What's In Your Backpack?

In 2002, I took a trip to Belgium and Holland for a couple of weeks, although it may not even have been that long; my memory might be slightly faulty on this one. To make sure I had everything I would possibly need on that trip, I took the biggest suitcase I owned: a huge red, hard shell thing that was completely unwieldy. I paid for it. Dearly. That case was absolutely the wrong bag (if you can call it that) to take on a European train traveling from Amsterdam to Brussels and back again. Way too big. Especially when I had to sit it on my lap when the food cart came by.

To make matters worse, that wasn't the only bag I took on that trip. I also brought a separate camera bag. Just way, way, way too much luggage.

I didn't learn my lesson in 2002. I took that same suitcase to England and Scotland in 2007 and all the way across the United States in 2011. When I started this blog, I started making an effort to travel lighter. Like much lighter.

Seven plus years later, I think I'm getting the hang of it a little bit. For the past three plus years, I've been traveling primarily with a single bag: a 32 liter Patagonia backpack (the Paxat Backpack 32L, if you must know). I get it; it's small. And there have been a couple of trips where we have elected to bring along a shared roll aboard suitcase, mostly where we've needed some fancy clothes for a wedding or nice dinner or something. But two weeks in Africa in 2018? Just the backpack. The UK and Germany for 10 days later that same year? Just the backpack. A week in Peru and two weeks in New Zealand last year? Well...you get the point.  

My travel habits generally require that I bring a lot of stuff. I have needs for creature comforts and modcons, what can I say? So packing efficiently has become somewhat of a labor of love, especially when I only have 32 liters of space to fill. Here's how I maximize my backpack space on a typical trip. We'll go compartment by compartment.

Top Pocket

Three things occupy this compartment: (1) my Ray-Ban Mini-Wayfarer sunglasses (although not in the Ray-Ban case; too big!), (2) my Klipsch earbuds and (3) my pill box. That's it. Nothing else fits. The sunglasses are here for easy access. The earbuds are here as a non-powered backup to wireless headphones, which have superior sound but don't always fit depending on where I'm going (so sometimes the earbuds are the only listening device I have). The pillbox is here because my body is flawed and because it fits here. At the very minimum I need some allergy pills and I have a couple of prescriptions that I need to varying degrees.

Yes, my pillbox has Miffy on it. I found it in my girlfriend's house and liked it. So I adopted it. If I'm heading abroad, I generally take the bottles from the pharmacy that have the prescription information on them; don't really want to take chances bringing unlabeled drugs into some countries.

As an aside, that girlfriend is now my wife. So that worked out pretty well I feel.

Front Pocket

If there's a pocket in my backpack that makes choosing this specific backpack all worthwhile, it's the front pocket. When we were looking for backpacks for travel, one of the main differentiators for the Paxat 32L was that it had a front pocket with a number of different sized compartments for holding different things. This pocket is money.

So what goes here? The question really is...what doesn't go here? Going back to front, the rear compartment perfectly holds an iPad Mini horizontally (the iPad also adds stiffness and structure to the entire pocket). This device always goes with me wherever I go. It's the entertainment system for the entire trip. Music, movies and Netflix downloads. The iPad has a special place in my trips and it deserves a special pocket in my bag.

In front of that compartment are a couple of pen holders, a center pouch that perfectly holds a Jackery Giant+ Portable Charger, and a mesh pouch that holds cords and plugs for charging the iPhone, iPad, Jackery and camera.

Enough stuff packed into the front pocket? No way. There's also a cord with clip for keeping my keys safe and in a spot where I can get to them when I finally get home. That same clip holds the kiwi-shaped bottle opener we picked up at Auckland airport in New Zealand with our last New Zealand dollars.

But we are still not done. On top of all that, there's still space for my foldable sun hat, my portable laundry bag and my toiletries bag (although admittedly all three are sometimes difficult to fit in here; sometimes one gets relegated to the Main Compartment - see below). My toiletries bag by the way measures 7.5" by 5.75" (it's the Patagonia Simple Pouch - Small). Travel light and small everywhere.

Front Stretch Stash Pocket

This pocket is for one thing: shoes. I try not to take more than two pairs on a trip. The bigger pair goes on my feet. The smaller pair goes in the front stretch stash pocket. If you copy me here, pack the shoes in here first before you stuff the rest of the backpack, unless you are packing flops. Trust me; it's way easier. If you don't you run the risk of not being able to shove shoes down in there with the rest of the pack stuffed full. Rockport slip-ons work well for me here. And yes, I have orange shoes.

