Suitcases: Two
years ago, when Trav and I decided to sell up everything we owned and travel
the world, I threw out our flimsy supermarket bought suitcases in favour of
investing in luggage that could withstand lots of adventurous travel over an
extended period of time.
I did my research online and saw that one particular
type of suitcase had come out top in a ‘suitcase survival’ survey
in which ten types of suitcase were put through the kind of stresses associated
with travel. In this particular trial the suitcases were even thrown off an
aeroplane and crushed by a car to see if they might burst open!
I was also impressed that these
roughy-toughy cases had two sections inside (ideal for keeping Trav’s dive gear
separate from his clothes – although to be fair aside from a wetsuit he doesn’t
actually have many clothes!) that they were easy to roll about on their four
wheels and were secured with TSA approved locks. So I bought Trav and I one each and for the past
two years of our travels these cases have faithfully held and transported all
our possessions – except for going AWOL a couple of times in the USA – and have
performed brilliantly. I have particularly enjoyed decorating mine with
stickers from all the places we have been!
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| Our roughy-toughy suitcases |
While planning our Asian
trip however, from the outset, I realised that our big hard-cased Delsey suitcases
weren’t going to cut island hopping in Asia - where most of the travelling
would be by boat – and by boat I don’t mean ferry.
Many of the small islands we
wanted to visit in Asia are only accessible by traditional-style boats and
passengers are expected to wade through thigh-high waves with their luggage
before clambering on board. The same being true in reverse once you reached
your destination.
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| Traditional long-tail boats are often used to island hop in Thailand |
Most of the planning for our
Asian adventure was done while we were still on the Caribbean island of Utila
and although I had access to the internet I did not have any way of buying our new
backpacks there. I also had the problem of what to do with our much-loved
suitcases. The problem was solved when our lovely landlady on Utila offered to
store our suitcases for us until we returned from our Asian trip. I was also able to buy two inexpensive, albeit rather fragile holdalls, to
carry our stuff back to the UK where I had two backpacks, ordered online, awaiting our pick up.
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| A 'Black and Grey' backpack for Trav and a girly 'Wine-coloured' one for me! |
Fully adjustable straps are important for backpack comfort and fit
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| The Highlander Ruckcase comes in different sizes and colours and has a detachable daypack. I found these perfect companions for our Asian Adventure |
Backpacking:
As
with the suitcases, I did lots of research to find the right backpacks for us.
When all your worldly goods are travelling with you, you need reliability and
security. Trav’s dive gear doesn’t easily lend itself to the top loading style
of pack so I needed ones that unzipped like a suitcase. With backpacks, I was
told, you also need comfort and comfort comes from a good fit and good padding.
With this in mind I soon found the right backpacks for us – they are called 'ruckcases' – and they are strong, side zip opening, fully adjustable, made in
different sizes, have detachable daypacks, and are made by a company in
Scotland called Highlander
with a stockist very close to our hotel in Edinburgh. Yay!!
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| Ready to travel! |
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| Waiting with backpacks our for our boat trip over to Krabi Thailand |
In my next post I'll be choosing (agonising over!) what to pack for our four month trip to Asia!
Love, Janice xx
