What is Backpacking: And How to Choose and Use a Backpack

Everything I have Learned about Backpacking: My Backpacking Advice for Beginners

Table Of Content

1. What is Backpacking? Or Rather, What is Backpacking to Me? Backpacking Definition.
2. How to Backpack?
3. My Trustworthy Backpack
4. How to Choose a Backpack For Travel: Backpacking for Beginners
5. How to Wear a Rucksack Correctly: Backpack Basics
6. Resources for Beginner Backpackers

In 2016, I took out my old grey and rusted brown backpack, Rusty, from the cupboard where it had been for the last three years. I was traveling to Chile to teach English as part of a volunteer program. As I was going for at least six months, I packed Rusty, a small wheeled suitcase, a laptop bag, and a black leather purse.

I stayed on a cold island in the south of Chile, and most of my bags stayed put. I only carried Rusty on short weekend trips within the country.

The four-month volunteer program was over soon. It was time to set sail for my longer backpacking trip through South America. With some push from my travel friend Alison, who also happens to be a backpacking genius, I accepted that Rusty wasn’t the best backpack after all.

Rusty didn’t fit well on my back. It was too big. No matter how much I pulled and grunted, the rucksack couldn’t be packed tightly. It wasn’t sturdy enough.

Alison told me it was time to let Rusty go. Listening to her, I went to a mall in Santiago and after checking out a lot of good backpacks, bought a 55-liter blue NorthFace backpack. This new one sat perfectly on my hips (as a good backpack should). Its straps were padded, and I could adjust a strap to shift the bag’s weight vertically.

This time I only packed a few t-shirts, a couple of pants, skirts, hiking shoes and slippers, a pink rain jacket, a thick Colombia winter jacket, laptop and its charger, first-aid kit, undergarments, power bank, a book, a diary, toiletries, and trinkets from around the world. The big stuff got into the blue NorthFace. The smaller things and essentials got inside the small backpack I carried on my front.

I left the rest of my stuff at my friends’ in Chile.

Through my three-month long travel through Chile, Peru, and Bolivia, my bag weighed eight to nine kilos only. Now I could walk easily as my shoulders didn’t get burdened under the heavy backpack. I would tie the hip belts and buckle the tiny belt on my chest to keep the rucksack close to my body. I ran to catch buses, and no one ever said I was overpacked.

My new NorthFace was the most lightweight backpack I have ever carried.

What is Backpacking? Or Rather, What is Backpacking to Me? Backpacking Definition.

I slowed down in South America for weeks in one place and spent as much money as I liked. If a treehouse in Bolivia’s Samaipata village kept me hooked for a week, the Titicaca islands didn’t let me go.

As my pace of travel depended on my mood and the destination, I realized neither was I a backpacker nor did I want to become one. I just wanted a backpack.

You heard me right. This is the time to ask: So all this drama for nothing?

I concur with half and negate half of the things that Wikipedia says defines backpacking.

I don’t always try to find the most inexpensive ways to travel. I stay in cheap dorms, but I often sign up for single rooms too, especially when I have to work. Sometimes I choose a homestay, even if a hostel is cheaper, because I like to stay with locals rather than travelers. Yes, you can easily find me on public buses or trains and not in taxis because I enjoy taking public transport.

I travel long-term and mostly solo. I look at travel as a means to learn on the road. My idea about traveling or backpacking is that I see the nooks and corners of a destination naturally, rather than picking the places that travelers crowd or are expected to admire.

As I said above, I run away from backpackers, but of a particular kind. I avoid those who hang out in groups, count every penny they spend, and whose preferred hangout joints are hostel dorms. I know that I wouldn’t go along with the ones who always choose pizza and hostel bars over regional meals and an obscure local club. I never follow backpacker groups. Those backpackers who condemn local culture and often make statements such as how dirty the locals are and how could they eat rice for breakfast, and omg, I can never do that, I avoid.

You wouldn’t find me next to the backpackers who live in a bubble that flops around them, pulling them together wherever they go. I sometimes wish that I could be more like them, enjoying each other’s company, staying comfortable within the group, not exploring strange cuisines. But I just can’t do it. My bad!

I have still made countless friends on the road though.

I have also met travelers who slow down and engage with the local community while finding ways to give back. They stay with families, take out time to talk, and eat what they are given without complaining or judging. They slow down at places rather than check-boxing its sightseeing locations. They make their own travel route and aren’t afraid of getting uncomfortable. They, too, have a lot of fun, but not because they are sloshed every night.

Mostly when I see a group of backpackers, I run in the opposite direction. I am a traveler but not a backpacker. At least not in the traditional broke backpacker sense. And there is nothing good or bad about it.

Initially, I saved enough to travel without having to calculate money every morning, and now I write to earn and travel.  

The definition of backpacking also changes with geography.

As per the Cambridge Dictionary, UK definition: “backpacking is the activity of travelling while carrying your clothes and other things that you need in a backpack, usually not spending very much money and staying in places that are not expensive.”

But the Cambridge Dictionary’s US backpacking definition is different. It defines backpacking as “the activity of walking from place to place in the countryside, carrying the things you need in a backpack and camping at night.”

How to Backpack? What Does Backpacking Mean To Me?

So what does backpacking mean to me? I would say you can be a backpacker with a trolley bag, a backpack, a shoulder bag, a jute sack, or with a big suitcase.

