Bikepacking - a viable alternative to racks & panniers

Why not, if you can do such thing, go for it, I rated Alpkit highly especially their £30 divvy which does exactly what it said on the tin.

it's a lots more fun to ride without having anything on your back, mind you if you're putting them on a road bicycle, the drop handlebar might make it a bit tricky..

No my inbred with flat bar, I've already go one of their fake-a-rest mats an can't fault it. Obviously not as hight quality as the real deal, the material seem a lot more 'plastic-y' than my GF's therm-a-rest other than that it's identical.