I recently completed a 3-week vacation trip to 3 different countries (flights between each + some train travel) using this pack. I needed clothing for weather ranging from cool (in the low 50's F) and rainy to hot and humid, and activities ranging from standard city sight-seeing to more formal dinners to hiking some rugged trails. I wanted to be able to carry-on to avoid lost luggage. I also took with me a lightweight stuff-sack style day pack (from another brand) to use as my "personal item" on flights and to use during daytime outings at my destinations, since the Alpa 42L is too big to use as a daypack. I like the Alpa 42L because of the clamshell design and interior organization. The pack is spacious, well organized, comfortable to wear, rugged, and has thoughtful details that other reviewers have already mentioned. I like the fact that the external laptop pocket is padded and somewhat hidden, and can be used for other flat-ish items if you're not putting a laptop in it. I always carry with me a wide-mouth Nalgene water bottle, and the stretch water bottle pocket fits it well, unlike similar packs from other brands. I recommend using compression bags for clothes inside the Alpa (I used packing cubes, but wished I had used ones with compression). The pack had more than enough room for my clothes for the 3-week trip - in fact I had too many clothes (but also had access to washing machines during this trip). For reference, across the Alpa 42L and my day pack, I took 2 pairs of jeans, 2 pairs of linen pants, a pair of lightweight shorts, a pair of athletic tights, a wool sweater, a backpacking rain coat, a cotton jacket, 5 t-shirts, 4 collared shirts, a linen dress, underwear, socks, and a bathing suit, toiletries, 3 books, a laptop and electronics cords/chargers/batteries, a couple of notebooks, gifts, a pair of sandals (wore my trail shoes on the plane), and I still had more room in the Alpa (although to meet certain flight size and weight restrictions I had to redistribute things between the Alpa and my day pack). My improvement suggestions: 1. Although I love the clean lines and exterior of the Alpa, I would add small side straps for cinching down the bag when it's not full. This would help it better fit some of the European airline size restrictions for carry-ons. Side straps would also be nice for holding trekking poles or a wet raincoat etc. while wearing the pack. 2. Position the sewn-on exterior webbing in the corners in a way that it's easier to add after-market elastic cords for strapping things like a rain coat to the exterior of the bag (or Cotopaxi could offer an add-on elastic strap specifically designed for the Alpa, but that could be removed for flights). I bought some elastic cord for a DIY attempt, but the angles and spacing of the webbing made it hard to create a "net" effect on the exterior of the pack and I scrapped that idea.
Read More
