjords in Norway (just an example) without too much hassle. Don't know if taking only carryon will be flexible enough. Plus I like the idea of taking a WM Summerlite sleeping bag which I doubt I could do. Any opinions would be greatly appreciated.

Cheers,
Leo

I think you can definitely do it

but you will have to make sacrifices like not bringing the sleeping bag. So I guess it depends on what you want more, the stuff that you would like to bring or the freedom of not having it. You could always get yourself some of the comforts when you find yourself in one place for a fairly long time, but you might have to leave those things behind when you pick up and go.

I'm in a similar situation. I'm kinda paranoid about my pack being separated from me, so I really don't want to check-in anything when I fly.

I'm still paring down my gear and so I don't know how much space I'll need, but looking at packs is proving a little frustrating.

The MEI Voyageur seems good, but they currently have a 2 month waiting list, and people have had customer support issues. It seems like its a one man operation. Otherwise its the leading candidate for me at the moment- mainly because it looks like it has a good suspension system.

The Aeronaut is ruled out, unless I go super light. The reason being that it doesn't have a belt strap. Plus for a bag that size to not have any padding or frame seems problematic.

If I were in your situation I'd strap the sleeping bag to the bottom of the bag and carry it externally. (And treat it as your second carryon if you need to fly.)

The next candidate I was considering is the Osprey Porter 46, which most everyone seems to love. I saw some larger Porters today at REI and they seemed nice, but it seems nobody sells the porter 46 anymore (at least REI doesn't so I can't try it on.)

Otherwise finding a bag in that size range seems a bit difficult. I'm going to have to get my gear together and see if I can go smaller, in which case an Aeronaut or other bag like that would be possible.

Maybe I'm missing something but it seems that lines are discontinued often enough that by the time a bag has developed a good reputation its hard to get. (Like the MEI and Porter 46)

I haven't seen the Voyageur, but I've seen (and measured) the Porter 46, and it's definitely not carry-on size. It's significantly taller than the 22" claimed, and is pretty large when it is filled. Even 22" is often too large to carry-on on smaller planes and in Europe when they're feeling strict. I've been forced to check a pack that is smaller than the Porter 46.

I think it's a great pack and will hold a lot of gear, but I wouldn't use it if you *really* don't want to be parted from your gear.

- Mike

Mike-
Thank you very much for letting me know that! I've been going based on the sizes given in the specs on websites. (Osprey has so little that I may have simply missed the ones on the Porter.)

My basic assumption is that I need a good suspension because previous travels tell me that you carry your bag more than you might want. Additionally, I'm going to be carrying a fair bit of weight. So, maybe a small mountaineering pack is what I really need. I'm not actually doing an RTW trip, I'm going nomadic full time, hopefully for several years.

I think I should work up what the weight looks like...ok, looks like this:

Laptop & Camera: 9.35 lbs
Clothes - 5 lbs
Toiletries 2 lbs
Fleece & Lightweight Jacket - 3 lbs
Misc 3 pounds
------------------------
TOTAL: 22.35

The electronics value is from weighing everything. Everything else is estimates, so I don't know if 5lbs is way over for clothes or if 2lbs is way low for toiletries.

Before anyone tells me to lose the laptop, this is how I'm funding my trip. I have about a pound I might be able to drop from this.

The bags I'm considering are:
PacSafe MeshSafe B200 -- 25L / 1526 cu in - 2lbs 14oz - $120
http://www.pacsafe.com/www/index.php?_room=3&_action=de...atures=specification

Spire Meta -- 2800 cu in -- 5lbs -- $150 -- 22x14x9
http://www.spireusa.com/products/ME6.htm

REI Vagabond - 2650ci, 3lb 6oz - $99
http://www.rei.com/product/754680

Osprey Stratos 40 - 2lbs 14oz, 2500ci $149
http://www.ospreypacks.com/detail.php?productID=100&col...4&tab=specifications

Eagle Creek Boundry - 1lb 3oz - 12 x 18 x 9, 1985 cu in / 32L - $85
http://www.eaglecreek.com/bags_luggage/backpacks/Boundary-60147/

Supper Padre -carryon 2.6lb, 2800cu - $150
http://www.toughtraveler.com/padre.asp

I wish other companies would think about security. For instance, its silly to have external pockets that only open to the back where someone behind you can easily unzip them. Make at least one open above the harness in the front would seem obvious (and eagle creek is doing this now).

