Backpacking without a backpack?
 

Would it be completly weird if I went to a hostel in a foreign country and just had a suitcase? What if I had both a backpack and a suitcase? Would it just make me look cheap, like I didn't want to pay for a hotel room? Or does this happen a lot?

you're probably gonna be walking a lot. A backpack would be easier.

A backpack is a lot more comfortable to handle when you're a) walking a lot, and b) using a lot of public transportation. Backpacks are also usually easier to unpack/repack--since you have different compartments for different things, you don't have to tear the thing apart to find something. It also keeps you from packing too much.

If you are going to be traveling for a long time, I would suggest staging a practice trip before now and then. Many years ago, my family used a 4-day trip to Vancouver, Canada by train to "warm up" for our summer vacation--a 3-week train trip between Chicago, New York, and Washington, D.C. It was a good exercise because both my brother and I figured out how far we could walk carrying a certain amount of stuff. Overpacking is not pleasant--and neither is underpacking. Pack wisely.

The problem is that you'll need to get your stuff from the train station to where ever the hostel is. If you're going to take cabs or it's not very far, a suitcase would work fine, but you'd probably be able to fit more stuff in a backpack.

Personally, I recommend one with a detachable day pack. I love mine.

Snowy also makes a great suggestion about a practice trip.

Isn't that just going for a walk?

Smart ass... :shakehead:

If you're afraid of looking cheap because you're staying at a hostel. That's definitely not the case. I've met plenty of well-off people staying at hostels, and they're usually very fun to go grab a drink with.

I'd also suggest dumping the suitcase and getting a decent backpack (loads easier to carry).

Plus you'll look a lot less dorky with a backpack.

I have a backpack that I used while hiking around New Mexico for 12 days.

This trip is a little different though. It is a business trip for 4 weeks first, and then I am thinking of backpacking around a city for the 5th week. I have my college backpack that would be perfect, but how safe would it be to leave behind two suitcases in a hostel? Maybe it would be better if I could drop them off with a TFP person and then take them out for a drink at the end of the week.

I can take more stuff if I have my two large suitcases and my college backpack. (They might be half empty going over, as I don't want to get close to the weight limits at the airport in either direction.) If I took my hiking backpack, I could only take one suitcase and the backpack that I would worry about getting damaged at the airport.

I do know how to pack lightly for short trips, but I'm going to have to think about this some more.

For the Business trip are you staying in a business hotel?

If so, just leave some stuff behind in their left luggage (assuming you are going back to that city later in the trip).

You can also use the left luggage at the airport at your destination. It will cost a bit but you can leave a your suitcase behind with all the stuff you don't need. Just pick it up on the way out of town.

The business trip is to the middle of nowhere. :)

And I would be backpacking around a large city which I would fly into at the start and then fly out of at the end of my stay. So I will have to look into having the airport hold my luggage for a few days. That would work out the best probably.