Cotopaxi's 2-in-1 travel backpack has put me off suitcases entirely — here's how it fared on a 10-day trip to Europe

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Gabrielle Chase/Business Insider

This will be my first time outside the country since 1998, I thought. Let's do it right. My best friend from college had just asked if I wanted to join her on a fall adventure across three cities in Europe. I need to see the world while I'm young, and backpacking is a young man's game. So, I got to work researching what I'd need to sightsee like a pro.

Even as an inexperienced traveler...