Travel Luggage and Backpacks
Travel backpacks were always one of Walkabout Travel Gear’s most popular product categories. We preferred packs built for travel: bags that carry like backpacks but open and organize more like luggage. They worked well for airports, trains, stairs, cobblestones, and trips with frequent hotel changes, and they still do. As we have gotten older, though, we have gradually shifted toward wheeled luggage when the trip allows it. The tradeoff is simple: wheels are easier on the body, while a backpack is still easier when stairs, rough pavement, or frequent moves get in the way.
Travel Luggage and Backpack Brands
Eagle Creek
Eagle Creek has a long connection with Walkabout Travel Gear. The first backpack sold by Walkabout Travel Gear was an Eagle Creek Endless Journey.
Pacsafe
Walkabout Travel Gear first met Pacsafe in 1998, when the backpack protector was still the company's only product. Pacsafe has since expanded into anti-theft backpacks, sling bags, wallets, and other travel gear. Our Pacsafe page tells the full story and explains the security features.
Samsonite
Samsonite offers carry-on luggage, checked luggage, luggage sets, duffels, and backpacks.
NOBL Travel
NOBL's all-in-one carry-on combines laptop access, spinner wheels, compression storage, USB and USB-C charging ports, a cup holder, waterproof pocket, passport sleeve, and interior compartments.
Choosing a Travel Bag
Travel Backpacks
We always preferred travel backpacks built for travel rather than top-loading hiking packs. For travel, we prefer a wide suitcase-style opening and shoulder straps that can be covered or tucked away. Weight and airline dimensions matter too.
Carry-On Luggage
Wheeled carry-ons are easier in airports and hotels, especially when most of the trip is on smooth floors. They are less convenient on stairs, cobblestones, ferries, and rough sidewalks. Before buying a wheeled carry-on, check its empty weight and airline dimensions, and make sure the wheels and handle do not feel flimsy.
Personal Item Bags
The personal item is the bag you can reach without opening the overhead bin. It should fit under the seat and hold the things you cannot afford to lose or wait for: passport, medication, phone, charger, glasses, wallet, documents, and perhaps a change of clothes.
Day Bags
A day bag should disappear on your shoulder or back instead of becoming something you fight all day. Keep it light, comfortable, easy to close, and large enough for water, medication, a light layer, documents, and small electronics.
Packing Organizers
Packing cubes are not essential, but they earn their space on longer trips or trips with repeated hotel changes. Use them for clothing, cables, toiletries, laundry, or anything else that otherwise migrates around the bag.
Security Features
Travel-bag security is mostly about slowing down quick, opportunistic theft. Lockable zippers, slash-resistant panels, hidden pockets, RFID-blocking compartments, and straps that are difficult to cut or detach all help. None replaces paying attention, but ordinary bags often make theft too easy.
Blast from the Past: Walkabout Travel Gear Backpacks
Backpacks were a major Walkabout Travel Gear product category during the early years of online travel retail.
In the 1990s, using a backpack as your main luggage was still a relatively new idea for most travelers. Hardcore independent travelers had carried backpacks for years, but travel packs designed to replace a suitcase were only beginning to reach a wider market.
Walkabout Travel Gear sold travel backpacks built specifically for this purpose. They combined backpack suspension with luggage-style openings, internal organization, removable day packs, and designs made for airports, trains, buses, hotels, and extended international trips.
The first backpack we sold was an Eagle Creek Endless Journey in 1996. I still remember the purchaser's name: Mark Frobb. It was our largest sale to date.
The archived June 1998 Packs, Etc. page shows how important travel backpacks were to the original Walkabout Travel Gear site and how the backpack-as-luggage idea was being introduced to a broader group of travelers.
