This Is My Favorite Packable Backpack for Travel

I’ve almost always been a backpack guy, even through that awkward stage between backpacks as bookbags and backpacks as giant world-traveler suitcase substitute.

For years, my go-to backpack for longer trips was an 85-liter Osprey pack, with a 31-liter North Face backpack as my usual day pack both at home and for trips. But in my quest to eventually travel anywhere and everywhere carrying no more than the clothes on my back and the shoes on my feet, I’ve been trying to pack less so I can rely on backpacks less. (Usually, my back thanks me.)

But at airports — and when I’m just strolling around town at home — I inevitably regret not bringing something that I could use as a backpack if needed. Here’s everything you need to know about my favorite daypack that’s great for the airport and most trips — and, it even fits in my pocket!

Sea to Summit Ultra-Sil Daypack Overview

A few years ago, I checked my big Osprey, but after weeks trudging up and down hills and mountains with a fully loaded North Face day pack, I’d just had it and needed to be free of it. So I’d emptied the North Face pack and squeezed it into the big Osprey backpack before checking in for my flight. When I disembarked for a long layover in Dubai, London, or Mexico City (again, I don’t remember where), I sashayed out into the airport with nothing on my back for the first time in weeks. I felt so free!

That is, until I realized how thirsty and hungry I was and how long the layover was going to be. My freedom quickly turned into bondage as I walked around the airport with one hand filled with a big bottle of water and the other with a sandwich I wasn’t quite ready to eat yet. My pockets were already stuffed with my passport, phone, and other necessities. (I hadn’t discovered airport lounges yet.)

It was a harsh way to recollect what the point of backpacks was in the first place.

And then I saw the Sea to Summit Ultra-Sil Daypack, hanging from a display in some random airport travel shop, looking so small that I did a double take when I realized this tiny thing was actually a backpack and not, say, a 1-liter dry sack or container full of dog poop baggies.

At its price then (now $44.95), it didn’t seem wildly overpriced, so I bought it and stuck my water bottle and sandwich in it. In less than half an hour, I went on to add a magazine, a paperback book, a pouch of nuts, a pack of candy, my passport and traveling papers, and a bunch of that other kind of stuff you mysteriously yet inevitably end up accumulating during airport layovers.

When I finally landed back home, I transferred everything back into my North Face, rolled up the Ultra-Sil, and stuck it in my pocket, where I could hardly notice it. I’ve packed the Ultra-Sil with me on most trips ever since. (Actually, that’s not true. I lent my original Ultra-Sil daypack to a friend during a trip to another country I don’t remember, and he still hasn’t given it back to me. I bought a new Ultra-Sil to replace that one a couple years ago.)

At home, i’s usually attached to my house and car keys with a small carabiner for when I remember that I need to go shopping for groceries from the market or batteries from the hardware store. When I’m on trips abroad. I clip that carabiner to my North Face or stuff it in a backpack pocket, if I’ve got it, or just keep it stuffed in my pants or jacket pocket in case I end up needing it. I almost always do.

Sea to Summit Ultra-Sil Daypack Specifications

Material: 30-denier nylon
Waterproofing: Water-resistant but not waterproof
Capacity: 20 liters
Dimensions: 11.0 x 7.9 x 18.9 inches (28 x 20 x 48 centimeters)
Weight: 2.5 ounces (72 grams)

Why I Like the Ultra-Sil Daypack

Backpacks are the superior storage device. I am convinced of this after several decades of hoisting, dragging, rolling, lifting, toting, carting, bearing, and otherwise handling countless hundreds of pounds from city to city and continent to continent.

Though I’m a big fan of Baggu-type bags, which are the most similar thing to an Ultra-Sil without being a backpack, any regular tote bag’s uneven weight distribution means more stress on my shoulder and spine and is thus an automatic no for a travel carrier.

Though the Ultra-Sil lacks the padding and stiff contouring of modern backpacks, it’s still a backpack, meaning that, thanks to its adjustable straps and reasonably careful packing, I can make sure the load I’m carrying is fairly evenly distributed across my back and shoulders, minimizing my pain and discomfort.

