My wife and I recently had the opportunity to take a couple of these on a two-week trip to Ireland. Having done some research beforehand, I knew we would not want to use our airport-specific roller bags when we were hiking through centuries-old Irish towns. The Paddlejunkie spoke with a rep from Deuter for us, who suggested we try the Traveler. I swear they had us in mind when the folks at Deuter designed them. I had the "70+10," and my wife used the "55+10s." Here are a few of the best aspects of the packs:
1) Sleek look: very streamlined, sleet gray in color, they turned one or two heads while we were waiting at train stations and such. My wife also liked that hers came with a flower attached :)
2) The structure: The packs rock an internal frame which takes about two seconds to adjust to the length of your back. The padding is very comfortable, and once adjusted with the hip strap, the pack rides very easy. Also. The packs are gender-specific, as the female one is made to conform better to the currrrvy contours of a woman's body:
3) Duffelability: Traveling between airports was easy as the back-packing straps would zip into a compartment, thus making them a couple duffel bags. This made for less stuff to get snagged when lugging them on and off airport busses.
4) Expandability: There were no issues bringing back souvenirs from the trip. The expandability came in handy when we just didn't feel like packing in an organized manner. Internal straps also made it easy to keep stuff tight and organized. Also, if the day pack is too full to attach to the back of the pack, it hooks on the front:
5) Modifiable compartments: Tired of having your dirty clothes or shoes in the same compartment as your clean clothes? Just zip off a compartment between the two. The compartment is water-resistant (and thus smell resistant) like the rest of the bag.
6) Durability: we seriously put these up to a challenge, and we had no issues with zippers or seams tearing. The water-resistant fabric is also a plus on a wet day in Ireland.
7) Removable day packs. Say what!?!? These were my favorite part of the whole deal. We could travel from place to place with the daypacks zipped to the large packs, and once we got to where we were staying, we could dump the large packs and hit the town for the day with a day pack or two. I've used the day pack a lot since, as its a great size to take a few things to work or to as a carry-on for a weekend away from home. The daypack sports an internal sleeve is that can hold a laptop or a hydration reservoir, with the appropriate attachments for hydration tubes. Very comfortable on your back as well.
Overall, I'm sold on these packs. Well-designed, durable, comfortable. I plan to use them as often as possible in the future, and my wife and I now have another reason to travel.
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