awesome! traveling is AWESOME! especially backpacking. ive only been able to do a 1 1/2 months in europe and most of the US so far. i definetly plan on hitting up africa in the next couple of years...

as far as knives. well, in the US. a small foling knife will serve pretty much anything your going to encounter. i would NOT recommend carrying a fixed blade knife, even if your reason is somewhat substantiated. if you insist on carrying the fixed blade, make sure you keep it in your pack...DEEP in your pack.
as far as Europe goes...even worse. they dont like weapons of any kind. i wouldnt even recommend a pocket knife in some of the more metroplitan areas. ( i do have a funny story about a guy at an Austrian knife shop decimating my brand new CRKT and refusing to re-imburse me though). if anything, just remember this. your knife is a TOOL, never ever a weapon. id personally hate to get caught in a situation where my knife was used as a weapon. much less in another country...