Suitcase or Backpack: Choosing Travel Luggage
Should I Travel with a Suitcase or Backpack?
The short answer: A backpack is universally better for travel in almost every sphere. There’s a reason Roman legionnaires, trekking explorers, desert nomads and modern vagabonds all use the backpack as their form of luggage. It’s hand’s free, well-balanced and allows a traveler to move freely in almost any setting.
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Backpack Advantages:
Traveling with backpacks comes with enormous advantages. They’re designed for a wide range of travel settings, making them a versatile tool almost anywhere on Earth.
Backpacks are Hands Free
Traveling with a backpack is especially useful when you need your hands. Anytime a traveler needs to climb a steep staircase, walk through foliage or pay for a coffee, their hands are always available. This is very convenient for traveling, whereas suitcases must be listed on the ground to do anything.
Backpacks are All Terrain
Backpacks can be used anywhere you can walk. It doesn’t matter if you’re touring the cobblestones of Rome, climbing a mountain, hiking through a forest or leaving an airport, a backpack can go anywhere a human can go. This allows you to handle rugged terrain more easily. A suitcase can only roll on perfectly level ground, like the tiled floor of an airpot. Even normal sidewalk cracks are untenable for most rolling suitcases.
Adjustable
Backpacks and their numerous, weight-bearing straps can endlessly be adjusted to the user. If your luggage is uncomfortable or unwieldy, it’s easy to repack a bag for weight distribution or change the tightness of straps for better support.
More Secure
A backpack is difficult to steal. Having a sturdy piece of luggage strapped to your body makes it easy to keep track of supplies. A backpack designed for travel is also usually folded specifically to prevent pickpockets from getting inside. It is also possible to lock the backpack’s zippers shut to prevent anyone else from opening them. If you’re not wearing your backpack, stand with it between your legs to prevent anyone from subtly stealing it and running off. Additionally, if a person is putting their backpack down while eating, the straps can be “anchored” onto a chair’s leg or around a limb.
Lighter
Backpacks are made of lighter material. Even heavy-duty backpacks with frames strive to use light materials, making walking and hiking easier for a person. Suitcases, with their hard shells, tend to weigh considerably more.
Perfect Carry On
Both backpacks and suitcases designed as carry-ons can be taken onto planes without racking up additional check-in charges. Backpacks tend to be lighter, making it easier to adhere to weight requirements on flights.
More Versatile
A good, solid backpack is endlessly useful. Aside from obviously being used for travel, a backpack has many uses even when not vagabonding. It can work as a gym bag, a grocery bag or used for hiking and camping trips. A suitcase is really only designed for airport-to-airport vacations.
Better for Mobility
A backpack allows a traveler to move from place to place more freely. The ability to get up in the middle of the day, hop on a boat, cross a mountain trail and take a bus to a new city cannot be understated.
Healthier to Carry
When properly worn, a backpack is much healthier to carry. Though the additional weight on a person’s back might make walking slower, a backpack can be worn indefinitely. Wearing a backpack properly is important, however. Weight distribution, balanced straps and proper posture are all necessary for using a backpack correctly.
Extra Gear Can Be Strapped On
Sometimes, traveling results in a few extra items which simply don’t fit inside a person’s luggage. This might include a sleeping mat, yoga mat or sleeping bag. Even when all gear doesn’t fit inside a single piece of luggage, a backpack allows a person to put some items on the outside. This can be especially useful for drying out wet clothes or towels on the outside of a backpack while walking, preventing mildew.
Money Saver
Backpacks tend to save more money in the long run. Since a standard 40 liter backpack is almost never checked-in as luggage, a long-term traveler can save a small fortune by using a backpack.
Waterproof and Water Resistant
One of the biggest advantages to a backpack is weatherproofing. Backpacks are generally designed to handle dust, sunlight and other elements to some degree. The vast majority of solid backpacks are water resistant or waterproof, keeping gear dry even in small rainstorms. Better still, backpacks can have a rain cover attached, fully preventing water damage to the rest of a person’s gear. Or, if a rain cover isn’t available, an extra large poncho can be worn over a person and their backpack simultaneously.
Disadvantages
Despite the clear advantages a backpack has, there are several disadvantages as well.
Difficult to Pack
Backpacks are usually shaped to conform to a person’s body, which means their shapes aren’t perfectly proportioned. This can make packing a bit of a jigsaw puzzle. However, getting a backpack with a clamshell design while also using compressed packing cubes can mitigate this disadvantage.
Clothing Wrinkles More Easily
Backpacks are made for slightly more rugged types of travel. Because of this, clothing tends to get compressed and wrinkles more easily. Most long-term travelers use synthetic fibers, packing cubes and military rolling methods to prevent wrinkles from appearing on their clothes while traveling.
