When I travel these days, I’m doing it one of two ways: with my family for up to three weeks, or on a writing trip for a week to 10 days. I sometimes check a bag for the former (especially if I need to backpack with a real backpack), but usually get by with a carry-on for the latter. You get a free checked bag for international flights on all but the stingiest airlines (like Spirit Air), but if you’re leaving the airport city upon arrival, the last thing you want to deal with is lost luggage.

As the editor of Practical Travel Gear, I get loads of apparel, footwear, and gadgets to try out. I personally review close to 100 items a year and the three others who write for me there check out even more. So after all that, what are the best items to pack? Which ones really pull their weight and bulk?

Quick-dry clothing
This is the key factor in packing light. Sure, take a few cotton t-shirts if you want, but the bulk of what you carry needs to be items you can wash in a sink and have dry by morning. I’m a big fan of ExOfficio clothing as it holds up to a crazy number of washings and still looks good. But if you’re put off by the price, try similar alternatives from Colombia Sportswear or just browse the clearance racks, physically or at sites like Sierra Trading Post. A few companies are making polo shirts with built-in odor suppression, something you’ll also find in many wicking t-shirts meant for exercise. These are a nice alternative to the button-up ones.

For pants the usual lightweight tough nylon ones are great for warm places, but companies like ExOfficio, Craghoppers, and Sherpa Adventure are making “trekking pants” that are stretchier and thicker. They still dry fast though and resist a drizzle and stains. I’ve often worn these a week straight without washing them–like I did with the ones in that photo above.

If you’ll be someplace like Delhi, Rome, or Barcelona though that’s notorious for pickpockets, it’s good to invest in a pair of Pickpocket Proof Pants (also known as P^Cubed Pants) from Clothing Arts. They also make shorts and just released some nice lightweight travel shirts as well. It would take an incredibly determined thief and you being passed out for someone to get into these and steal your valuables.

Double-duty shoes
Shoes are the adversary of the carry-on bag. Footwear takes up an inordinate amount of room and if not chosen carefully, can add a lot of weight. Fortunately shoes are getting lighter in general—even hiking boots—and more companies are making ones that pack down flat or close to it in your bag. Scroll through a few pages of travel shoes that the four of us at PTG have reviewed. We go through a lot of them looking for ones that can be worn in multiple travel situations.

Wear the heaviest, clunkiest pair on travel days to lighten your packing load.

Quick-dry underwear and socks
Cotton is not your friend in this area. Underwear and socks are the things you want to replace most often in your wardrobe, so bring at least a few pairs of travel underwear that use merino wool or synthetics. You can sink wash them anywhere and they’ll dry more quickly than cotton. Well-made hiking or running socks usually avoid cotton and will last for years of heavy usage.

Small toiletries
To carry on a bag, stay with small sizes. Hit the trial size aisle at your local drugstore or Target, save the little bottles from hotels, or buy small refillable bottles you can reuse. You can buy cool dry tabs from Sea to Summit that start working when you get them wet and I like shaving cream that comes in a tube as it takes up less space. I use a hanging toiletry kit for when counter space is tight.

Pack-away jacket and bag
One of my secret weapons in getting by with a carry-on bag is to pack things that stuff down into a little pouch. I love my Eagle Creek packable daypack, for instance, and if I need a jacket where I’m going but sporadically, I’ll bring one that stuffs into a pouch when I’m not using it, like this Helium II windbreaker one from Outdoor Research or this warmer Powerfly Down one from Colombia.

SteriPen Water Purfier
If I’m going anywhere with dodgy water, which is most of the world, the SteriPen is an essential item. It saves the world from your personal mountain of disposable single-use plastic, but keeps you from getting sick from any bad drinking water.

Gadget chargers
I’m past telling anyone what gadgets to bring and how much to use them, but a lot of them have batteries that don’t last very long. I’ve used a Callpod Chargepod for six years now to avoid bringing along a bunch of cords. Then I carry a small charger from Innergie or Eton for times I can’t access an outlet. If I’m going off the grid for a while I might bring some kind of solar charger.

