I’d seen it all over Instagram — backpackers posing in otherwise empty cityscapes and epic natural scenes, with inspirational captions about life being an adventure.
I started traveling with just a backpack before I took on the role as a travel reporter for Business Insider five years ago, when I realized I needed to lighten my load to make it easier to hit the road for longer periods.
In August 2022, I spent a week backpacking for the first time through Eastern Canada. My backpack and I traveled from Niagara Falls to Toronto, Montreal, and Quebec City by train, and it turned out to be much easier than I’d originally thought.
So, two months…
