There was a time when I worried a lot about gearing. I thought I needed super low gears and worried that I wouldn't get up hills with my touring load. But I lightened my gear load and got a bit fitter and now I really couldn't care less about gearing. I've toured using only 2 gears (67" and 39") and on a compact crank 2x10 with a 104" to 37" range and on a 2x9 with a 103" to 21" range; I enjoyed each trip. There is no right or wrong here; you don't need a triple to tour, but if you like triples go ahead. However, once you leave behind the touring dogma of what bike and gearing you need to tour successfully it opens up a range of bikes that are a lot more fun than most touring bikes.