How to choose and pack a rucksack

If you are off on your first great adventure and looking to buy a rucksack, there are a few things you should bear in mind. Your rucksack is going to be your home for the next few weeks, so it is worth investing a little time and effort into making sure it is as comfortable and well organised as possible!

Most people will never need anything bigger than a 60 or 65 litre rucksack, particularly as a female; some come with an additional 15 litre packdown daysack, and these are well worth having so you don’t have to lug all your stuff with you every time you want to go on a daytrip.

Ensure that the hip belt is well padded, and that roughly half the weight of your gear is resting on your hips, not just your shoulders. The shoulder straps should be adjustable, and the back section should not only be well padded, but also have adequate ventilation. There are few things nastier than a heavy rucksack on a damp back in high humidity, trust me! Try and buy one that can be accessed from both the top and the bottom, so that you don’t have to tip your gear all over the road in order to find something hidden right at the base. Remember the "first in, last out" rule, and keep your sleeping bag and overnight stuff in the bottom section.

Your heaviest items should always be as close to your back as possible but there are lots of theories about whether the heavy stuff should be at the top or the bottom. In my experience the general rule is that if you are walking over even terrain, heavy items packed towards the top can be kept over your centre of gravity just by leaning forward a little; if you are climbing a mountain put the weight closer to the base. This will slow you down and put more weight on your waist, but it will also make you more stable. The general weight should be evenly distributed across the width of your rucksack as well; try not to overload one side pocket with heavier stuff than the other, or your back will struggle to compensate!

Some packs come with their own raincovers, as few rucksack are truly waterproof. Either invest in a cover, or make sure you have always got a binbag in an easily accessible side pocket to act as an emergency rainshield. Keep all your gear subdivided into ziplock bags as well; not only will this keep your kit dry, you will be able to repack your bag faster and be able to separate dirty clothes from clean.

Make sure your loo roll is in a plastic bag, as once it is damp I find it starts to lose its structural identity! Keep it, your waterproof cagoule/poncho and any low value items you don’t mind being rummaged through in the easily accessible side pocket. I always make sure that the things I use the most, like suncream, tissues, lip balm and water are in these pockets too, as well as my first aid kit (keep this in a ziplock bag as well as damp plasters are next to useless). I try and keep my high value items in my daysack close to my hand, or wrapped up in socks and stuffed deep inside the back my rucky, just in case anybody does decide to have a poke about while I am dozing. It is also a good idea to make sure that you keep a few toiletry essentials in your daysack, just in case you do become separated from your main bag; a spare pair of knickers, a couple of tissues and a little packet of wet-wipes will ensure that you can feel refreshed and more comfortable while you wait for your bag to be returned to the right airport!

When you are putting your beloved rucky in the airplane hold, fold the waistbelt back around the pack and do the clips up, just to make sure it doesn’t get caught in the conveyor belt, and put luggage tags on both the inside and the outside. If the outer one gets ripped off by some brute of a luggage handler then there is still a good chance your bag can be identified.

Use elastic bands to keep loose items like flip-flops organised, and use them to secure clothes that have been rolled up (I am sure that rolled clothes takes up less space than folded ones, but have a go and see what you think!).You can always hang them up in the bathroom while you take a hot shower and let the steam take the crinkles out, while compression sacks are great for stowing away jumpers and cardigans that take up lots of room.

A plastic lunchbox is also useful; it does take up a lot of room but you can use it to store all your small, easily lost items (sewing kit, knife, Polos etc), and it is also great for keeping squashable tubes and bottles in. Surely I am not the only one to have had the greater part of a bottle of high factor Soltan splurged all over my Lonely Planet??

The trick to a well-packed rucksack is to not fill it up. You need much less than you think, and you can buy anything anywhere, generally for less than you can get it here. By all means take toiletries from home with you, but you don’t need three of everything. In Asia in particular many shops sell mini bottles of Western toiletry brands and these are brilliant for cutting down the weight of your bag.

Don’t go overboard spending money on kit and clothes before you go; you are only going to need half of what you think, and it’s much more fun to buy clothes abroad anyway as they are more likely to be suited to the local climate and etiquette, and they make nice souvenirs when you get home. How else are you going to sit in the pub on your return wearing a Cambodian headscarf, kurta pyjamas and a New Zealand Swan Dry jacket, regaling the locals of how you bartered for fabric in a remote hill tribe village with an opium smoking nonagenarian?