Moving from Mexico to Europe - Travel gear advice requested!

Hey all! I just found this site yesterday and I can already tell people here have a lot of experience and good sense regarding travelling in different modes, and most of all, everyone seems to be very nice!

This might be a longish post, so I appreciate anyone taking the time to read and post any advice they feel pertinent to my situation. Quick question: should I start a separate thread to present myself to the rest of the forum?

All right...my situation is not urgent or anything, but I want to plan beforehand as much as possible. I was born in Mexico and have lived here for 30 years. My mom is Austrian and I´m in the middle of getting my Austrian citizenship recognized (cross fingers!). I intend to move to Europe next year and study a Masters degree, probably in the Netherlands. I hope I can make the best of the few free weekends I´ll have (that is, if I do have any...) and travel lightly, visiting friends, family and generally backpacking around as much as I can, making the best of the Eurorail, buses, etc. As you can see, my intentions for travelling will not be venturing into the wilderness (I´m a city boy ).

Due to airline restrictions, I can fly with two 62" linear/23 kg(overall) suitcases and a carry on. I have a carry on, which is my laptop backpack by the brand Targus. It´s Ok for everyday use, but it has no fancy features such as an internal frame or durable mesh covers. Suitcases here are expensive and not that good, that´s what got me thinking about military packs/bags. As I mentioned, I have to pack my life in two suitcases/bags and a carry on.

I have been reading a lot online about different options and I´m still overwhelmed by the amount of information and options...I have been interested in the Deuter Quantum travelpack and even replied to another thread. I received some good advice regarding the size of the pack (I thought about the 70/10 L model, but now I´m having second thoughts). I feel I need to mention...there are no good stores carrying internal frame packs, so checking out various models is out for me. Due to this, I´m leaning towards the military bags more and more...

I´ve already gotten rid of a lot of stuff...I have found new homes for my books, CDs, etc. I have few clothes and will need to take as much of them with me, plus buying seasonal stuff over there. I guess I´m trying to find the perfect bags to take as much stuff as I can over there. I doubt I will be getting an internal frame pack as I originally wanted because there are simply none over here to try out.

Ok, this post is more than long enough and I don´t want to bore anyone...any input is highly valued.

The way I see it you need 2 things:

• 1-2 relatively large bags aside from your laptop backpack to get your stuff to Europe. These bags can be of low quality because you won't be travelling around Europe with them. You'll use them to get to the Netherlands from Mexico and then they can rot on top of your wardrobe until you move again. For this my choice would a set of rolling uprights like the one I linked in my first reply to you. I would try to spent no more than 50 USD on a set like that, 30 USD would be a good price.

• A decent backpack for travelling around Europe. There will be plenty of choices when you are in Europe, so no need to buy now. For practical reasons I would go for carry-on size 55 cm x 40 cm x 20 cm. The usual suspects in that regard are the Osprey Porter 46, the Lowe Alpine TT Carry-On 40 and a few others from the business traveller ranges; those will include a case for the laptop. If that is not up to your liking and you insist on internal frame and all that stuff look at hiking backpacks like the Deuter Groeden 35. Or since you will be cycling a lot in the Netherlands you might like to get a backpack suitable to cycling, in this case I can recommend the Deuter Futura 32 for a mix of daily use and travelling and the Deuter Cross City for your everyday needs as a student at a Dutch university.
  

You are the man! (or am I assuming wrong?)

You are absolutely right...No need to get ahead of myself, and I´ve sorted my priorities a bit. Thanks for pointing out to better quality packs, my Targus one isn´t up to par, to be perfectly honest. Besides cycling and travelling the Netherlands, I hope I will be visiting regularly northern Germany, where my mom lives.

See you around.

See you around.

If you will regularly go to see your mom in Northern Germany - definitely, maybe not just online. If you ever get it into your head to cycle from the Dutch-German boder to Berlin give me a holler, I can help you with that.

BTW, does your mum live in Niedersachsen? If yes, check out the Niedersachsen-Ticket. It's a special train ticket that is valid for one day on regional trains in the German federal state Lower Saxony. Can be very good value if you cover longer distances with it, say Bad Bentheim to Hamburg or Emden to Göttingen.

[ Edit: Edited on 26-Sep-2009, at 17:47 by t_maia ]

That´s very nice of you! Will certainly do so! I plan on living at least for a few years in Europe and make the most of my time there, everything depending on the job situation.

Indeed my mum lives in Lower Saxony, Wittmund to be exact. I have family in Berlin so it´s very likely I will go there some time. Thanks for the tip!