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Backpack advice
BBCan
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Hi all, I will be traveling to Europe in September with my wife. It will be our first time and we are going for 1 month (London/ Edinburgh/ Dublin/Paris/Rome). I have gathered info from this forum and elsewhere in regards to traveling, sights, expenses, etc… but now I need some advise from experienced travelers.
 
We will be traveling light (1 backpack eack – daypack as well for day to day city sightseeing), and staying in Hotels. We will be flying with economy airlines quite a bit and I wanted to get advise on what backpacks to use.
 
My wife is short (5’-3”) and I am 5’-10”. I have done some reserach and there are so many options, I don’t know where to begin. I want a comfortable, practicle, and affordable pack for each of us. If you have a suggestion on a pack (brand-style, etc) let me know. If you have travele with this pack, let me know if you were able to use it as a carry-on for flights (I know there are dimension and weight restrictions).
 
Thanks all
Brad
 

Seva
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You’ll get more feedback on this in “Packing” forum.

jkfaust
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I think the best thing you can do is just go try some on and see what is comfortable.  If you find you’re debated between a couple you like, get the smaller one.

Kirsty
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Ya just head to a shop and go nuts trying them on. I don’t even know what brand mine is… Oasis suonds familiar but I’ve never even heard of them. I just tried a bunch on and got one with the size and features I wanted that felt right.
 
Things to look for include a flap that will zip up to cover over your shoulder straps and hip belt (to prevent it getting stuck in teh luggage belt thing), a rain cover, maybe an attachable shoulder strap so you can carry it like a duffle bag, the ability to remove the metal frame so it can be scrunched up (for carry on), separate compartments within the bag, not top loadinging (unless you want to torture yourself) and that’s about all I can think of now. Don’t be too caught up with ‘I want this or that brand’ because it’s the fit and features that matter. Plus it’ll last you years so better to invest in a good one than to cut corners.
 
Just a reminder about taking your pack carry-on. They’ve gotten really strict about this in Europe (well, at least coming in and out of the UK) and the bag size is being enforced and you can only take up to 1 litre of liquids but the kicker is that it’s got to be stored in bottles of less than 100ml each. Even if you have a 500ml bottle only filled a 5th of the way – no good. Has to be small bottles. So if you’ve got anything bigger then it’ll be turned away at the x-ray machines.
 
Hope this helps, have a great time!
Kirsty