Backpacking with a suitcase - is this real backpacking?

My friend and I were having a debate about this - she says yes and I say no. Thoughts?

this is along the lines of the difference between travellers and tourists. It can often be defined as where they keep their heads...

Well maybe not in the most literal sense, but IMHO you can backpack with any bag (backpack, suitcase, duffle bag, tote bag) as long as you're prepared to carry it around.

The dictionaries seem to take the more literal definition, but that also means they would classify someone who hikes with a backpack as a backpacker.

how to pack a suitcase on your back?

Of course they can be backpackers. The people who used to travel with suitcases now use backpacks, even though they don't need them. These flashpackers stay in hotels instead of guesthouses and never really need a backpack anyway. It's all about style really.

Yes...like #3.If you can somehow strap your suitcase to your back,then you are a backpacker ;-)

Yes you can be a backpacker and travel with a suitecase - though you may find that at times it's not all that practical.

Actually, after 15 or so years of backpacking with a backpack I'm now thinking of buying a suitecase to use for some shorter trips where I know I won't be really doing that much walking around with my luggage. Though I still have the backpack ready for when I think I may need to walk some distance, possibly along dirt streets/cobbled streets, beaches... etc. Though whenever I next go on a long trip (who knows when that will be) It'll be with a backpack, just a lot more practical - though I'm not convinced by the backpack with wheels.

I think so! I think you should bring along with you whatever you need and carry it however you like - it is all about your mentality!

Toad...I had a try of those backpacks with the wheels..(just walking around the shop in it-I didn't go as far as buying one)...

Its just not right.....maybe in another 20 or 30 years ;-)

It'll be interesting to see how much luggage will have changed in 30 years time. If you think back to 30 years ago the basic luggage was the same as now yet it has evolved a fair bit. Probably backpacks will be made of some ultra light Kevlar type material which can't be slashed but lets your back breathe and suitecases will still have wheels but will have some kind of remote control so that you don't even have to pull them around, they just follow you.

Me too, I'm 71 now.
{ :=8 Q

Looking forward to field testing 1.

Sometimes it is absolutely necessary... I was backpacking in Croatia and my knees went out somehow, making the weight of any pack impossible. Not wanting to stop travelling, I got a (small) rolling suitcase and actually found it much better, if slower, to drag the thing around behind me. You have to make accommodation fot the endless cobblestone, curbs and uneven surfaces (in Europe) but the plus side is that if you fly, you can fit it as carryon under your seat and save a whole lot of luggage trouble! Carry a small pack for a purse/bag/daytrip pack, though, you WILL need it. And something discreet for your passport.

They are certainly making it more difficult for backpack travellers in some airports...making you go to a separate place to check your bag in etc.-I usually use one of those 'travel pack'type backpacks now,where you can at least close the strap compartment and either carry it on as hand luggage or check it in normally (depending on airline).

Hmm, isn't it technically suitcasing?

Suitcases with wheels keep falling over, on textured sidewalks. I see it all the time in Seville. My new home town.

I took a backpack on my last rtw trip just short of a year and I was sorry I did because it was probably only necessary for 5% of the time or less.
It depends on what type of travelling you will be doing. If your camping, trekking up mountains etc then yes a backpack will be the answer but if you will be travelling between airports, hostels, towns and cities etc I see no reason for a backpack apart from a few places with cobbled streets.

I saw a few good backpacks with big durable wheels and a pull out handle in some of the travel gear shops in Kensington High Street a few years ago which gives you the best of both worlds where you can simply throw it over your back should the need arise in those rare occasions while the bigger, stronger wheels allow it to negotiate some of the uneven streets you may come across.

I disagree Linfield, I personally find backpacks much easier to handle than unweildy cases.

Just my experience mikehuxley. I would personally go for the combination option if I were to do it again.

Thus proof that there's a market for both.

