Before this trip, I didn’t “get” convertible pants.

It didn’t help that they all looked absolutely, positively horrendous on me.

I was just a notch larger than an “athletic” frame for a female (had to stock up on Taco Bell and Jack-n-the-Box pre-departure, you know), but I wasn’t huge or grossly mis-proportioned.

Nonetheless, every pair of men’s pants I tried, no matter how large the size, hugged my butt and thighs in ALL the wrong places, and forget the women’s sizes, even if I did like the style of them, which I never did.

But Ex-Officio’s Cigar pants, size XL, changed everything. It’s probably a tie between my backpack and these pants for my favorite piece of gear, which is saying a lot since the backpack is basically my entire life and the pants are what I deal with the most on any given day along with my underwear.

The pants fit just right in all the right places; the button is strong, the zippers reliable and easy. The shorts zip off at a good length – not too short, not too long.

When you’re backpacking in Asia, the long pants are more for mosquito or sun protection than to stay warm, so now I understand and appreciate the use of convertible pants. Since I don’t like wearing long pants, it was important to me that I felt like I was “wearing air”, and these are pretty darn close while still being durable and thick enough to keep mosquito noses out of my legs. The bottom of the legs can be cinched or opened to be loose enough to pull up to your knees easily should you need to briefly without wanting to convert them all the way into shorts. The belt is easy and fantastic to clip in and adjust.

The pockets are perfect in number, location, and functionality. There are two side pockets that are nice and deep and partly netted (so any sand that gets in – and it will – doesn’t stay there permanently.). There are two cargo pockets down below and one with a smaller pen –or something- pocket just above it. The pen pocket is slightly too shallow to store pens in without them sticking out and possibly falling out if you put your legs up, but is the perfect size for a small emergency stash of toilet paper. Both back pockets are zippered, which is excellent for being sure you are always carrying around a small extra bit of emergency cash safely, or permanently leaving your sea/car motion sickness wristbands, or temporarily stashing your iPod real quick to jump off the bus without worrying about it getting pickpocketed.

The color of the Cigar model in particular is great – light colored enough to not get insanely hot if the sun is out but dark enough to get its share of dirt and stains without showing it and goes with everything, instead of being a shade that just doesn’t go with anything. I’m not someone who gives two thoughts to color coordination, but really, some of these convertible pants are just painful to look at.

They are lightweight and dry REALLY quickly. If you get caught in a rainstorm, just ducking under cover will probably see you dry within 20 minutes. If you take off your pant legs, they are light and compact enough to just stuff into one of your pockets or easily into your daybag. They’re easy to put back on too, no fumbling around or having to struggle to get the zippers to go back together. It takes maybe 15 seconds to have both put back on.

What I love most about these pants is how easy it is to have a “system” with them. Check out the travel tips section for more info on the importance of having a system when you’re traveling.

Bring or don’t bring?: BRING

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