Water bottles, thermoses, flask, canteens — contained vessels for drinking liquid…
Whatever you want to call them, having the perfect bottle seems to have become a trend in recent years — even a status symbol to some.
Whether you’re looking a Starbucks or Stanley mug, there are a lot of factors people take into consideration when investing in their gear.
Maybe it’s the way it feels in your hand. Does it have a straw? How hard is it to clean? Perhaps its ability to keep cold stuff cold and hot stuff hot. What color, what size….there are so many options that it can be overwhelming if you’re indecisive like me.Ometepe Island – between two volcanoes
When it came to choosing the right vessel for a backpacking trip to Nicaragua, I knew there were only a few things of importance:
1.) It had to hold water
2.) It had to be lightweight, or relatively so
3.) I’m clumsy — It had to be able to take a beating
A couple things that would make it more appealing to me:
- A straw
- A color that appealed to me (most likely some shade of green).
I’m not someone who looks for all the bells and whistles. I mainly just wanted something practical and essentially not have to pay a huge amount.
I opted to go with a HydroFlask 22 oz. While I didn’t end up getting one with a straw, it seemed to check all the other boxes.
Overall, it’s an excellent bottle. I practiced using it up until we left. I Ioved that it kept cold drinks cold and was virtually indestructible.
But it wasn’t what Ineeded.
I actually really regretted my purchase — not because it didn’t perform or wasn’t sturdy enough. It was just too much “extra” to lug around.
Stainless steel water bottles — even when marketed as such — are NOT lightweight. And that became more and more apparent as each day passed of my two-week trip.
I must say, within our first week, I opted to not take it when we went on our hike up Mombacho — an inactive volcano outside of Granada. I just didn’t want to fuss with it anymore. By the last days — in San Juan Del Sur and Managua, I finally broke down and purchased a bottle of water, which I continued to refill.On a hike carrying my day bag at Mombacho Volcano.
I took one backpack — not rolling luggage and not a hiker’s backpack. It weighed about 20 pounds total and was only large enough to use as my carryon. I found that having a water bottle take up about 10 percent of that weight to be wasteful. It didn’t collapse, it fell out of my bag often and it just felt too bulky — especially when I attached it to my bag with a carabiner. Worse yet, I spent too much money on it to not feel guilty about leaving it behind.
I’m going to level with you — more expensive is not always better. Name brand is not always better. Indestructible is not always better.
I’ve always prided myself in traveling light and I didn’t follow my own rule with this one. If I were to do it again, I’d likely start out with a basic plastic water bottle from the start. Not only do they collapse, but they’re lightweight and are ridiculously easy to replace.
Some will argue it’s not most environmentally friendly option, but when you consider the number of resources that go into a Thermos — stainless steel, plastic, glass in some cases — I think you’re probably further ahead. Single use plastic is only single use if you use it just once.
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