Backpacks are often far too large I’ve seen so many people who can’t even lift their own backpack. How many backpackers does it take to safely maneuver one backpack? Answer… three. One the owner, to pretend it’s all okay and they can manage on their own. A second to help lever it off the floor. The third to help get the pack securely on the owners back without them losing too much dignity and self-belief.
If you fall over with a backpack strapped to your back can you get back up? Then you have the recurring fear that once the backpack is securely on if you were to somehow stumble and fall, would you ever be able to get back up? Or would you be left lying on the floor like an upside-down turtle unable to right itself?
You can just wheel your suitcase behind you! So here’s where I start to think that maybe the good old fashioned suitcase with wheels is the way forward. If you do have to walk any great distance, the suitcase simply gets wheeled behind you. Because let’s face it most backpackers aren’t crossing the Sahara desert or attempting to climb Mount Everest.
Clothes are much easier to find in a suitcase Also, clothes and other belongings are more easily accessible via a suitcase, (with most backpacks you have to empty the whole contents just to get dressed!). You also have the added bonus of not losing your favorite top for 6 months only to discover it was at the bottom of your backpack all along.
Backpacks tend to be more lightweight than suitcases Not to be totally biased I have been informed that there are some legitimate reasons for having a backpack. For instance, a suitcase can weigh a lot, to begin with, even before all your treasured belongings and travel essentials have been added eg. first aid kit and toothpaste because of course you’re going to the other side of the world and they can’t possibly sell those things there! Whereas backpacks are usually lightweight so won’t eat into your 20kg weight limit which if you go over will almost definitely incur a $50 or more fee.
You won’t run over people’s feet with a backpack! Another pro backpack reason. If you do find yourself in a confined space with your nose constantly in someone's armpit, it is a lot easier to control your luggage when it’s strapped to your back rather than dealing with a suitcase that has supermarket trolley wheels and keeps crashing into the ankles of the 60 year old granny in front of you, who you then end up sitting next to on the 12 hour plane flight!
