Your backpacks and their content may become one of the biggest issue you’ll have to face when opting for minimalist travelling. After 6 months of experience on the matter, here are our first-hand impressions.
First off, we browsed the blogosphere high and low before deciding anything. The useful, happy, but nonetheless messy advices gave us a decent glimpse of what to expect and what to pick.
It is very important to figure out what you really want - and need, sometimes to very different things. We had a somewhat negative experience with a seller specialized in old fashioned camping, not really eager to answer the expectations of two young globetrotters.
We already had spotted Carohardi’s video , mainly due to the lightweight bag she uses...
...and then came across the surprising article of Thibaut ,compulsive serial "tripper".
Not only Carohardi’s video strengthened our resolution for minimalistic and refined bag contents, but it open new possibilities for backpacks. Exit the traditional hiker bag, indeed, she travels carrying 6 kg in a supple canvas 19L bag.
Thibaut also came to realize that bags are rarely used to their full potential, and rightly so, since most of the carrying is done by vehicles, or left behind at your place of stay.
Knowing all that, we went for the middle ground: an average capacity for our own backpacks and a third, foldable backpack for the stuff we leave in our room
Ortovox free rider 24L - 126€
What we went for before seeing it:
• Less than 25L capacity to avoid overburden
• Neutral color to avoid glowing in the dark...or you know, just avoid unwanted attention
• Go comfort rather than "curb weight". Often a back will be super-light at the expense of comfort, due to missing stuffing
• Loads of pockets to allow for easy access to staple commodities (battery chargers, headlamp, pisse-debout, toilet paper)
What we fell in love with after seeing it:
• Reliable and sturdy: made for winter sports, it comes with an integrated back protector (that you can thankfully remove).
• "Secret"/Hidden pockets
• Outside buckles (to tie drying clothes, or shoes when you go barefoot)
• Overall design.
We nearly missed that opportunity because the sellswoman insisted on pointing us towards trekking equipment. This young lady certainly showed some interesting bags, but most of them were either flashy enough to blind us at noon, or had a capacity over 30L, in case Delphine would want to hop in for a nap. Even when paying for it, we had doubts, being reminded -A LOT- it was a snowboarding bag. Well! It so happens that despite weighing 1700g when empty, Delphine loves it.
Lowepro Photopro 30L - 218€
Must have:
• A 30L capacity
• A very well protected compartment for tablets and overall electronic equipment
• Easy access to photography gear
• Neutral color
• Light, has to be !
Why I chose it:
• Multiple varied straps and good protection for the camera
• Integrated protective slipcover
• Headphones or battery chargers cable entry (allowing for computer charging without getting the device out)
I didn’t like:
• Design (Empty, it was really ugly)
Again, the sellswoman didn’t guide us towards this purchase despite us mentioning photography hardware so many times.
Queshua Arpenaz Ultralight - 16L - 4€
Must have:
• Adaptable capacity, to be able to carry Delphine’s computer
• Foldable and light
• An easy access small pocket
• Looked sturdy enough
The no-brainer:
• Cost us 5€ at the time
We bought this one in a cheap outdoor supermarket, at the same time we bought the headlamp (USB charged) and a slipcover.
We didn’t try the real capacity before buying the backpacks. We had a computer to see if it fits in our 2 backpacks just in case.
Once at home, we filled the bags with just the important stuff we really needed, and (thank god) left a nice towering pile of them behind (more photography hardware, battery, a few cables, care products, sleeping bag)
- Ortovox free rider 24
Sturdiness of the bag. Zippers are worn out from constant use during the first few months (the time needed to find the right balance between the 2 bags).
It looks like it’s a bit looser. Might be it’s capacity has reached 25 or 26L! We could certainly measure it by filling it with water and calculate its weight/volume ratio and...wait, it’s not even waterproof...Talking of waterproof, that’s the slipcover we talked about earlier Universal fit, waterproof (4€), we bought it separately, for the few times it rains.
- Lowepro Photopro 30
Very sturdy and lasting, easy packing. Excellent computer protection with the aluminium plating, very light.
Only minus: the adjustable chest fastener happens to sit on an inflexible rail on the shoulder strap. Sometimes the fastener derails and you constantly (at least one time a week) have to look out for that.
This image again to understand well (Left photograph)
- Queshua Arpenaz Ultralight
The internal lining started to lose shreds of it’s plastic fabric. Tiny (about 1mm) holes have appeared at the bottom, but didn’t grow any wider. The print is fading too, but "Who care!" according to Delphine, "it’s not even pink!" .
As stated previously, our bags usually remain at our place of stay we often get to use the Queshua.
When we need to leave, we pack up. We rehearsed it so many times, it’s now a fun mere 15 minutes. The very lightweight of our gear means we can easily wander around for 20 minutes to 1h long when we have to walk. We also do not scare drivers when hitch-hiking. At least the bags aren’t the reason then!
Important plane tips:
1.Low cost flights hold luggage have additional costs. One more reason to travel light.
2. The weight limit in the cabin, per person, is 7 kg.
3. True, Nirvan’s bag exceeds this limit by a large margin, but keep in mind photography gear and computer aren’t allowed in the hold, so they just don’t count.
4 All liquids’ packing must be hermetic and can’t exceed 100 ml. Nail cutters are ok, tent sticks too, but obviously you can forget about knives and scissors.
We won’t even start pretending we are good trekkers and we’ll happily admit we had to suffer a bit to say the least, before figuring out the proper way to pack and carry our bags. Also, keeping our walks short sure helps (1 to 3 hours).
The tent, hanging below the bag -strapped of course- was producing a pendulum movement, hypnotizing Delphine into a sleep coma, and incidentally making me tired pretty quickly. I since moved it inside the bag, on top of the photography compartment, making it easier for me to hike and along with curing Delphine of her sudden narcolepsy.
Carrying the bag high, with a tight strap at the navel, as well as settling the bag on the arch of you back, giving you a straight posture, gives some relief to your poor hard working shoulders. Win/win.
Of course, this is only relevant for us and mostly depends of your back health.
After witnessing Nepalese and African way of carrying heavy loads with their forehead, I may strap another comfortable strap to the base of the bag (embase est un terme assez technique et risque de perdre un peu les gens), and give us another fulcrum. It might be enough to double our stamina under harsh conditions!
We ended up being limited by the points of sale limited supplies, despite visiting many specialized shop between Chambéry and Lyon, so I would advise to really plan ahead.
Maybe Delphine would have liked an Osprey or Tom Bihn ( with pink lining obviously) for the practical side. To be fair though, picking a bag online is risky. The short delay before our departure didn’t give us much choice, and in the end, we are adaptable enough to settle for any kind of bag.
Next up, a fight to the death between our two tablet laptops !
Wacom cintiq companion
Microsoft surface 2
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