And then…
One belt, usually worn the day of travel.
One or two hats, including a sun hat for sunny places, a beanie for cold ones. Tilley ones are expensive but have a lifetime warranty.
A pair of good sunglasses, usually worn the day of travel.
A loaded Kindle or good book.
Magazines I can throw away or pass on as I read them, lightening the load as I go.

Many women carry some kind of shawl or multi-use scarf to change up their outfits.

Keep an eye on the colors you’re packing. Ideally most every bottom can go with most every top. You don’t want to have pieces that can only go with one other thing.

What about you? What carry-on items or tricks have you found worked best?

This blog has been quiet the past week because I’ve been checking out new travel gear at the Outdoor Retailer Winter Market in Utah, seeing what’s on the way from all the top brands in the industry. There are more than 1,000 companies there showing off everything from skis to shoes to solar lanterns, but I spent a good amount of time checking out new backpacks.

If you’re in the market for a backpack, or will be soon, I’m going to provide a good cheat sheet that will make it very easy for you to get what you need. I’ve used $90 backpacks and $400 ones, tried them on year-round journeys, 3-week vacations, and biking trips, so I’ve got a more rounded view than most reviewers.

Here’s what you need to know about the best backpacks for travelers, from the general things to remember to the advantages of specific brands.

Get a TRAVEL backpack

If you go looking at backpacks, you’ll find a lot of pretty, lightweight, comfortable packs that load from the top. They are meant for backcountry hikers, backcountry skiers, or people planning to summit a peak of 8,000 meters. That’s not you.

What you want is a pack meant for travelers. Easy to zip open, easy to find things, meant to be loaded up with lots of clothes and gadgets in different pockets. Preferably one that can be carried with a handle on the top and side if needed. If the straps can be zipped up inside a flap for checking at an airport (or looking more respectable when entering a nice hotel) even better.

Buy a pack meant to last

Yes, you can find some piece of crap no-name backpack for $75 if you look hard enough, but there’s a good chance  you’ll be looking for another one six months from now. And you may not be somewhere with a good selection, so you’ll make the same mistake again—or pay twice as much as you would have at home. If you’re really short on funds, look for a pack from Kelty (more on that later) or keep an eye on the outlet section of the online gear sites to get last year’s model for half off or more. Ideally, you want something that comes with a lifetime guarantee, or close to it. You may not need it, but that shows they believe in their durability.

Buy a rain cover or get one with a cover built in

Most backpacks are made of ripstop nylon or something similar that wards off a drizzle, but they’re not seam-sealed, so water can get through the zippers. Many good packs have a built-in rain cover, others require you to get your own. But when your bag gets thrown on top of a bus somewhere and then a rain storm comes, you’ll be very glad you had this on.

Ideally, try it on

I’m all for shopping the discount section at the likes of Sierra Trading Post, Backcountry, and REI Outlet because you can get a quality pack for half the list price sometimes, but if you’re new at this or have an odd body size/shape, you may need to try a few on in a real retail store with someone who can help. Walking for a year with a pack that doesn’t fit properly is no fun.

Be very sure you want a pack with wheels

When you hear someone rave about their backpack with wheels, ask them how they travel and what their budget is like. As I’ve mentioned before here and here, wheeled backpacks are great if you’re mostly moving between airports, hotels, and train stations via taxis. I gladly take one in those cases. They’re not so great if you have to walk a half mile down a dirt road or up 220 steps in my sometimes home of Guanajuato, Mexico though. Wheels and a handle double the weight of your pack and the way most of them are designed, the (dirty) wheels are hitting your back. This year at the OR Show though I saw some with straps on the front instead, so look for this option to avoid the wheels in back problem.

Watch the size

You can find backpacks that hold 90 liters, but unless you’re a very hefty man, you probably don’t want to carry that much once you fill it. For most people 65 or 70 liters is the max. If you’re going to mostly warm places, you should easily be able to get by for less if you’re packing the right kind of lightweight clothing and quick-dry underwear.