Right Side Pocket

Another one use pocket: water bottle. I suggest you pack a metal, insulated bottle that keeps liquids cold (or hot) for hours. But mostly cold. Like keeps ice icy even when it's 100 degrees outside and you leave the bottle in the car by mistake. I use a Polar Bottle stainless steel bottle which they apparently no longer make. Shame, because this thing is amazing. I'm sure there are other companies that make similar products. I'm not giving up on mine any time soon.

Left Side Pocket

This zippered pocket on the opposite side of my backpack is permanently filled with one essential accessory: my Patagonia Houdini Jacket, a super lightweight water and wind resistant jacket that folds into its own breast pocket. Light rain or a little cold or windy? Just drop the pack, whip out the Houdini and problem solved. I love this jacket. It's paper thin which might make the $99 price tag seem exorbitant but I can't tell you how many times this thing has come to my rescue, either while away from home or just around town. How often can you pull a jacket out of your pocket?

There's more room in this pouch after I stash my Houdini. It's a great place to stow away some socks or small clothing items. Last Christmas I added a backpack cover (also from Patagonia) for my (now cancelled) trip to Costa Rica. One day...

Laptop Pocket

My backpack's laptop pocket is that in name only. I use this compartment to transport flat goods (like books) back home and I usually keep any maps or printed itineraries here. It also holds my day pack, a deluxe drawstring type backpack with an internal pocket made by geckobrands. This is what I take with me to stroll around a city or take hikes in parks for the day. It folds in half flat and fits perfectly into the laptop pocket.

My day pack is also my secret weapon for bringing stuff home. We sometimes accumulate goods when we travel. When we do, the one bag principle is usually quickly jettisoned and the day pack becomes the personal item on the flight home, stuffed with souvenirs that we probably don't need but some of which we treasure very dearly.

Main Compartment

Everything else I need to take on a trip generally goes here. I mean it has to. There's no room anywhere else, except maybe in that left side pocket if I leave the houdini at home. Two thoughts here: (1) packing efficiently really counts and (2) on long trips (like longer than a week) I have to do laundry; how do you think I survived two weeks in Africa in 2018 and New Zealand last year with only this bag?

To pack efficiently, I'm generally a fan of wearing anything heavy like a jacket and maybe even fleeces (anything I can take off on a plane) and rolling clothes that I pack. While I don't need it on every trip, the ranger roll is a much appreciated packing technique for some clothes. It saves a ton of space. Trust me, it's awesome.

And the laundry thing? Yeah, they've pretty much figured out the world over how to wash clothes. Many hotels have laundry service or machines. Call or email ahead to find out and make plans around it. It's expensive to have laundry service done in some hotels so there may be other options. In September of 2019, our hotel in Belfast, Northern Ireland offered a bag rate for laundering only (no ironing, although they did fold if I'm remembering right) that was super cheap. Just fill the bag with as much stuff as you can and it's a single price for the whole load. There are bargains to be had if you look for them.

This backpack and I have been to six continents together. We started in Japan in 2017 and hit continent number six last year in Peru. Other than a little dirt here and there (it's light gray; maybe not the smartest choice of colors but there are darker options, including all black) it's holding up really well. It's really no worse for wear for having been dragged all over the globe and stuffed with as many things as I can pack in there.

We sometimes draw astonished looks and get disbelieving comments from hotels, tour operators and fellow tourists for traveling with a single bag this small. If you can do it, it makes moving around on holiday so much easier. Plus it all fits in the overhead compartment, something you might not get with some very large backpacks. I wouldn't trade this style of travel for the world. In the meantime, I'll keep going everywhere with it until it no longer works for me. Can't imagine that day's coming any time soon.

Blatant Commercial Plug

Last month's trip to Iceland cost me almost as much in winter gear as it did in hotels, airfare and guided tours combined. That fact still astonishes me. I'm amazed that I convinced myself that I needed special winter gear for a place barely colder than my home of Arlington, Virginia just because the country I was headed to had "Ice" in its name. After all, I spent almost 10 years in Syracuse and Cooperstown in upstate New York where it snowed almost daily and where the temperature sometimes would not exceed freezing for a month or more at a time. Heck, I used to walk between the two houses that served as the office where I worked in temperatures way below freezing without a jacket several times a day.

