Fit and custom bikes
I would say to the several new people looking to get starting in touring take your time picking a bike. Do not go into the higher end stores and let them sell you a high end road bike because they don't have steel touring rigs in stock. The surly LHT is very popular and you should be able to get properly fitted to one or find someone to let you try one out. They run a little big in the top tube but you really cannot beat the price on these or similar frames. I think rather than having a custom frame made for first time touring it is much more important to choose the correct style of handle bars (drops vs touring flat style) and having a custom wheel set made. Those two things will provide you with the most comfort and piece of mind possible.
Also really think about wheel size 26" vs 700cc and brake type disk vs pads. With the LHT now available in 26" disk version you have a $500 frame that does what most high end companies like comotion which I own charge over $2000 for. You could very easily then buy all of the perfect parts you want and have a semi custom bike for under $2500 that will last just as long. Again I landed on my custom pangea mostly because the desire to run a clean rohloff setup and son dynamo setup. If I was not running these I would be on a surly disk trucker w/ 26" hand built wheels and an old school 8spd drivetrain with touring bars and bar end shifters mounted to Paul thumbies. It is a bomb proof commuter touring setup.