I have a previous generation of the Spire case and its held up really well, so while this one is a bit heavy its on the list just for that.

At the moment, the Eagle Creek Boundry is the winner- I'm not price sensitive but if I learn a lot on the road, it will be easier for me to throw away a $85 pack for something bigger or smaller. I like its light weight, it looks like it has enough space (though scale is damn hard to tell with the pics on these websites), and it has a real harness.

I just bought a Porter 46 at REI several weeks ago, so I had no problem getting one (they even had them in the store, but I live in Seattle). It worked fine for me as a carry on (I didn't try to put it under the seat), but who knows anymore what will be allowed on planes. Anyone who has flown even once realizes that a lot of bags brought on the plane don't fit within the guidelines. Maybe that will change.

I love my Patagonia MLC.
It's got plenty of room, is well thought out, and has never drawn any scrutiny at airport check in.

I am on my second. My first wore out and Patagonia replaced it, with the lastest generation, at absolutely no charge.

I'm not sure if Patagonia is available in Oz .....

So, if you're going on a long-lasting RTW trip, you should not have to worry about lost luggage. Just make sure you're always on a direct flight from wherever you are to wherever you want to go, and the luggage will follow you. Losses pretty much always happen when a flight connection goes bad on you.

That said, you can of course manage with just carry-on. Make sure some of that carry-on is enough cash or a credit card that lets you buy or rent what you need when you need it.

Happy trails,

Bjørn
http://bjornfree.com/

If you look on youtube, there are a few vids on packing for long trips with just a carry on.

just to chime in, I took an MEI voyageur on a 5 month trip around south america. had a tiny daypack that I split off for the plane because of weight, but noone questioned anything, and I had a sleeping bag, laptop, camera, etc... For a later part of the trip, I was carrying all that in addition to a 500 page A4 book as well.. so you can fit a bit.

With that said, while size was no issue, it was pretty heavy... and in the future I'm going smaller and lighter (thinking under 30L) - no more laptop, no more camera, etc...

Ok, we took a trip to REI last night and tried on some bags.

The fundamental problem we're seeing is that the packs that have good suspension (eg: are designed to have weight held by the belt) also tend to be top loaders and not have laptop compartments. While the ones with decent laptop compartments rarely have a belt at all and put all the weight on the shoulders.

We can just put a small laptop case in a hiking pack, but the hiking packs also tend to be really curvy, while laptops are not.

The criteria have been reduced to:
--- Smallish (30-40L) enough to carry on or carry on ones lap on a bus
--- Good suspension such that weight is held by the belt, also air-cooled back would be nice
--- Panel Loading (my partner can't stand top loading)
--- Some way to handle a laptop in it.

The kelty redwing is looking decent, not a fan of all the extra pockets but figure we can put cheapo, who-cares-if-they-are-stolen things in them. Lacks back ventilation, even in the store my back was sweating.

The North Face Surge epitomizes the kind of bookbag that looked great online but sucked when we tried it out. No real belt, and its just not right. This pushed us into the "one big compartment, panel loading" direction.

We looked at an Osprey wheeled version of the porter in 40L and it looked perfect- except that it was wheeled. If we can find something like that and it feels good on our backs we'll probably buy it. (Thinking the Porter 46 is exactly that pack but concerned about size, and there weren't any to try on at the REI we were at....)

Looked at the REI vagabond which I was pretty hopeful about but the pack itself ended up not mattering because the shoulder padding was so hard it was worse than a cheapo jansport.

Tried on various Osprey hiking packs, most of which were toploading and thus got ruled out (but which fit well.)

So the current list of packs to try next are:
Osprey Porter 46
Kelty Redwing 3100 (see if we still like it)
Osprey Atmos 35 & Kestrel 32 (panel loaders)
Tom Bihn Brain Cell (to go in one of the above) and will look at their brain bag.

----

I'm making this posting because I hope that it will inspire someone to say "the pack you really are looking for is X" and it will be something I didnt' see or hadn't considered. There are so many packs out there and so many manufacturers put only one picture up that its damn hard to shop... and even going to the store doesn't present you with an adequate selection. (If we'd been forced to buy last night it would have been the Redwing. That might be the perfect pack for us, but I would have rathered a dozen viable candidates to choose from than just one.)

