Getting ready for this trip was... a pain in the butt! Trying to find the best deal on a flight, sorting out a visa for Vietnam, buying the appropriate travel backpack and necessary gear was all super annoying. There are a ton of sites and YouTube videos with useful advice but it never felt like one opinion was enough. I must have watched over two hours of video reviews on different travel backpacks (eventually settling on the Osprey Fairpoint 40). In addition, we also had to figure out an itinerary and make sure we got the right needles shoved in our arms. Anyway, eventually we sorted these things out and were ready to go. Looking back, the one thing I would do differently (other than make the trip twice as long) would be to not book any other flights other than the main one between Toronto and Hong Kong. The “smaller” ones were easy to book even the day before and the prices did not seem to fluctuate too much... lesson learned.
Tip: The link above for the Osprey Fairpoint 40 forwards you to a Canadian website called "Outer Limits" (where I bought the pack from). If you become a member (just sign up via email), you get 10% off, so I would highly recommend them. The pack also arrived on time and in perfect condition (and no, I didn't receive anything from them for this shout out, I just enjoyed the whole purchase experience).