Who makes the best packs?

There are probably 100 companies out there making backpacks, but a lot of those you can ignore because they’re not making travel packs. Based on my 20 years of travel and testing loads of them for Practical Travel Gear, here are my “don’t have to think about it” picks for brands you can trust. Many come in versions for women.

Eagle Creek – lifetime “no matter what” warranty, sterling reputation for quality, constant innovation. Check out the Loche or Rincon models for long-term travel. If you want wheels and can wait until July, every writer and blogger I talked to at the OR show was drooling over the Morphus model pictured here.

Osprey – long one of the most popular brands for round-the-world travelers, with the widest selection, Osprey packs have a lifetime warranty, are super-light, and are well-designed. Look for the Aura, Waypoint, or Porter styles, or four different lines with wheels. The Porter is great if you already have a daypack you like as it’s only about $130.

Gregory – Another one with a lifetime warranty making durable, well-designed packs. I especially like their Savant packs that are light as a hiking pack, but open in the front in a U shape to get to your stuff.

Deuter – You don’t see this brand in the U.S. a whole lot, but this German brand is all over the backs of Europeans. I like their Transit 65 pack if you’ll make use of the detachable daypack and it’s under $200.

Kelty – The cheapo traveler’s best friend, Kelty packs are well-made and rugged, but retail for $100 or more less than many competitor’s models. Find the beloved Redwing one at close-out prices or check out the more expensive Lakota line.

What backpack have you taken around the world, across cobblestones, through crowded markets, up stairs, and down dirt paths? How did it do?

So much information spins past us every day that it’s hard to take a break and process it, much less record it for later. So here are a few travel articles I wrote or I’m in that have appeared recently. Lots more to come as the year goes on, but I’ll continue to try to keep the broadcasting to a minimum.

Some of my recent travel writing

The Viator Blog published a piece I wrote on the Buda side of Budapest.

Global Traveler magazine published an article on my time in Hanoi this past summer with my family – Hanoi: Up to Speed

I also had one in there on Mexico City at Night and did a short web piece on the new Microsoft Windows tablets.

Over at Practical Travel Gear, where I’m editor, we all rounded up our picks for the best travel gear of the year in 2012.

 

Some shout-outs from others on The World’s Cheapest Destinations

Kara from The Vacation Gals was the first to put up a review of the new edition.

EuroCheapo asked me 4 Cheapo Travel Questions

This time last month I did an interview with Gadling on cheap travel destinations.

I had fun participating in this Round-the-world chat with Adam and Sean from BootnAll via Google+ and Twitter.

You can always keep up with me via the RSS feed here or by following me on Twitter – @TimLeffel.

Do you want to routinely get 30 to 50 percent off of name brand travel gear and clothing? It’s not all that hard. You just need to understand the seasonal cycle at retail and take advantage of it.

Even if you don’t shop much in clothing stores, you’re probably vaguely aware of the silly practice of putting swimsuits on the racks in February and putting sweaters and down ski jackets on the shelves when it’s still baking hot outside. That’s because manufacturers and wholesales really care more about the push (big order wholesale numbers) than they do about the pull (individual consumer purchases.) Sure, they want what they ship to sell through, but the whole industry is built around “What’s new for spring?” and “What’s new for fall?” This is as true for Patagonia as it is for Prada.

Over at Practical Travel Gear, where I’m editor, this sometimes leads to some strange conversations with PR people representing these brands. Last week one told me it didn’t do her any good to have ski clothing reviewed in January, even though that’s when the ski season really kicks off in earnest. “We’re only promoting the spring lines then,” she said. In other words, don’t review the things people are actually buying in stores, review the things we’re trying to get the big chain wholesale buyers to buy.

It’s bass-ackwards, but that’s the mentality. The travel gear companies are pumping out new shirts and jackets as fast as the companies you see advertising in Vogue, even though the differences from year to year are too insignificant for the average consumer to even notice.

