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How to choose your Digital Nomad Backpack


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Everyone has their own style of traveling. Maybe you prepare a detailed itinerary for your trip, or perhaps you are more of a go with the flow type of traveler. Your travel style can include everything from where you stay, what you eat, and even includes your packing methods. If you’re frequently moving around like us, you most likely have a digital nomad backpack of your own or are looking to invest in one.

Traveling with a suitcase is not the only way to travel anymore. Backpacks are becoming a popular way to travel. Backpacks are a great carry-on option to pack everything you need, while also not having to worry about lugging around a suitcase.

Many travelers try to spend the least amount of time at the airport – there are only so many airport drinks you can have before a flight. Just kidding! Once you land at your destination, it seems everyone is in a rush to get off of the plane, and out of the airport asap. One way to make a smooth exit is to travel with a backpack.

Since our trip to the Philippines, we have switched to hand luggage only. It saves us time and money on flights, especially when in Asia!

Hand holding black backpack, pin for Pinterest
Pin this to decide later which digital nomad backpack is right for you!

Best backpacks for digital nomads

Being a digital nomad has many benefits. One perk is having the option to always be on the go. This can be in the form of traveling from city to city, country to country or even working from different coffee shops and coworking spaces.

Of course, you always need to bring with you your essential items for your work and your day. When choosing a backpack, there are so many options online; it can be overwhelming to pick one!

Digital nomad backpack standing on a rock with a mountain and the sunset in the back.
Which digital nomad backpack will you choose?

No matter what kind of traveler you are, there is a backpack to support you on your journey.

Let’s have a look at the best backpacks for digital nomads to fit your traveling style.

Best Carry-On Digital Nomad Backpack

If you’ve researched travel backpacks before, you most likely have come across the Osprey brand. This is the best carry-on backpack for digital nomads, as it is the perfect size to fit everything you need for your trip, while also meeting the carry-on restrictions for most airlines. Whether you are taking a city break or exploring the countryside, this bag is excellent for both. It’s resistant, comfortable, and you can fit 40L.

There is a lockable padded laptop compartment to keep your laptop safe. 

The backpack has a sleek design, with front compression straps to fit anything extra. This Osprey is a traveling backpack classic. 

Black backpack for digital nomads

See on Amazon

Best Digital Nomad Carry-On Duffel Bag

Carrying a backpack can get tiring when you have a lot of stuff. This bag is great because it’s versatile to carry. You can wear this convertible backpack in a few different ways to give your shoulders a break.  

You can opt for the classic backpack, a shoulder bag, or a hand carry bag. It’s excellent to use as a work bag or a gym bag on your travels – or both! The bag holds up to 60L, so there is room for all your day to day needs.

The bag is great for any trip – it is water-resistant, durable, holds all your items, and easy to carry. 

Black backpack duffel bag style

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Best Business Digital Nomad Backpack

If you travel with a lot of electronics, this is an excellent backpack for you. There are storage compartments for all your devices – a phone, a tablet, a keyboard, a mouse, a laptop – all your electronic goodies. The backpack can hold up to a 15.6-inch laptop.

The backpack has a port for your headphones, so you can listen to your music or talk on your phone, hands-free.

There is a built-in USB charger on the outside, with a charging cable on the inside, so you can conveniently charge your phone on the go. 

The backpack has a sleek design, and looks like an expensive buy, but is available at an affordable price.

Blue digital nomad backpack

See on Amazon

Best Digital Nomad Baby Backpack

If you’re a digital nomad family, you need to be prepared for yourself and your family. 

This backpack is convenient, versatile, and cute! It’s a stylish diaper bag that stores all the necessities for your baby, including diapers, bottles, and toys. You are able to smartly organize all your items. On top of that, the backpack includes a waterproof changing pad and insulated bottle pockets to keep drinks cold. There is even a parent proof pocket, where you can conveniently access your valuables.

Lastly, there is a padded laptop pocket to keep your laptop safe. The backpack comes in a neutral style and colors, so it’s suitable for mom or dad to carry around.

 What else could you want as a digital nomad parent?

Giving your children the gift of travel from a young age, will educate and stick with them forever, and hopefully influence them to continue traveling as they grow. 

