40 Litres

-Shoes

-Shirts 

-Pants

-Shorts

-Bathing suits

-Medicine

-Hats

-Sweaters

-Underwear

-Bras

-Toiletries

 

Photo from google images

     I can see it already; all of these things sprawled across one side of the room, and my backpack on the other side looking at me in the middle as if to say, "you got to be kidding if you think that's all fitting in here".  I'll probably try different organizational attempts; shoes-shirts-pants-toothbrush, shirts-shoes-pants-toothbrush.  I'll probably wrestle the backpack for an hour or two expecting it to just "click" out of no where and my problems would be solved.  

     Unfortunately after hours, potentially days of trying to fit my life into a backpack I will give up and have to start pulling out the unnecessary items.  Online you can find backpacks of all shapes and sizes all the way up to 80 litres!  Clearly with the amount of things I expect to bring I immediately assumed I'd be getting the largest backpack in order to have everything I want to be happy.

     How materialistic is that thinking? Bad Cally, be responsible here.  I decided to do a little more research about what people consider to be the best for backpacking for months at a time.  Turns out that according to the majority of travelers I would have to be absolutely nuts to bring such a large backpack, that instead I should at the absolute most be carrying a 40 litre bag.  As I scrolled through hundreds of comments I started to see what everyone was saying. 

     You have to lug this thing around every day, it has to fit easily on planes, on crowded busses, and lockers.  The larger the bag the more of a hassle running around and exploring could potentially be.  There were also comments on how the smaller the bag a traveler has the less attention they draw to themselves.  Which is a good thought when you're going into a new country where things like theft (especially of tourists) is common.  

  

Photo from lonely planet

     So a 40 litre bag is the absolute largest I will allow myself to buy, and I will stuff it until it's bursting at the seams I am sure.  As awful as it will be trying to fit my life into this small space, I know I'll be happier having less to cary around once I get there and my back will be the happiest of all.