Posted on June 12, 2015
Choosing the right luggage is essential for a smooth trip. My upcoming trip to Costa Rica will involve twelve hours in airports and on planes, another four hours on a bus to my final destination, and about 3km of walking. To transport my things, I decided to use one large (47L) backpack, and a smaller (16L) daypack. The large backpack will hold my clothes, extra shoes, and toiletries. The small daypack will contain all the essentials: passport, phone, camera, medication, and anything else that needs to stay with me at all times. This is just in case I’m forced to check the larger bag–it usually fits in the overhead bin with no trouble, but given the limited bin space, I always make sure to keep my most important items in a smaller bag that will go under the seat in front of me.
There are two important reasons for making a backpack my main piece of luggage. First, walking with a rolling suitcase for any distance is a pain. You struggle with stairs, curbs, and any obstacles on the sidewalk. You constantly have to be worried that the bag will catch on something. My particular destination was a consideration here; even if I didn’t have a 3km walk as part of my trip, I wouldn’t want to be dragging a rolling bag down dirt roads in rural Costa Rica.
The second reason for taking a backpack is safety. If you’ve ever rolled a piece of luggage down a sidewalk, you know that the noise it makes is incredibly loud. Obviously any kind of luggage is going to mark you as a tourist, but you are much more agile with a backpack, and you won’t draw attention to yourself because of noise. This is especially important if you are going to be arriving somewhere late at night, or to a destination where there won’t be many people around, because the loud noise of your bag might prevent you from hearing a threat.
If you do decide to travel with a backpack, there are many sizes and styles to choose from. Try on a few before you purchase one, and think about the ease of packing and accessing your items based on the construction of the bag. You might also want to work with a sales associate who can help you adjust the bag for your body, since most large backpacks have many different ways of adjusting the various straps and supports.
Kelly Wanders 