I personally only take backpacks to Italy/Europe. I have another trip coming up next April that involves traveling on a cruise ship for a transatlantic for 2+ weeks, a train, budget airline and another transatlantic cruise back. Taking regular wheel luggage can be problematic dragging around and up/down certain hotel and guest house stairs, depending on where you're going. Venice for instance works better with a backpack. I don't want to check anything so a medium size backpack works for me that doesn't weigh much.