The 20 liters of capacity is a good size for a daypack, not so big that it’s cumbersome or hangs floppily and loose when not filled completely but also not so small that it’s useless for its purpose as a thing to carry other things.

I find that it’s a good size to haul around a decent-size water bottle, a light fleece sweater, a couple books, and a couple packs of snacks. Generally speaking, it probably gets the most use nowadays holding a few groceries (like, say, a loaf of bread, a pound of butter, a bunch of carrots, and a box of cereal) when I’m out and about suddenly remember I need to replenish the pantry and need to stay out running small errands.

Folded up, which, they way I do it, simply involves crudely cramming the thing back into its attached stuff sack, the daypack fits into my pocket. It has fairly rugged Cordura nylon loops on the that I hooked a carabiner onto. When I suspect I may need a bag for the day when I go out but want to keep my kit as light as possible, I just hook the carabiner onto my keys and put the keys and folded Ultra-Sil daypack into my front pants or coat pocket. When I’m traveling, I toss the folded Ultra-Sil daypack into my backpack in an outer pocket where I can grab it easily. If I’m checking a rolling suitcase, the Ultra-Sil daypack stay in my pocket.

At a couple of ounces, its weight is negligible.

The 30-denier nylon fabric is light but much tougher than you’d think, and I’ve never had an issue with stretching, tearing, or wear that compromises the integrity of the pack.

Downsides of the Sea to Summit Ultra-Sil Daypack

The Sea to Summit Ultra-Sil is a backpack for specific uses and isn’t a universally amazing backpack. If I need to carry anything heavy or bulky, it’s definitely not the backpack I pull out.

It’s also not padded in any way, so it’s definitely not something I’d carry a laptop or anything fragile in — if I were to drop the pack or bang it against something hard, the Ultra-Sil daypack would offer zero protection, and my laptop would definitely get dinged.

That goes for the arm straps as well, which means that if I’m carrying something very heavy in the pack, the straps will definitely dig into my shoulders and arms. This is a daypack designed for convenience and lightweight travel, not for comfort.

And though the 30-denier nylon is tough, it’s not a magical fabric. I avoid carrying sharp or overly rough objects in it, knowing that they could pierce or abrade the material. So, while I’m actually confident I could carry a 60-pound load of jagged rocks from a quarry in my North Face Surge if, for whatever reason, I had to, I also know that I’d probably only manage a few steps before my Ultra-Sil daypack just burst open, shredded to orange ribbons.

When I’m in the kind of close quarters that makes me worry that the bag might snag or get rubbed raw, like navigating through a tight, cluttered corridor or scrambling through a cave, I often carry switch the backpack around so I’m carrying in in front of me instead of my back — like you’re required to at certain museums.

The Ultra-Sil daypack also lacks any pockets either in the interior or the exterior. That means no pocket for water bottles and that the way the contents sit in the bag depends almost entirely on how good a job you do packing it. I try to load the rear with the flattest thing I’m storing so that it sits better against my back, and then load things carefully to maintain a decent balance and not stress any one part of the pack. Sometimes I’ll wrap some or all of the contents in a light fleece to help soften and distribute the load if I’m afraid sharpish corners or heavy but small objects might create stress points that could compromise the lightweight nylon.

Finally, though the Ultra-Sil daypack’s material is water-resistant, it’s not waterproof. If I’m carrying something that definitely needs to stay dry, then I pack it carefully in my North Face Surge or, if it really, really needs to stay dry and is still small enough for a backpack, I bring out my 30-liter Grundens RumRunner backpack.

And, obviously, if I need a backpack for a long trip, complete with work equipment and more than a couple changes of clothes, I haul out my Osprey Aether Plus 85, which I’ve essentially lived out of for months at a time abroad.

Final Thoughts

Ever since my decision to start going lighter in both my everyday life and on trips, I’ve come to increasingly appreciate how much modern technology in stronger, lighter fabrics and miniaturization has unburdened us and made travel so much easier on us.

For me, the prime example of that is the Sea to Summit Ultra-Sil daypack, which is a both in godsend in airports and when I’m out and about and suddenly remember I need to buy lemons for a lemonade stand or a sourdough batard for dinner.