So how do you act on this? It’s quite easy once you know how the game is played.

1) Buy things at the last minute.

Sure, this feels very uncomfortable for people who plan ahead and shop often, which is why the silly retail cycle works the way it does. But if you buy ski clothing right before your February (peak season) ski trip, you will probably find what you need already marked down or on the clearance rank. Same goes for a bathing suit in July.

2) Buy things off season (which may be your on season).

If you want to really rake in the deals, but winter clothes in the spring and summer clothing/gear in the fall. Sure, this could mean hanging onto them a while before using them, but maybe not. If you’re going to the Southern Hemisphere in your travels, the seasons are backwards anyway. If you’re going to the tropics, you need summer clothing no matter what time of year it is. If you’re going somewhere high altitude, you need layers whenever.

3) Hit the virtual outlet malls.

If you visit the markdown sites of the big online gear retailers, you don’t even have to keep any of this straight. Just click on their clearance section and you’ll often see items everyone coveted two months ago going for 50% off—or more. Follow these links to see what I mean and bookmark them (or subscribe to their RSS stream) to return. The selection changes quite a lot from month to month.

Backcountry.com
REI Outlet
Summit Hut Sale Gear page
Campmor Sale Items
Sierra Trading Post Clearance
Rock Creek Clearance
Altrec Deals of the Day

Happy hunting, and remember that if you’re not finding a price you can live with on the item you really want, just wait a while and you’ll almost surely see it reduced. For people who hate paying list price for anything, procrastination and being a contrarian are the paths to big savings.

Each year I’ve participated in the Passports with Purpose charity drive, giving away some cool piece of travel gear generous readers can bid on. This year I’m proud to be aligned with the luggage company I always keep coming back to in my travels: Eagle Creek.

One lucky bidder will score a new Digi Hauler Backpack. Designed for today’s digital traveler (or if you prefer, “flashpacker”), the Digi Hauler features convertible carry options and maximum carry-on size with dedicated features for electronics, so your stuff stays in its place. The capacity is 2700 cubic inches, or 44 liters. It weighs in at less than two pounds and will work as a carry-on for most airlines: it’s 14 x 22 x 9 inches.

This versatile pack can be your one and only for a quick jaunt or business trip, carrying a full-size laptop along with all your clothes and cosmetics. Basically it’s the same capacity as one of those rollaboard suitcases, but at 1/4 the weight and the ability to pull out the straps and carry it as a backpack. I’ve been testing one of these out for Practical Travel Gear (review coming next week) and I can already tell it’s built to Eagle Creek specs and meant to last. They are confident enough to offer a lifetime warranty for a reason. It’s got lots of grab handles, great zippers with pulls, plenty of internal pockets, and reflective material.

For the winner, they will ship anywhere in the U.S. or Canada.

So go cough up ten bucks to bid on it. Not only are your odds about 100,000 times better than the Powerball lottery, but your donation goes to a very good cause regardless. In the past, Passports with Purpose has built a staffed school in Cambodia, two libraries in Zambia, and a whole damn village in India. This year they’re teaming up with Water.org to make a difference where it’s needed most in this hemisphere: Haiti. See the full details here.

While you’re bidding, there’s a different Eagle Creek backpack up for grabs from The Adventure Post, so double down to increase your chances. Perceptive Travel is in on this too, with that blog arranging a cool weekend package in Granbury, Texas. There will probably be another 100 tempting things for you to check out, from electronics to hotel stays to vacation packages. Give early and often and you could be celebrating bigtime later. If not, the worst that can happen is some Haitians will thank your for finally getting access to clean drinking water. Isn’t that better than buying more crap at the mall?

First, go donate here—check back in a day if the pickings are looking slim. This is day one to get things posted.

Second, say thanks to our sponsors who are kicking in big chunks of that 100 grand goal. I use and trust many of them and they deserve your business.

• Platinum: Expedia
• Gold: TripIt
• Silver: tbex
• Bronze: HomeAway. TravellersPoint, HostelBookers, Go with Oh