Why A Backpack And Not My Louis V Suitcase?

(This post was inspired by an argument with a friend who is going abroad for several months and wanted to take a suitcase. We had a pretty vehement argument, which for her sake I hope I won.)

          Look, what you carry your stuff in while you're on the road is largely personal preference. There is some logic to it though, however. Personally, I prefer a large internal frame backpack for several reasons:

    - It fits a ton of stuff
    - its convenient to move if you end up having to walk a ways
    - it can be loaded up to do a trek of hike if you need to
    -it comes with a rain cover
    -it blends in to the travel culture.

        The first time I went abroad, a bright green dufflebag was the luggage of choice for me. It did everything luggage was supposed to do. It got my clothes from point A to point B, all in one parcel. It worked because I was doing a fairly limited trip, and staying with friends, but I wanted to get something more convenient.

            For my next international trip, I went with a large internal frame pack I found on Amazon for under $100. These things can get really expensive really quick, but investing in a good pack can land you with a solid piece of equipment for a decade or so. Some of the really popular, high quality brands you might see out on the trail are: Karrimor (UK), NorthFace (US), Quechua (French Canadian), Osprey (US), First Ascent (South Africa).

              I used a  Teton 85 liter pack, which certainly wasn't the same quality as those high end packs I mentioned above, but did the job just fine for me and it was CHEAP. In retrospect however, I probably would have dished out more for a brand with a little more staying power (my pack now sports a couple of broken straps after 9 months of hard use). I wanted a pack so large so that I could fit my sleeping bag and 1 man tent in it as well as my stuff, and as long as you're willing to carry it, get as big of a pack as you want!

        Suitcases are great if you are going to one place for a week or so, and won't be using public transportation or the like with it. If you plan on moving around a fair bit then a suitcase can be a nightmare (trust me, having wandered the streets of Paris with both a backpack and a suitcase in the rain, I've been there). For me, backpacks offer versatility, which is incredibly valuable when you are on the road and not sure what you're gonna be getting into all the time. I will honestly probably never use a suitcase again in my life.

     There is an entire culture of people living out of backpacks, traveling the world. Its the carrier of goods for a reason, trust me on this!

Here are some links to different companies that sell packs, as well as the one I used personally on my trip:

http://www.karrimor.com/rucksacks

http://www.firstascent.co.za/product-category/equipment/packs-bags/

http://www.decathlon.co.uk/C-541338-hiking-backpack

http://www.thenorthface.com/catalog/sc-gear/equipment-technical-packs

http://www.moosejaw.com/moosejaw/shop/search_Osprey____?ad_id=Google&cm_mmc=PPC-_-Google-_-Osprey_Osprey+Pack-_-osprey+packs_Exact_38214777763&cm_guid=1-_-100000000000000198309-_-38214777763&kcid=59f6edb7-55df-1a49-1363-0000656880e2&utm_medium=PPC&utm_source=GOOGLE&utm_campaign=Osprey&utm_term=osprey-packs_Exact&gclid=CNWO4NW-rr4CFZRcfgodkFgAZA

http://www.amazon.com/TETON-Sports-Fox5200-Internal-Backpack/dp/B000F38YIM/ref=sr_1_4/188-8429310-9870338?s=sporting-goods&ie=UTF8&qid=1400176051&sr=1-4&keywords=teton+backpacks

Solo Backpacking: Pros and Cons

    So from personal experience, solo backpacking has a lot of pros and cons. Its not for everyone, but I thought I would list some that I have noticed in order to help potential backpackers decide if they would be up to roll solo for a bit! This is by no means a comprehensive list, so feel free to add to it through comments at the bottom!
 

  Pros: You make your own schedule- sleep when you want, go where/when you want, eat on your               schedule, etc.
                        Example: When I went abroad for the first time to Colombia, I was supposed to go with friends, but they had to cancel, leaving me solo. My original plan was to party, but going solo made me link up with other backpackers who gave me great advice, and eventually allowed me the flexibility to meet and stay with a local family in one of the poorer areas of Medellin for a few days. If I had been beholden to the whims of friends that likely would not have happened... and it was my favorite part of my trip!!
           
              You are forced to meet new people- when you travel with a group of friends, you are likely                 to spend more time with them, doing things you would normally do but in a different location,               than actually meeting the travelers on the road around you and the local peoples wherever you               are traveling.
                         Example: Travelers have to rely on each other on the road. Advice from fellow travelers about your next potential stop is more accurate than any travel guide, if only because the info is fresher. If you make friends with them, you begin to build a global network.

             You can live cheap- Spend as much money as you want, you don't have to go to a fancy                       restaurant if you wanna live cheap and just snack on a baguette and cheese for dinner                             (followed by breakfast, then lunch, then dinner...).
                         Example: At the San Fermin Festival, I was solo so I didn't have to worry if other people would be ok with sleeping in a park. Would they be squeemish? I felt ok with it so that was good enough for me.

             You do lots of thinking- You are alone a lot of time, something that doesn't really happen all                 that often in daily life. If you want to be completely alone with your thoughts, just go stroll                     through a city where you don't speak the language!

Cons:    It gets lonely- No matter how much you enjoy solitude, the thought of being on the road for                   extended periods without any continuous company to share your experiences is tough. You go               through a roller coaster of highs and lows, excitement at where you are and what your doing                   followed by periods of the blues when you want a good friend from home.

             You make, then leave, awesome friends- Hosteling is great, because most of the fellow                         travelers are similar minded, and its really easy to find great friends after a couple of stories                     over breakfast or a local drink. The hard part is, that its likely that your nomadic ways with                     take you apart after a couple of days. Its unlikely that you will see these friends again, and                       thats pretty hard.

             When you get home, you can tell the stories, but not share them- You don't have the                         friends you met at the stops along the way to relive the crazy stuff you did that one night in                     Barcelona (like when you drank out the 24hr hostel bar with a bunch of Aussies and Brits to                   celebrate the 4th of July)... You can tell these stories, but they are yours alone.