It's only $24 at the moment, and I love my my 40L one. I took that to South America last year for a marathon and am doing it again to Antarctica -- I wanted that shoe compartment and a laptop sleeve.

Material is good - seems tougher than some, but it's not hard-core material either. If I were going to solo it for a year I might go with something else (note the padding - that adds space and weight), but for a few trips on flights, it's great.

I just started using packing cubes - they alleviate the need for packs that open all the way. But there's still nothing quite like a fully opening bag to get stuff in there.