Limited Impact Protection
Backpacks are largely made of fabric. Tough, durable fabric, certainly, but still fabric. As a result, they don’t protect delicate objects such as laptops and cameras very well, especially when they’re tossed around.
Backpacks Can Damage Clothes
Backpacks tend to cause a lot of friction. The area where a person’s back meets the backpack tends to have more moisture and fabrics running together. This may cause some clothes to pillbug or wear thin. It’s unwise to wear suits or your cocktail dresses when wearing a backpack.
Improper Use May Cause Injury
Though carrying a backpack is generally healthier, a person must know how to wear one properly. Improperly wearing a backpack can cause injuries. For example, packing weight too far away from the spine or misaligning straps might cause back pain. If a person ever feels pain or soreness while wearing a backpack, it’s important to stop and readjust.
More Expensive to Purchase
Though there are a lot of great backpacks and affordable options out there, the initial investment of a backpack is slightly more expensive than a suitcase. A suitcase can be purchased at incredibly low prices, since they only have one function. A decent backpack will likely cost more in the beginning.
Standing Out
Backpacks aren’t commonplace in most cities. A person wearing a backpack immediately stands out as a traveler or tourist. Take special effort to stay safe while wearing a backpack, since most locals will recognize someone as a foreigner.
Indoor Maneuvering
Backpacks are a little risky to wear inside. Humans aren’t designed to be aware of a hefty shell on their back, so spinning around can knock things down. Many museums and shops forbid people from wearing backpacks inside for this reason.
Suitcase Advantages
For certain types of travel, a suitcase might be a better option. A suitcase can be used in a narrower range of settings, but they tend to fulfill their purpose well.
Easier Access to Luggage
A suitcase, by default, works on a clamshell design. This means everything is usually neatly packed, right on top. The shape of a suitcase, being fairly geometric, makes packing most things neater and easier.
Better Wrinkle Protection
When traveling with business attire and formal clothing, a suitcase can protect clothes from wrinkles and unwanted folds. Suitcases maximize their internal space, so rolling up outfits probably isn’t necessary. Suitcases are generally better for formal events.
Rolling
Suitcases, due to their somewhat awkward shape, are usually equipped with a set of rolling wheels. This can allow a traveler to easily pull their luggage along flat surfaces, without carrying the weight on their shoulders.
Better Impact Protection
Suitcases have a hardshell exterior This casing better-protects objects inside. It is especially useful for people traveling with expensive equipment, such as cameras or electronics.
Better for Bad Backs
Since suitcases are rolled practically everywhere, a person with a bad back can use this type of luggage without strain.
No Wear and Tear
While a backpack tends to take a lot of hits through life with straps and fabrics facing increasing strain as time goes on, a suitcase lasts practically forever. A decent suitcase doesn’t take too many hits in life, so they last a very long time. Make sure to avoid sitting on your suitcase, or the frame will gradually start to bend.
Cheaper
A decent, sturdy suitcase is usually cheaper initially than a backpack.
Blends In More Easily
While a person wearing a backpack can hardly be anything but a traveler, a suitcase can blend in very well. Travel agents, airport workers, business travelers, wedding guests and photographers can wheel a suitcase anywhere without standing out excessively.
Disadvantages
Hands are Occupied
A person using a suitcase needs to do everything one handed while holding their luggage. Ticket organization, airport security and regular purchases must be done with a single hand, or the suitcase must be put down. As with backpacks, if a person leaves a suitcase on the ground, be sure to stand with it between their legs to prevent grab-and-run thieves.
Terrain Difficulty
Suitcases can handle exactly two kinds of terrain. Perfectly seamless tiled floors and compact carpet floors in airports and hotels. Anything else, the tiny wheels of a suitcase tend to catch, spin or struggle. If traveling in any sort of terrain, even simple sidewalks, expect to carry luggage on your shoulder for short distances.
Easier to Steal
Suitcases are somewhat insecure. They don’t have many anchoring straps and they frequently need to be put down. Thieves also know that suitcases are more likely to contain valuables such as electronics inside, making suitcases a better target. Again, when putting a suitcase down, be sure to stand over it with at least one leg touching it at all times.
Cannot Attach an Add On
Suitcases are sleek designs, purposefully created without straps to avoid accidentally catching on things. As such, it’s very difficult to attach things to the outside of a suitcase. The amount of space within a suitcase is the absolute limit to what it can carry.
Less Durable in the Long Run
A suitcase can last a lifetime, certainly, but mostly because suitcases are only used for vacations. A suitcase brought on many trips tends to break down eventually, with wheels getting stuck or handles breaking.
Unhealthy to Physically Carry
Suitcases aren’t meant to be carried for long distances. The only ways to move a heavy suitcase over difficult terrain is by shoulder-carrying it or lifting it like a basket. Both of these motions are somewhat awkward and lopsided, gradually causing damage to the body over the long term.
