What Size Rucksack???

mrblueshorts

During December I will be venturing between Delhi - Agra - Jaipur for a week. As I have never travelled about in India I am wondering what size rucksack to purchase for the purpose of this trip. 40L or 60L - what would other IM suggest?

sakamath

Obviously, that would depend upon what things you'd want to put in it!

Jokes apart, December is cool-weatherwise, so carrying heavier stuff would not make you suffer (unlike during the summer).

If you would be travelling in public transport (not necessarily govt. operated), it would be pretty crowded. People may not like to be nudged with your rucksack big or small. Hence you may have to place it in the luggage rack. So ensure that your bag has a lock on it and that you don't keep any valuable items in it (travel documents etc).

It also depends on your choice of food. If you can make do with what's available at the local store/restaurants, you need not stuff your bag with food, saving you on space and weight. Travel light would be my advise.

Hope that helps.

Hal

I have a 42L pack which I find is good for short trips. It fits under train seats easily and is no trouble to carry. Plus, I take a very light nylon daypack that I pack on top.

santos_g15

buy a bigger one(60L) if you are frequent traveller.you will buy a loads of things to carry back home. i have always found my bag good enough when i start off and at end i always end up stuffing up to the brim.your case 40 is small i guess and 60 should be correct again it depends on you.

Or alternatively,

Since your trip is only for a week buy a 40 L .use laundry and minimize stuff you buy.this bag will hold good for 3-4 days worth of travel.

mrblueshorts

Thank you for your replies. It seems the general view is to go for the 40L rucksack and keep what I carry down to a minimum. I will be mostly travlling by train inbetween destinations so going for the smaller rucksack should make things a lot easier. Just hope I don't find too many things to buy on my short travels...

Hal

If you buy lots of stuff, you can always buy another bag to put it in, or post it home.

Dimitrz

if you are a disciplined person invest in 60l but pack for 40l - let 20l remain for any ermergency requirment like buying a seelping bag or an spur of the moment shopping spree

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hitanshu

+1.

i have a mega oversized rucksack (SACK is more like it). It doesn't fit under train seats, can never be checked in etc etc. midsize is good. though 60L ain't a bad idea

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lyingeyes

Hi,
Im going to mumbai and travelling through india for five weeks from the 5th of august. Im travelling light from this end and aim to carry next to nothing through the airports as i dont want, well actually cant afford to go shopping from this end. Will it be possible to get a good 60 l backpack in mumbai, can anyone give me any pointers on where to go in mumbai and about how much it will cost!! I will need good quality!!

Dimitrz

Yes you can .... though since I have legft Mumbai sometime back am no longer familiar with the excat locations.

However you can get good Rucksacks from retailers like OZONE and Wildcraft ( though sometimes from Indian standard I feel their price is higher than the quality because I get equally good quality Rucksacks from other sellers who make their bags themselves eg www.stikage.com ) most of the stuff I buy comes from them - only draw back to them is that it takes a week for the product to be shipped from Delhi to Mumbai and the finishing is not as good as a branded one but comfort is much better.

Sensi

I would go for the biggest you can muster. 80l sure why not? I've written a bit about on my blog: what to pack for India.

gwilo

@ mrblueshorts

As you're only there for a week it depends on how much shopping you intend to do - 40l should b more than sufficient for your actual essentials, but if you are planning on buying lots of things, especially textiles, then maybe you should take a half empty 60l. You can of course post things back, but why bother with the hassle, you only have a week to do things so maximise your time. Ive taking a 40l and a 65l to India before and managed to shove either behind my head on the top bunks of Indian trains - not without some difficulty in the case of the 65l though.

If you are planning to shop lots please be aware you are doing a tour of India's 'golden triangle' of tourism - i.e. the most well-worn tourist paths, where there are the most scams . Luckily most of these are well documented, so a little reading before you go should see you through.

Haylo

I am not being flippant, but honestly, it depends how much you plan to be putting it. Perhaps a better question would be "How much stuff do I need to take?"

Everyone is different when it comes to what they think is reasonable to take on holiday. I have gone away for five days with only a largeish handbag, others on the same trip took two HUGE bags.

The hilarious thing was, every time anyone in the group said "Has anyone got needle and thread / painkiller / plastic bag / pen /duct tape / corkscrew etc" guess who pulled it out of their tiny "magic bag" - it became the joke of the trip!

I still have absolutely no idea what everyone else stuffed their bags with!

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hitanshu

Well, two seems to be the norm. Saw about 200+ foreign tourists today at the airport and almost 90% had two rucksacks - a huge 40-60L one and a day pack!