A guide to choosing a backpack
Choosing the right backpack is really important, it needs to be comfortable and the right fit for you. You’ll be carrying it around a lot on your trip and don’t want to it to become a burden on your travels!
When choosing a backpack you need to make sure it has straps around your waist as that’s where you want to carry the weight, not on your shoulders! We also find bags with padding in the back helps, there’s nothing worse than feeling your toothbrush digging into your back!
We would recommend trying them on in the shop to get a visual look and fit but found we got a better deal buying them online.
Choosing the right size
For a six month trip we’d recommend a 50 to 60L with a 15 to 20L day pack, that’s always been the perfect size for us and we carry around 10KG each.
If you’re going on a shorter trip or you’re a light packer you could get away with taking a 40L and then you save on paying for luggage on flights too as it will fit as carry on.
In our opinion anything over 70L is just too big and you find you carry more than you need quickly regretting the decision.
Top loader or suitcase style?
For us it has to be suitcase style, this means the backpack opens up like a suitcase and it’s easy to take things in and out when you need, it definitely makes it easier packing on your trip.
Top loaders would become annoying, especially when you know that top you want to wear is at the bottom of your bag.
Backpacks we’d recommend
On our first trip we really wanted ospreys but they were too expensive for us, so after a lot of research we found the mountain warehouse traveller. They were great quality bags and at a good price too. We used them for two years on our travels and they are still in good condition!
Name: Mountain Warehouse Traveller
Capacity: 60L with 20L day pack
Weights – 60L:1.85kg / 20L:0.58kg
We then bought Ospreys, we can see why they are highly recommended and they have a lifetime warranty on them! We’d recommend the fairview for women and the far point for men, they come in many sizes we have the 70L one!
Name: Osprey Farpoint 70 (Mens)
Capacity: 55l main bag and 15l day pack
Weights: 1.78kg
Name: Osprey Fairview 70 (Womens)
Capacity: 55l main bag and 15l day pack
Weights: 1.8kg
Best recommended backpack for hiking
Name: Osprey Atmos (Mens)
Capacity: 50l
Weights: 1.81kg
Name: Osprey Aura (Womens)
Capacity: 50l
Weight: 1.89kg
Recommend backpack for carry on
Name: Nomatic
Capacity: 40l
Weight: 1.81kg
Struggling with what to pack? check out our ultimate packing list!
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