Travel Gear Review: Collapsible Water Bottle

While wandering city streets for hours at a time, I realized that I get pretty thirsty. And while the strong espressos in tiny cafes are delicious, they don’t do much to quench my thirst. So, to stay hydrated and environmentally-friendly, I decided to start traveling with a re-usable water bottle. I was concerned about how much space a water bottle would take up in my backpack; however, as well as the limited amount of room in the bag I like to carry around (stuffed with a camera, book, journal, sunglasses, etc.). My brother opened my eyes to a backpacker’s dream: a collapsible water bottle. He recommended the Platypus brand, and after reading many positive reviews on Amazon, I went with it. I chose the PlatyPlus bottle (http://cascadedesigns.com/platypus/water-bottles/plusbottle/product) because it’s the newest, most compact version. It is only available in a 1-liter size, but if you fill it with less water it will take up less space. There are two different closure designs: push/pull and a cap. Even though I like the speed of using a push/pull closure, I chose the cap design because I thought this would minimize the chance of water leaking in my bag. (Now I just have to worry about losing the top. :/ )

Here’s what it looked like when it arrived:

Unfolded: