I travel for work professionally. 99% of the time I’ll travel exclusively with a backpack to carry my essentials, or honestly just carry everything if it’s a <3 day trip. Its very hard to yank a backpack off someone when both straps are on, it’s very ergonomic, it frees my hands to hold my phone/boarding passes/passport/food, etc etc.
Backpacks are the objectively superior travel and everyday bag, honestly.
When I was on the travel circuit I always did a carry-on and a backpack. The backpack was usually full of job related equipment so there wasn’t much room for clothing etc. The carry-on was enough for trips of up to 2 weeks.
As I was in agricultural fields and hot temps everyday in all sorts of countries, full changes of clothing was required plus at least one laundry stop before I came home(phytosanitary rules and all). My carry-on often weighed in at 40lbs or more on those trips.
For a 2-3 day trip i don’t need many clothes. 3 sets of underwear, socks, and work polos don’t take much space and easily pack around my laptop and hand tools. I’ll usually re-wear my slacks.
Any longer and I’ll pack more into a carryon, especially on plant visits where I need steel toed shoes and PPE, but usually use the hotel laundry to cut down on total bulk.
Get a bigger backpack. I also assume they’re talking about 3-4 day trips at most, so “clothes” is just shirts and underwear (maybe a pyjama). Add a small wash bag (pro tip: get those small refillable airplane bottles for shampoo/soap/conditioner) and you’re good to go, with plenty of space for a laptop, charger, phone charger, wallet etc.
If you tightly roll your clothes before packing them, then stuff them into a ziploc to do the poor man’s vacuum seal, you can dramatically reduce the volume of your clothing.
Source: I moved everything I own with a 2002 Honda civic across the country and still had room for a passenger.
Edit, The US specifically. Anyone can hang out in an overfilled car for 5 hours. This was an 18 hour trip.
Easily, if it’s a large enough backpack. For 3 days of clothing, it doesn’t even need to be large. I mean what do you need, some assortment of care products (available in small packs, usually, so don’t take a ton of space), maybe a razor and hairbrush, toothbrush (negligibly tiny anyway) and then 3 days of clothing don’t take that much space unless you change your pants (not the british kind) or sweatshirt every day. And even then a large-ish backpack could fit it.
I went on a 5 day trip with just an average size backpack and laptop bag, and that included bringing the laptop. And headphones. It was pretty tightly packed but worked Clothing doesn’t take that much space if you fold it and compress a bit.
I travel for work professionally. 99% of the time I’ll travel exclusively with a backpack to carry my essentials, or honestly just carry everything if it’s a <3 day trip. Its very hard to yank a backpack off someone when both straps are on, it’s very ergonomic, it frees my hands to hold my phone/boarding passes/passport/food, etc etc.
Backpacks are the objectively superior travel and everyday bag, honestly.
When I was on the travel circuit I always did a carry-on and a backpack. The backpack was usually full of job related equipment so there wasn’t much room for clothing etc. The carry-on was enough for trips of up to 2 weeks.
As I was in agricultural fields and hot temps everyday in all sorts of countries, full changes of clothing was required plus at least one laundry stop before I came home(phytosanitary rules and all). My carry-on often weighed in at 40lbs or more on those trips.
And where do you put your clothes ?
You change your clothes, right ?
…in the backpack?
How can you fit your EDC and your clothes in a single backpack ?
(I’m genuinely asking)
For a 2-3 day trip i don’t need many clothes. 3 sets of underwear, socks, and work polos don’t take much space and easily pack around my laptop and hand tools. I’ll usually re-wear my slacks.
Any longer and I’ll pack more into a carryon, especially on plant visits where I need steel toed shoes and PPE, but usually use the hotel laundry to cut down on total bulk.
Get a bigger backpack. I also assume they’re talking about 3-4 day trips at most, so “clothes” is just shirts and underwear (maybe a pyjama). Add a small wash bag (pro tip: get those small refillable airplane bottles for shampoo/soap/conditioner) and you’re good to go, with plenty of space for a laptop, charger, phone charger, wallet etc.
Oh, ok
I just found it weird since fitting my clothes for 4 days would require a large hiking backpack and taking that everywhere would be kind of annoying
If you tightly roll your clothes before packing them, then stuff them into a ziploc to do the poor man’s vacuum seal, you can dramatically reduce the volume of your clothing.
Source: I moved everything I own with a 2002 Honda civic across the country and still had room for a passenger.
Edit, The US specifically. Anyone can hang out in an overfilled car for 5 hours. This was an 18 hour trip.
Easily, if it’s a large enough backpack. For 3 days of clothing, it doesn’t even need to be large. I mean what do you need, some assortment of care products (available in small packs, usually, so don’t take a ton of space), maybe a razor and hairbrush, toothbrush (negligibly tiny anyway) and then 3 days of clothing don’t take that much space unless you change your pants (not the british kind) or sweatshirt every day. And even then a large-ish backpack could fit it.
I went on a 5 day trip with just an average size backpack and laptop bag, and that included bringing the laptop. And headphones. It was pretty tightly packed but worked Clothing doesn’t take that much space if you fold it and compress a bit.
Thanks for the explanation ! Yeah, I couldn’t not change my trousers or tops everyday-