Having traveled the length and breadth of four continents in the last three years, without taking a single plane, I now consider myself something of an expert at the art of backpacking. Here are 10 tips for doing it right.

1. Dump your backpack and get a travel bag instead. Travel bags, AKA duffle bags, have the killer feature of opening from the side rather than the top, and these days they have back straps too. Top-loading backpacks are obsolete technology. They are zombies which survive on nostalgia and groupthink. They are evolutionary vestiges which take forever to disappear, like seals' feet.
2. Get a smaller one. You need half of what you think you need. The tiny handful of backpackers I see with small backpacks are invariably the most experienced. I manage with a 40L model. Do your back a favor.
3. Pack more underwear. Get an extra week between laundries! It will never add up to a full machine anyway. (Alternative system for hardcore types: wash it by hand every 3 nights, and enjoy a featherweight backpack.) And pack less outerwear. Nobody will see you long enough to notice.
4. Use bar soap. Liquid invariably leaks, however carefully you close the bottle. (Alternative solution: use smooth-gripped screw bottles and keep them inside a dry bag.)
5. Don’t pack things in plastic bags. There are classier ways to organize stuff. Use laundry bags and, where necessary, waterproof camping bags.
6. Only use ATMs at proper banks and during opening hours. That way you have options when the card gets eaten, as it will eventually.
7. Pack a water filter, or a kettle, so that you can drink tap water anywhere, for free, without polluting the earth with plastic. (A win-win in theory, but apparently this one has not yet occurred to much of humanity.)
8. Don’t book more than a night or two’s accommodation at the same place. There is almost always space for a second night, especially if it is just a hostel bed. No need to close off your options. If staying a while, then use the internet tariff as a base to negociate a lower cash rate.
9. Take your shower at night if you are using your own towel. That way the towel will be dry by the time you need to pack it.
10. Don’t buy souvenirs, or anything else. Lugging junk around on your back for months on end is all kinds of silly.