The laptop is non-negotiable, its necessary to earn the money that is funding he trip. As is a good belt- I don't want to be miserable walking around with a pack hanging from my shoulders. Something small, that looks crappy, or cheap, is fine- want to look as poor as possible, and be able to carry all the time and not have to check bags.

Unfortunately at the store we were at, the small packs were bookbags and the hiking packs tended to be larger, so didn't have many hiking packs in the 30L range to look at.

Well the Ospry Porter 46 is a really nice pack, it's just pretty big. It's not HUGE, so you can probably carry it on most places, but if there's any doubt on a bus or plane, they'll make you check it. The main thing for me was the height; the two wings pushed it over the stated 22 inches in height.

The REI Lookout pack is pretty decent. I use an older version which is pretty different, but similar in spirit. It's sold as an extremely large hiking daypack. It fits your size criteria (barely), has a reasonable suspension, and is panel loading. If you have your laptop in a sleeve, you can put it in the platypus pouch in back. It makes my back pretty hot, but the packs with air-cooling all seem to sacrifice too much space.

I'm sure there are other nice packs out there, but the Lookout is the only one I have experience with.

- Mike

quote:

Lookout

I'm a little concerned about the size of the Porter 46, probably its still on the list because we actually haven't seen one yet. The 40L roller pack they had was very nice, though the rollers mean we won't buy it. Wish they made a 35-40L version of the porter.

Thanks for the suggestion of the Lookout. I think we saw one but ignored it because of the padding like on the vagabond. HDPE is a robust substance but it doesn't have a lot of give, and it seems like it would be painful to wear. We'll try on Lookouts next time we're at REI, though and see how they feel. Otherwise, looks like a good candidate. Thanks!

Liza-

Next time you're in REI, look at the CamelBak Alpine Explorer Hydration pack. It is 33 liters. It has a pocket on the back that holds the water bag, but you could use that for other things. I don't know if your laptop would fit, but it is a little different from the other packs.

LizaW
I have both the REI Lookout (older version) and the Kelty Redwing. The Lookout needs to be laid flat to open the main compartment. It is actually an inverted panel opening. I like the Redwing for travel as the panel opening is easier to access. The Redwing in the smaller size 2500ci would seem the be closest to what you are looking for. There is space for either H2O bladder or laptop, small enough for carryon and very durable.

The camelback alpine explorer looks like a great candidate- the externally accessible hydration pouch is much like the laptop compartments we liked on the bookbags, and looks to be roomy enough to work great. Definitely will try that on when we're next at REI.

I saw the camelbacks when we were at REI the other day but I stupidly assumed the hydration pouch was built into the bag, rather than in a pocket... and an externally accessible one to boot!

Good to know about the lookout, I tend to access my pack from the top most of the time, as I often don't want to lay it out (and get the suspension dirty). With the redwings one fits me better the other fits my partner better, and we'll be trying them on again. The placement of the hydration pocket in the Redwing isn't ideal, as to pull the laptop straight up and out would run into the top of the pack (since the panel is towards the back), this is good for keeping rain out of the main compartment, but makes accessing the laptop difficult. I'm picturing going to cafes and wanting to pull the laptop out and having to deal withe the other stuff in the bag (assuming its full) getting in the way... but the Redwings are still on the short list.

The current version of the Lookout is pretty much the same layout as the Redwing -- top-loading, hydration slot in back, etc.

The previous version of the Lookout (The hiking daypack you have to lay flat to open) has magically transformed into the REI Vagabond (a travel pack). Along the way it got taller and had some other features change.

- Mike

The old REI Lookout pack, medium size only, is available at REI Outlet for $45.

http://www.rei.com/outlet/product/768911

Not about backpacks, but carryons... On my recent trip (returned yesterday) they really limited the weight of carryons. The limit in one direction was 8k, and on the return, 6kg. So though I packed lightly (was about 9kg or so), I still had to check.

One way you can sometimes get around that restriction is to wear a jacket, and put small, heavy stuff in the pockets. I've done that with 3-4 pounds before, which was enough to fit under 6kg.