Who knows, maybe I'm getting soft in my middle (hopefully) age here and just have a need to stay warm all the time. Or maybe I was just skeptical that the insulating layer of blubber I've been working on for the last few years wouldn't stand up to a few hours outdoors walking on a glacier or something like that. Regardless of the reason, I decided caution was the better part of valor and shopped and shopped and shopped for some winter gear before heading north on December 10 of last year. I thought that my story here might be worth telling. I'll be very brief, I promise.

First let me say this stuff is difficult to shop for. All the people that work at the stores we went to are way into hiking or mountain biking or skiing or trekking or whatever (which automatically intimidates me because they are probably way fitter and more environmentally responsible than me) and there are so many shirt, jacket and bottom wear possibilities that I just didn't know where to start asking questions. The whole keeping warm outdoors concept seems to be one of layering but without context of past outdooring experiences (and let's face it, it's me we are talking about here) it's next to impossible to ask for help without any sort of prior experience. I just wanted someone to tell me what would keep a 205 pound, 45 year old man who generally runs hot what would keep him warm for a few hours outside at about 64 degrees latitude. Is that so much to ask? Apparently so.

REI. Patagonia. Eddie Bauer. Hudson Trail Outfitters. L. L. Bean. Arcteryx. Mammut. I checked out all these brands or places in an effort to find what I thought I probably didn't need anyway. All I needed was a few hours warmth out of my clothing. How difficult would that be? After probably altogether too much looking, I settled on a variety of brands (including a Washington Wizards knit hat purchased at the NBA store on line) for my trip. But I felt most comfortable going with Patagonia for my outer layers, which featured a Super Cell Waterproof Jacket over a Nano Puff Hoody up top and some Torrentshell Stretch Pants to protect whatever kind of jeans or underlayers I decided to wear. They were a bit more expensive but it seemed based on talking to about everyone in outdoor wear in northern Virginia that you got what you paid for. I felt this stuff would keep me dry and protected from the wind and would provide lightweight upper body protection against the cold. That was the theory at least.

Our first day in Iceland featured a three hour whale watching tour on the northern Atlantic Ocean. Of course, I came equipped in all my new gear which I was convinced would keep me cozy against whatever the icy sea had to offer. I was wrong. It was so freaking cold that I had to pack into a full body boat suit (for lack of a better term) provided by the boat which was pretty much like wearing three or four sleeping bags. I've never been warmer in my life, even if I did feel like I was ready for a cameo on The Deadliest Catch and there was some strange smell in there that I tried to ignore. I was finally convinced I needed some warm weather gear for this trip. I just wasn't sure it was what I bought. I was freezing in my new stuff.

But the next day we took a trip to Gullfoss (which translates to Gold Falls), a waterfall about an hour and a half northeast of Reykjavik. Considering our trip that day included four outdoor stops to commune with nature, including the falls, I of course wore all my new Patagonia stuff. I spent enough on it after all. When we got to the falls, it was just after noon, or about an hour after sunrise, and it was cold and the wind was howling. I mean really blowing hard, like you had to lean into it to walk straight and clomping down the wood staircase one step at a time was difficult because the wind threatened to take you, your companion or an article of clothing away in a particularly vicious gust now and then. 

As we approached the falls, which features two drops totalling just over 100 feet in height and which are spectacularly beautiful, it got so cold and windy that the spray from the falls froze in the air and the wind blew it right at you as if in an attempt to get you away and back to our nice warm tour bus. But amazingly I didn't feel any of that in my Patagonia gear. I mean I felt the pressure from the wind and I heard the ice mist hitting my jacket and pants but no wind got through those clothes I was wearing and I couldn't feel any wetness from the spray on my body. It was that moment that I thought I had made a good choice in shopping before this trip and that I really did need to do it.

I am sure most of the other brands would have kept me as dry and warm as Patagonia but I know for sure I'm sold on this brand. It's been pretty darned cold here the last week or so in the D.C. area and I can tell you I love my Patagonia stuff as much here as I did in Iceland. But I'll never forget that experience at Gullfoss. I'm glad I was well equipped. So thank you, Patagonia. Here ends my shameless blatant commercial plug. I feel it's deserved.

Gullfoss without me in the way. So much more beautiful.