Travelling with cabin baggage certainly has its advantages as one travels lighter and saves on the cost of having to check-in the luggage. However I have learnt from experience of the problems of not being able to carry a backpack while travelling. I am one who likes to go hiking in rural areas far away from the city chaos. Having a backpack allows me to carry two or three small bottles of water, some food, one or more portable battery chargers, a raincoat, a pullover or sweatshirt and possibly a jacket in winter.

Carrying a normal backpack in a small cabin luggage is normally not possible. However if the backpack is packable then this will not really be an issue. The advantages of carrying a packable rucksack are the following:

• Most packable rucksacks can be folded into a very small carry bag and in doing so they take very little space. I never realized how small a packable backpack can get until I got one myself.
• Packable rucksacks are very light. As a matter of fact, such backpacks normally weight between 8oz (230g) and 10oz (285g).
• Once unfolded, most packable backpacks are fairly large and a capacity of 20L to 25L can be expected.
• Some packable rucksacks have multiple zipped compartments while allows one to keep things organized.
• Most packable rucksacks are relatively inexpensive and can be bought for less than $25, £16 or €20.

Packable rucksacks do have their drawbacks however. While there are some quality and durable ones on the market, some packable backpacks are not suitable for carrying heavy loads. Ending with a ripped backpack with things falling out of the bag in the middle of nowhere is not a very nice experience.

The main drawback in my opinion is the lack of padding in the straps. Having little or no padding means that even if the backpack is capable of carrying a 10kg load without tearing apart; carrying such a heavy load for hours on end will stress and possibly hurt the shoulders. However the truth is that no packable backpack is designed with the idea of carrying heavy objects; there are other types of backpacks for such kinds of tasks.