Grey digital nomad backpack when travelling with kids

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Best Digital Nomad Day Bag

Safety is usually something on most traveler’s minds as they venture to new places. You should always be aware of your surroundings, especially when navigating new and unknown streets. Unfortunately, petty theft, such as pickpocketing, is becoming more common around the world. One thing that can instantly ruin your trip is having something of yours stolen.

If you’re a digital nomad, you know just how important your laptop is to you – it’s what allows you to keep living your nomadic lifestyle.

This backpack is the perfect day bag, as it’s an anti-theft backpack. The backpack is made from anti-scratch and cut fabric. There are hidden zippers to the main pocket and a secret pocket in the back, so your stuff is not easily accessible while you are carrying it. There are tons of pockets inside the backpack to keep you organized and safe.

There is also a built-in charging cable inside, with the USB charging port on the outside, so you can charge your device anywhere and everywhere.

The backpack has a modern design and holds all your digital nomad accessories, and all for a great price!

There is enough to worry about when you travel, and this backpack helps to minimize some of those worries!

Black backpack with phone charger at the side

See on Amazon

Best Adventure Digital Nomad Backpack 

Exploring nature is one way to really get to know a place. This can be through walks, hikes, camping – whatever you enjoy!

However, you probably won’t want to bring your usual work bag out into the countryside. This backpack is the perfect adventure companion for your travels. It folds into a zipped inner pocket that you can easily pack for your trip. You can unfold it from the pocket, into a backpack in seconds.   

The backpack has mesh shoulder straps with plenty of padding to ensure you’re comfortable throughout the day. There is also a chest strap to help you lock your backpack in place securely, and take some strain off your back.

This backpack is perfect for the outdoors, as it is lightweight, yet durable, water-resistant, and comfortable. It also holds up to 35 L.

It comes in a range of fun prints and colors, all at an affordable price! It’s a great packing companion, as it won’t take up a lot of space, and you will always be ready for your next adventure.

Blue hiking backpack, different colour option on the side

See on Amazon

Best Trendy Digital Nomad Backpack

For the fashion-forward digital nomad, this backpack won’t clash with your look. It’s cute and stylish while also holding everything you need. You can carry the bag from the top handles as a tote bag, or wear it as a traditional backpack. 

The backpack has a wide opening, and stands up on its own, making it easy to pack for the day. There is a zip pocket in the back to hold your phone, keys or cards, so you don’t have to worry about anyone being able to access them.

The backpack also has side pockets big enough to hold your water bottle or coffee. 

The backpack comes in a few prints, but black is a good way to go, as it goes with everything.

Black trendy backpack with zippers.

See on Amazon

As a digital nomad, you’re regularly carrying around your essentials. From your passport to your laptop, all of these items are necessary for your digital nomad journey.  The backpacks mentioned in this article offer all the qualities of a great digital nomad backpack.

One of the most essential things you carry around is your laptop. All of the backpacks in this article offer a secure space for you to transport your laptop. 

Most of the backpacks are waterproof, which you don’t realize how important that is until you get caught in the rain. There are several compartments to keep you organized, and even secret compartments to keep your stuff safe.

After that, it’s up to you. How do you like to travel? Are you a digital nomad family? Do you love adventure? Or are you always traveling and on the go?

All of these backpacks come with great reviews, and at an affordable price. So which one will you choose?


Are you after more resources or gadgets for digital nomads? We’ve got you covered. Check out these posts here and here to get more digital nomad accessories inspo.

Categories
Digital Nomad Tools and Tips

Best Digital Nomad Gadgets

As a digital nomad, gadgets and devices can make your life so much easier. Of course, you’re also limited to space, so you need to pick digital gadgets carefully and cleverly.  

I’ve tried many different gadgets and devices over my nine years of travel and location independence, and it’s hard to keep up with the seemingly never-ending stream of new things. So I’ve listed some of the best digital nomad gadgets I personally use and recommend and have for quite some time now.

This is a list of gadgets and devices that help me stay organised and be more efficient while working remotely. As well as making my travels easier and safer!


Disclosure: This post may contain affiliate links that earn me a small commission but come at no extra cost to you. This helps with the costs of running my blog so I can keep my content free for you. Thanks as always for your support! See the full disclosure here.


SAVE THIS PIC FOR LATER ON PINTEREST!