{quote:title=kmingnath wrote:}
My friend and I were having a debate about this - she says yes and I say no. Thoughts?

suitcases will still have wheels but will have some kind of remote control so that you don't even have to pull them around, they just follow you.{quote}

What a brilliant idea. Why haven't we done this already. So much easier!

Ah, a question I can really get my teeth into.

First of all, let me say that the term 'backpacker' is mis-applied by all you young-uns. OK, it has come to be pretty universally accepted as the term to describe some kid schlepping around Europe or SEA with a backpack on their back but that is like calling a burger flipper at MickeyD's a chef.

For a fairly good description of the origin and history of backpacks Wiki is useful. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Backpack The name 'backpack' was coined around 1910 with internal frame packs (most common today) being invented by Greg Lowe in 1967. So it is fair to say that the modern backpack most are familiar with today began around then.

The point to note is that backpacks were invented and continue to be designed for wilderness travel. The vast majority of backpacks sold are not specifically designed for what most here on the TT refer to as 'backpacking'. The exception would be the less common 'travel packs' which have a zippered flap to conceal the harness and convert them to more of a soft sided suitcase. They are designed for schleppers going to Europe or SEA. As for packs with wheels don't even go there.

So a TRUE backpacker is someone who goes out into the wilderness with all the necessities they require carried on their back. That generally means a stove, sleeping bag, perhaps a tent, food, clothing, water, etc. Not a cellphone, ipad, laptop or little black dress in sight. A backpack is designed to carry all these necessities on your back, all day, every day in as much comfort as possible.

A TRUE backpacker knows that the definition of the ultimate backpacker is, 's/he who travels with the least weight and the most comfort'. A backpacker weighs every item that goes into his/her pack to try and achieve that ultimate goal. It is not uncommon for example for a backpacker to cut off half the handle of a toothbrush and even drill holes in the remaining half, to reduce weight. This semi-obsession with weight cannot be stressed enough and is a clear differentiator betweeen a TRUE backpacker and a wannabe schlepper.

A TRUE backpacker doesn't use roads, rail passes or have pre-booked accommodation. All that's needed is a topographical map and a compass. They are the ultimate self-contained traveller.

Backpacking as a mainstream activity got going in the late 60's/early 70's. A magazine dedicated to backpacking came out in 1973. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Backpacker_(magazine) It does not and never has included articles on schlepping around Europe between the train station and the hostel with a backpack.

So to answer the question of whether backpacking with a suitcase could be considered 'real backpacking', the answer is no but then neither is what most call backpacking, real backpacking.

TiS

Surely a 'true' backpacker doesn't carry a toothbrush at all.......they just use a twig from the nearest tree ;-)

Ah, one of the misconceptions lucapal. Read the part again about the 'least weight and the most comfort'. But a 'true' backpacker does swallow the water after brushing his/her teeth rather than spit it out if backpacking in desert regions that require you to carry a gallon of water for every day and is the biggest item weightwise. Not a drop is to be wasted. A 'true' backpacker also carries toilet paper rather than using a leaf or handful of sand but will remove the inside, stiff paper roll to save the weight. ;)

For me the idea that everyone who travels with a backpack is a backpacker is no different than saying everyone who wears a baseball hat is a baseball player. You can call yourself one if you want, but it doesn't make it so.

Edited by: travelinstyle46

A suitcase is a suitcase, a backpack is a backpack. Duh. Backpacks are good if you are carrying the luggage, suitcases are ok if someone else is carrying your luggage for you. Rolling suitcases are...weird. Rolling backpacks - don't get me started.

Find out, at a good camping store, how to fit it to your bodd. Make sure it has a belly band. They put the weight on our hips. And help balance it.

Then go to gasrage sales and buy one thats hardly been used AT A DECENT PRICE. Ask experienced bp'rs at hostels, why they chose their rig.

Then if you don't like it on that trip, go back to suitcases.

We travel to learn. And partially more about ourself.
If you want to travel, be willing to see things differently.

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You won't really need one, till you already did.