Earlier this year we attended the Travel Bloggers Unite conference where we met many people who were going to travel for a year. Most of them were lugging huge backpacks, while we had wheeled suitcases. One girl looked longingly at our bags and said “I wish I had done that instead of a backpack.”
We’re not packing geniuses, we’re just not backpackers. So when it came time to plan this trip backpacks never entered the equation. Each of us had plenty of business travel experience, where a wheeled suitcase is the luggage of choice. Our motto was “go with what you know.”
This apartment was our home in Paris for two weeks.
The same goes for our lodging options. A married couple in their 50s is not really interested in a hostel dorm room. Many hostels do offer double rooms with private baths, but we were surprised to discover that the prices for two people were often similar to a decent hotel, guesthouse, or even a small apartment. Again, we’ve chosen to go with what we know and have found lodging that is comfortable and within our budget.
For more of our luggage and lodging advice read the article we wrote, Career Breaks: They’re not just for backpackers, for Meet, Plan, GO!, the organization that helps people with career break planning (their online editor was one of the envious backpackers at the conference.) Take a look and you’ll also find many other helpful posts on the site about planning your own grand adventure.
With Little Rocky's help, Larissa stops traffic in Saigon.
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We’re closer to your age and are definitely not backpacking on our trip. Thanks for the advice.
I take a 4 wheel suitcase rather than a backpack too.
We were sometimes able to get a 4* hotel on Priceline in Europe for the same as a room at a hostel. We also stayed in a nice B&B in Rome which had the benefit of access to a kitchen. I like the Rome style of B&Bs where the proprietor just gets you settled in and then leaves.
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For a compromise for the backpacker/wheeled bag argument, check out Rick Steves website and luggage. Dedicated to travel with what you can carry on the plane, he has some great options. My husband and I each have one of his bags that has backpack straps and wheels. It is so much easier for trips with my kids when I can sling the suitcase over my shoulder with the backpack strap and grap a kid or two with each hand. The backpack aspect is also great in croweded airports or when porting luggage over a distance.
Thanks for the tips. That sounds like an interesting bag. Unfortunately we had a Rick Steves brand daypack which fell apart 3 months into our trip so we would really have to check out the luggage.