Sleeping Gear?

I can't decide between a hostel sleeping sack or a sleeping bag. I've found a great Kelty Aspen +30 bag which weighs only 2 lbs 9 oz. Too heavy?

For European hostels, yes, and the sack wins comfortably.

The bag answers a question that mostly stopped being asked. Nearly every hostel in Europe now includes bed linen in the price, and a lot of them will not let you use your own sleeping bag on their mattresses anyway, which is a bedbug precaution rather than an upsell. So the bag spends the trip being 1.2 kilos of nothing, and 2 lbs 9 oz was a genuinely light bag for 2004.

A silk or cotton liner does the actual job: a couple of hundred grams, packs to the size of an orange, and covers the three cases that come up. Sheets you would rather not think about, a night train where the blanket is optional, and the occasional cheap place that charges for linen. Silk costs more, weighs less and is warmer than it looks.

The bag only earns its place if you are camping, walking a route with mountain huts, or heading north in the shoulder season. If the trip is trains and hostels, leave it at home and put the kilo into a better pack.

Posted 07 April 2004 by LiveNomadic in Eurail Planning