Must-Have Digital Nomad Gadgets

Digital Nomad Gear to Improve Your Work Productivity

First, some best gadgets for work. You should have all of these in your nomad gear pack if you’d like to work and travel with ease. These digital nomad must-haves are all gadgets that I can’t live without!

The Best Laptop for a Digital Nomad

It all starts with your laptop. There are for sure many great brands that offer travel laptops but my choice is a MacBook Air Laptop.

I bought it years ago when I lived in Perth, Western Australia, and I’ve not regretted this buy. In fact, I would get the exact same one again only with a bigger screen, as I think it makes a difference between 11″ and 13″ (mine is the smaller one).

Other than that, I think it’s the best choice for people who work remotely and travel a lot.

External Hard Drive To Keep Your Content Safe

It wouldn’t be possible for me to work remotely without my external hard disk. I use one from Toshiba that has 1TB of memory, but you’ll find a huge pool of different brands if you search for external hard drives.

Make sure to backup your files to an online platform too, in case your hard drive breaks or gets lost. For this, I use iCloud and Google Photos and try to save as many of my texts in Google drive.

External hard drive: must-have gadgets for digital nomads
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An External Hard Drive Organizer

When you live out of your suitcase, you appreciate little things that help you stay organised and control the mess. An external hard drive organizer comes in really handy to protect your external hard drive and keep your cables and USB sticks all in one place.

Comes in so handy: a little organizer bag for your external hard drive and cables! THE must-have gadget for digital nomads!

Before I got mine, I used an old first aid kit bag to store my disk. People would make jokes about how I was always prepared for an emergency when they saw me sitting in a cafe with my laptop and the fire-red first aid kit next to me! LOL

Stay Charged with a Power Bank

Working while on the road can bring quite a few challenges. Finding good WIFI or a plug to recharge your devices are probably the two most common worries for digital nomads.

So, if you want to stay on top of things you should get yourself a travel power bank to be able to recharge your phone, camera and laptop wherever and whenever you want. Power banks definitely fall into the must-have electronics category for digital nomads.

Digital Nomad Gadgets: Power bank

There are plenty of options to choose from but not all power banks are actually suitable for travelling due to their weight or size. I chose this portable charger because it allows me to charge both your laptop and phone/camera.

If you are looking for a smaller and less pricey option, I recommend the Anker PowerCore 10000, which doesn’t let you charge your laptop but is a great power bank for smartphones and tablets!


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Digital Nomad Laptop Stand For When You Feel Like Working With a View

Working wherever you want is one of the best parts of being a digital nomad and I enjoy it every single day. However, I am guilty of not always choosing the smartest option for replacing a proper desk or table. Of course, you could stay in your apartment or hotel room but hammocks sometimes sound too tempting… 🙂

Digital nomad gadgets: Laptop

I suggest you opt for a healthier and more productive place to work though, in order to prevent neck or back pain! Whichever choice you make, with a small laptop like my tiny MacBook Aira laptop stand helps big time to sit up straight.

Trust me, I’ve worked in all sorts of different places all over the world, such as hotel lobbies, airports, bus stations, in cafes right by the beach or even in bed. But getting older (and wiser!?), I am now choosing co-working spaces over the above options whenever possible, and bringing my folding aluminium Macbook stand!

Digital nomad gadgets: working on my laptop at the beach in Fuerteventura
Working at the beach: great for the soul, but not so great for your back… 😉 

Travel Anywhere With a World Travel Adapter

Also very high on my list of digital nomad must-haves, and something that has been in use for quite a while: my world adapter! Wherever I go, I can put my plugs in any socket in the world and don’t have to get an adapter in every new country/continent! Really great!

Digital nomad gadgets: Always prepared with a world travel adapter

Even though you can get very cheap travel adapters in supermarkets or your next door kiosk, I wouldn’t go too cheap; those ones break easily. And who wants to go shopping for a travel adapter the first thing after arriving at your new destination!? Boring!

Pocket WIFI – So You Never Lose Connection

As mentioned above: good and reliable Internet is always a hot topic amongst digital nomads. For me, this was the number one pain in the arm before I got my mobile hotspot!

I remember that on our trip from Cancun, through Central and South America, I spent hours waiting to upload pictures to my blog. And sometimes this wasn’t even possible due to a slow connection like for example on the Galapagos Islands.

