GORUCK GR1 Heritage After 3 Weeks in Europe: Real Travel & Rucking Test

Hello and welcome. Well, it's been a little over a year since I reviewed this Heritage Go Ruck and recently I just got back from a three-week trip to Europe where I utilized this ruck every day. I'm talking about from the airport Two taxis, Ubers, trains, sightseeing, rucking, hiking, and traveling in between my destinations. Let's say I had a main base where I was staying at, but as most of us do on vacation, we venture out to other areas. So I kept my main suitcase and carry on and everything, let's say at the main place. But for those other one to three day trips, I used the ruck. For everything that I needed to bring to those locations. What I want to do today is just share my experience with you. How this Heritage Ruck held up. Things that I liked, maybe some other things that I didn't like as much, so if you're interested in getting that information keep watching. If you've been following my channel you know that I have a few different rucksacks from Go Ruck and one of the main reasons why I chose the Heritage for this particular trip is I knew that I was going to be doing a lot of sightseeing and the fact that it has this beautiful canvas waxed leather I felt that it was a better look Look for me, as opposed to looking like I'm going on a two or three day operation. I wanted something that was going to look good and, of course, offer all the things that Go Ruck is known for as far as comfort and application with their rucksacks. But my point, after saying all that, is that I wanted to look more like a tourist than somebody that's going out on a few-day deployment. And this Heritage has that look, especially if you end up just taking off the patch, and it allows me to easily blend into that traveler environment. And I felt that the Heritage allowed me to, let's say, assemble in or fit in more with my environment than some of the other go ruck products that really look like let's say a military pack. Now on the other hand I was also a little bit worried because of this being a higher end expensive rucksack. I didn't want to ruin it. It has this beautiful leather on the bottom, the waxed canvas as I stated. And Europe is a bit unforgiving all that cobblestone and stones and especially the area where I was visiting which was north north north Portugal right on the border of Spain. So it did give me a bit pause. I know it sounds weird that I didn't want to ruin you know my nice shiny looking heritage rucksack. But after weighing all this out I decided that this was definitely the rucksack that I was going to go with on this particular trip. So as I stated had the main base of operations. But then there was always those two or three day trips that you have to do in between. And I didn't want to lug my suitcase or carry on. And I figured that this Heritage should be able to handle everything that I need. Usually pack light anyway. But my wife was also on this trip, so there was always some little extras, let's say, that she didn't want to fit into her pack that ended up in my Heritage rucksack. No big deal. I love her very much, so all good. Now what's cool about being able to utilize a rucksack when you're on these trips, especially if you like to ruck and to hike, is that you have the multi-purpose. So not only was it great to be able to carry, let's say, my clothes and everything else that I would need for those two or three days where I'm staying, let's say, in a different Airbnb or at a friend's home. The good thing is that once I got there, I was able to take, let's say, the things that I didn't need for that particular day out. And if I needed to, I could put a kettlebell in there or a sandbag to add some weight. Depending on, of course, whether I was rucking, hiking, and whatever, let's say, the mission was for the day. So having that multi-purpose as opposed to utilizing something else that either wouldn't accommodate the weight or, let's say, a suitcase or a carry-on where its only purpose would go to be from, to go from point A to point B. And then once I got there, I still didn't have something as a daily carrier, whether I was doing some kind of activity or... Just carrying the necessities that I needed for that day while I was sightseeing. So as I mentioned I carried it along in the airport so right from the beginning I did have a carry-on so that took the overhead compartment space that I had. So this rucksack had to go underneath the seat in front of me. I was in economy and if you fly these days even internationally there's not that much space. I'm 6'1 have some long legs but guess what it did fit in there no problems. Once again I don't over overstuff it. I just have the stuff that I really, really need for that long flight to make things just a bit more comfortable, but didn't have any issues. None of the flight attendants complained that it wasn't deep enough in the seat in front of me, which I've had happen in the past. So as far as going through TSA and actually traveling in the airplane, total thumbs up, no issues whatsoever. Now of course having the outside zipper pocket for quick access, keys, anything that I would need right away, especially when I'm traveling with my wife and she was hiking and rucking with me. So once again if I needed to get something real quick, I didn't even have to take the rucksack off, just ask her, hey do me a favor in that front pocket can you grab me the whatever. So I'm not going to go into too many details on the spec because once again I already reviewed this rucksack in detail and if you do want to check that out make sure that you check the description below I'll have it there listed. When it came time to hiking and rucking once again super comfortable the way that the straps fit on you the way that the rucksack goes up high on your back not creating any of the hot spots on the lower back many rucksacks and other packs do and now I'm one of those people that tend to sweat a lot a great deal. And especially in these higher elevations in northern Portugal, it was no joke and I was sweating a lot and I was really wondering how this waxed canvas was going to hold up, especially on the back part. And luckily it held up great, as expected. Especially from the information that I gathered from my review and from utilizing it on a few other trips before I even took this last trip to Europe. The back would be soaked. I would leave it out to dry, just to air dry. And once again, it didn't stink. Antimicrobial. There were no smells, no issues. So, obviously, that's good to go. Now, the one thing, as I mentioned, the cobblestone, rocks, cliffs, everything just seemed to be jaggedy rock everywhere I went. So, I was really worried about the bottom. uh that leather leather that nice smooth leather that the heritage comes with on the bottom but as you could tell if you give it let's say some patina and some some wear but to be honest with you i think it looks that much better than it did before i utilized it let's say to this extremity during this last trip same thing goes for the waxed canvas it just looks better now at least to me than it did when it was nice spanking new let's say hanging on my wall That's one thing I could say about this Heritage is the more you use it, the better it's going to look. And to me, that's a sign of a quality product, quality construction, quality material. Similar experiences that I get with leather footwear that I utilize. Now, the one thing that this Heritage rucksack doesn't have that I wish it had, especially when I was out there hiking and rucking, huffing and puffing, and constantly downing water, the one thing that I don't like to do is have a container in my hand, a water jug, water bottle. And with this rucksack, unfortunately, underneath the handle, many of them have a little velcro pouch where you could feed the hose from your hydration pack to the front, to the shoulder strap. Well, this Heritage doesn't have that. Most of the other rucksacks, at least the one that I own from GORUCK, do have that. But unfortunately, this one doesn't. So no issues for sightseeing and traveling, you know, not a big deal at all. But when you are rucking with it, hiking with it, As my wife says, the places we were going felt like they were uphill both ways. So I was sweating and constantly chugging down water. So once again, we should have that. Not a deal breaker, but it is what it is. Something that I hope Go Ruck does consider adding in the future. Makes sense, right? It's a rucksack. Now I have an experience with a bunch of different rucks all throughout my life. From Boy Scouts to the United States Marine Corps to everyday life now, this Heritage is not a budget-friendly pack, rucksack. But you really do get what you pay for. You get the comfort and, once again, the construction, the material that it is built out of. I absolutely see this Heritage lasting me a lifetime. And as I said, probably looking better with each passing mile. I also love the fact that it's made right here in the USA. So bottom line if you are looking for a backpack rucksack that performs just as great while traveling airport TSA airplane as it does in the field while you're hiking rucking and also sightseeing on vacation plenty of room fits the bill as far as looks when you're trying to stay under the radar as a tourist especially definitely take a close look at this Heritage rucksack from GORUCK.