Generally Heavier
Suitcases are generally a lot heavier than backpacks. The materials are denser, and they’re designed to be roughly handled by airport baggage claims. This means that a person flying with a carry-on suitcase can’t travel with as much due to weight limitations.
Costs More While Traveling
Suitcases are often required to be checked-in for different types of transportation. While a backpack can be brought onto a bus, train or plane, a suitcase is too bulky to always fit under a seat or in an overhead compartment. In these cases, taking out luggage doesn’t help a suitcase fit better, which often results in a check-in charge.
Backpack Scenarios vs. Suitcase Scenarios
Backpacks and suitcases have their strengths and weaknesses when traveling. But overall, for general, long-term travel, a backpack is the better tool. It is tougher, more versatile and works in a larger range of places.
If a person is traveling long term through many environments, cities and circumstances, a backpack is necessary.
However, suitcases have their place in the world. If a traveler is going to a formal event which requires a suit or dress, a suitcase is preferable to protect the clothing and prevent wrinkles. Likewise, traveling with delicate gear such as camera equipment might require the stronger protective shell of a suitcase.
Splitting the Difference – Wheeled Backpacks
It’s also possible to get a product without firmly choosing a suitcase or backpack. Some travelers try to split the difference by getting a wheeled backpack, which can be rolled in airports and carried through tough terrain.
However, wheeled backpacks aren’t a good product bridge. From a backpacker’s standpoint, the wheels are extra weight and tend to mess up the contours protecting the user’s spine. The only times the wheels are really used are in airports. And if a backpack is already so heavy to make wheeling it necessary, a backpacker should probably be removing some of their heavier gear from their journey.
From a suitcase standpoint, a wheeled backpack doesn’t have the same hard-shell protection. Additionally, the wheels and irregular shape make it more difficult to pack neatly.
The only time wheeled backpacks are potentially useful is when looking at heavy check-in baggage which can take a hit, such as sports equipment.
Backpack Criteria
When selecting a backpack, a person should look for a 40 to 50 liter bag. These bags are small enough to be allowed as carry-on luggage and light enough to travel with indefinitely. This is a good model for a person doing city-to-city traveling for long periods of time. It can also serve well for a light digital-nomad lifestyle.
However, if a traveler is more serious about wilderness treks, long hikes and climbing mountains, a more specialized travel backpack is likely necessary. This may require a 50 liter or 60 liter bag for all camping and survival equipment. Keep in mind, the larger a bag is, the more likely it’ll be required to be checked-in at an extra charge.
The absolute best and most popular, tested and venerated travel backpack in the world comes from Osprey. They make incredibly durable backpacks capable of functioning in every setting. They’re spacious, sturdy, streamlined and versatile. I personally use the Osprey Farpoint 40, a 40 liter gray bag which has served without need of repairs for a decade. The backpack has been to over sixty countries and is still going strong.
However, if a person wants something with a different design or more space, these are other good options:
Osprey Backpacks
Ten years ago, I abandoned my military surplus store backpack for a Farpoint 40 Osprey Travel Pack. I’ve never replaced my bag since. Two years ago, I bought two more Ospreys for my younger siblings on their first tour outside the country. I have nothing but praise for Osprey Products.
Tortuga Outbreaker 35 Liter Backpack:
The Tortuga tends to look a little more streamlined and has a more geometric shape for easier organization. It is an incredibly durable model with a lot of interior space and sturdy materials. The 35 liter model is a good size for carry-ons internationally. For those who think 35 liters is a bit too small, there is also a 45 liter model.
The Osprey Talon 44 Hiking Backpack
Another backpack of the Osprey line, the Talon is a slightly larger backpack with a bit more space up top. For those who want to travel into the wilderness or mountains on short jaunts, the Talon is a good option. The extra space is still small enough that it’s generally allowed on most flights.
Suitcase Criteria:
Suitcases really only have two criteria: size and durability.
When selecting a suitcase for travel, look specifically for the most common international carry-on standards. For international standard carry on sizes, luggage can measure 18” x 14” x 9”. A suitcase of this size will be allowed on virtually any flight as a carry on.
The standard suitcase carry-on size for domestic flights in the United States is slightly larger at 22″ x 14″ x 9″. If this is too small, a traveler can check their suitcase. A checked suitcase is usually limited to 62 linear inches (158 cm).
The most common size for a checked suitcase is 27” x “21” x 14” at a limit of 50 pounds (23 kilos).
Keep in mind, all these measurements are just guidelines. Airlines may have additional restrictions or size limitations.
When picking suitcases, look closely at durability rating and longevity. A single suitcase doesn’t undergo the same amount of stress as a backpack, so it should be capable of lasting a full lifetime.
Overall, selecting a suitcase or backpack depends on the needs of the traveler. For most, however, a properly adjusted backpack is the stronger choice.