Digital nomad gadgets: A pocket wifi

Finding good WiFi gadgets is the mission of most people working remotely. For a digital nomad, WiFi is essential to get work done.

This portable hotspot is SIM-card free and even comes with 1GB initial data. I think it’s a big lifesaver or actually, a huge time saver!


A Backpack Organizer

Oh, this one is one of my favourite little gadgets (perhaps the least necessary one, but I still love it!)! My backpack organizer:

Digital nomad gadgets: Stay organized and controll the mess!

This little helper I find equally useful like the above mentioned external hard drive organizer, but this one lets you literally fix everything small to the straps: from a lip balm, pens, cables to USB sticks or even a small camera. Goodbye, long searches for your stuff or messy carry-on luggage!

Again, you’ll appreciate those type of things, even more, when you have lived out of your bag for quite a while.

Noise-Cancelling Headphones

Working anywhere other than an office (or perhaps your home) can mean a lot of noise and thus a lot of distraction. So, I recommend creating your own personal creative space by using this noise-cancelling gadget.

Of course, headphones use up more space than earphones but I find it’s so worth it: my noise-cancelling headphones help me stay focused every time I work from a busy cafe, airport, hotel lobby etc. This is something every digital nomad should get!

Digital nomad gadgets: noise-cancelling earphones to stay focused while working remotely!

If you prefer earphones instead, then you’ll find plenty of different types and it comes down to your personal taste which ones you like best. For me, I prefer the actual headphones over earphones. For some reason, the latter never stay in my ear and fall out as soon as I move...


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2. Digital Nomad Essentials for Travel

There are so many helpful things you could get to make your trips safer and more comfortable. Perhaps I’ll write another post for nomad travel gear one day. But today, I share just a few great travel gadgets that I think are useful and necessary when travelling long-term.

Add these items to your digital nomad packing list for a smoother, stress-free travel experience.

A Camera to Capture Your Adventures

This is the newest amongst my digital nomad gadgets and I am really excited to have this baby on board! For the past six years, I had been eying other people with their wide-angle zoom cameras. It’s become a gadget I can’t live without.

I wanted one too, but I always decided against one. Simply because I thought they are too big, too heavy and too nerve-wracking to carry along (considering their value!).

But… now, since we have our little nomad baby in our lives, who is determining our pace and travel style, I thought it was time to upgrade our travel gear.

Digital nomad gadgets: My Canon camera, my baby!

Before that, we would use a Nikon 1 J5 Mirrorless Digital Camera which is a great camera, especially for videos. In fact, according to the sales guy I remember, it is one of the best 4k cameras of that size!

Digital nomad gadgets: a small but really potent travel camera

I’d say, get a small camera at first and see if you like photography at all. And then, you can always get a bigger and more professional one later. It’s definitely a lot easier to travel with a small camera, for sure, the pictures’ quality increase a lot though! Ah, your call!

Luggage Scale So There Won’t Be Any Surprises at the Airport

Honestly, get yourself a luggage weigher! It’s possibly the best travel gadget. You wouldn’t believe how many times I’ve had to unpack and re-organise my luggage at the airport before I got one of these! Seriously, it’s a small tool that can save you a lot of time (and money!).

In the Philippines, for example, did we fly a lot between the different islands and were travelling with only a carry-on bag! For some reason, I managed to get to the airport always with more stuff in my suitcase.

Air Asia is very strict and lets you only take 7kg, which is NOT a lot, considering the weight of your beach towel alone! So each time, I had to get out some clothes to meet the 7kg (and then board the plane with 10 layers of extra clothes looking like a complete fool!) Get a luggage weigher, seriously!

Stay on Time with a Travel Alarm Clock

When you go on vacation, the last thing you think about is getting up early, I know. But as soon as travelling becomes part of your lifestyle, you’re back to ‘normal’ things like getting up early. True story!

So, I’d say, get yourself a travel alarm clock to never miss a plane or train and which is also great if you need to save battery on your phone.

Digital nomad gadgets: travel alarm clock

And to be honest, sleeping in when you’re in paradise spots like this one, would be a waste of time anyways!


What are your must-have digital nomad gadgets? I am sure, there are many more that are not on this list! Leave a comment and share your thoughts, thanks and happy travels!

Best digital nomad gadgets I can't live without
You should def pin this!