Your 1x8 drivetrain would work just fine for touring- you don't NEED a triple, and if you do feel the need for a lower gear, I think you can get away with smaller edits. A quick google search tells me your chainring is a 45t (probably on a 130mm bcd crank) with an 11-32 cassette. You can definitely get smaller chainrings, down to about 40t (again, assuming 130mm bcd). Your rear derailer should be able to handle a 34t big gear, maybe a 36. Modifications like that should drop your entire set of gear ratios by about 12% (just from the chainring), with the lowest gear on the cassette (34 or 36t) around 20% lower than it sits currently. Then you keep your old chain, cassette, and chainring to use as spares and nothing is wasted.

If you ever feel the need to add a front derailer, you can get cable stop adapters that clamp on to your frame (the housing from your shifter needs to stop against something) from Problem Solvers. Or maybe your bike has a cable stop brazed on somewhere already.

Or just HTFU, go ride your bike and forget all of this