Backpacking is about the spirit of adventure and exploring a place and has nothing to do with what you carry or don’t. It’s not about how cheap or smart you do it. It’s about immersing yourself in the destination. It’s about interacting with the people.

Are you booking resorts, or are you ready to put up in a homestay where you might have to talk to the family and teach their child a bit of Mathematics? Do you like local fish rice, or do you head to the McDonalds every day? Would you hike the mountain with the host to water his pea field, or would you head to the museum with your list of five places that have to be checked off before you can breathe again?

Do you read about a place before going there? No, not just travel guides. Does a rainy day upset you, or do you grab a cup of tea and sit by the window to watch people pass by? Would you grimace at someone licking their coconut-curry-dipped fingers, or would you squat down to ask why they did that and if you could try?

Backpacking is about embracing the place, absorbing its lifestyle, and letting go of things that you don’t like. It’s about getting out of your comfort zone to understand a new area and the locals. It’s about taking the unknown path rather than walking a Lonely Planet trail. It’s about eating what you get.

Backpacking, for me, is about letting go of control, habits, and comforts, and making the most of the destination I am in. Whether I am backpacking alone or with friends, I always look for the same things.

Getting stuck in a remote village might not be all pleasant. But it’s an adventure. At the end, you always learn a thing or two about yourself.

Would you just follow or would you discover for yourself?

My Trustworthy Rucksack Bag

I have been using a North Face backpack for four years now, and I have no complaints. You will see me carrying this rucksack bag while backpacking around the world (pictures on this blog can prove).

Here is my bag: The North Face Terra Backpacking Backpack.

My rucksack has a padded hip belt and shoulder straps. A lever on the back panel can be shifted vertically to adjust the bag weight until you have it on your hips. The zippers are strong. The compartments at the top and the bottom allow me to access the important stuff quickly.

I’ve been using NorthFace products for a while and find them sturdy. My backpack has suffered the icy winds near Cusco, has been thrown off the roof of the jeeps on a rough ride from Manali to Spiti valley, and has been stuffed into the dingy state buses of Parvati Valley. Not even once did my rucksack retaliate. Every zip is intact. The bag isn’t torn anywhere.

Go here to read the reviews of the bag I trust and to purchase it.

How to Choose a Travel Backpack: Backpacking for Beginners

1. What is the ideal backpack size for backpacking? Make sure you buy a bag of the capacity you require. If you need to carry a lot of stuff, say you are going on a month-long hiking trip, go for a large bag. For regular backpacking requirements, a fifty to sixty liter bag would do. Mine is fifty-five liter. 
2. Buy a backpack with padded hip belts and padded shoulder straps: for comfort. Padded belts won’t dig into your waist or shoulders, and they will hold nicely. Wear the different backpacks you like and decide after trying.
3. Choose a bag with a height adjuster so that the bag’s weight can be pushed to the hips. As a beginner backpacker, I didn’t know that the weight of the bag shouldn’t be on my shoulders but it should be on my waist. Of course my shoulders hurt, and I was uncomfortable all the time. My bag weighed thirteen to fourteen kilos, no less. I was backpacking for the first time, and as a novice traveler, I was bound to make mistakes.
4. Do check the quality of the buckles and the zippers. They should be strong. 
5. I don’t think a travel backpack for women should be any different from the travel backpacks for men. Most backpacks are unisex now so choose as per your preferences.

How to Use a Backpack Correctly: Backpacking Basics

• A well-packed bag would be easy to carry. To keep the bag compact and well-shaped, it should be packed tightly.
• Once packed, close all the zips and buckle up all the belts. Pull the buckle belts to tighten them.
• Remember to buckle the hip belt and the tiny belt around the chest. These two will keep the bag’s weight close to your body.
• In a good backpack, the load should be mainly diverted to the padded hip belts and shouldn’t lie on the shoulder belts. This way you would use your legs to carry the weight and not your shoulders or back. Adjust the height properly so that the bag’s weight is balanced on your hips, and your shoulders aren’t strained.
• Tie the hip belt around your hip bones, not around your waist. That’s how you carry a rucksack properly.
• If your shoulders are sore or the back muscles feel jammed, take off the bag and readjust the height again. The adjustment is worth it if you have to carry the bag for a long time.
• Protect the buckles from being stepped on when the bag is on the floor. (I haven’t been able to do this so far.) If any buckle breaks, find a shoe or bag repair shop and yelp for help.
• Use Ziplock bags and packing cubes to pack stuff. Thus, you will have the relevant stuff categorized together, and it will be easy to access. The tight packing cubes also ensure compact packing, making the rucksack easy to carry.
• Carry your important documents, laptop, power banks, and camera in another small backpack on the front.
• Do buy a cover for your bag if it doesn’t have one. The backpack I use comes with a rain cover. Cover the bag on a bus ride or before checking it on a flight. The bag will stay clean even when thrown around in dirty airport trolleys or bus compartments.

Further Reading: Backpacking Resources for Beginner Backpackers and Travelers

Find all my travel resources and packing list here.

If you are going on an international trip for the first time, have a look at my visa page for Indians. 

Here is some travel inspiration for you. 

Hope this helps. See you out there. 

What are some of your tips for backpacking? Are you a new traveler? Let me know in the comments.

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