Some quick thoughts on selecting a touring bike (copy/pasted from an FB post of mine) --
See if you can get a used bike. Yes, Surly LHT (I own one), is a good option. Trek 520 & Kona Sutra too (from reviews). If you can get any of them in resale, it might might work well from cost perspective. Fuji Touring bike too seems decent (don't recall reading many reviews), lower priced than the other ones.
All other things being equal, 26" wheels are generally considered struturally stronger (begin flame war). 26" wheel size is also more universal, so tyre/tube availibility is easier.
Presta valve tube means the valve hole on the wheel is smaller, so wheel strength is_not compromised as much as that for the thicker Schrader valve. But you can use a Presta valve tube on a Schrader valve wheel, but obviously not vice versa. So a Schrader valve wheel might give you more tube options.
A decent steel frame would absorb vibrations/shocks to a fair extent, so a rigid (steel) fork should generally suffice, unless you are doing a lot of off road riding. Rigid fork means lesser moving parts/mechanics, so simplicity. Steel frames are considered "field repairable", due to welding options.
Butterfly/moustache handle bars probably are the best for max hand position options, but not sure how much they cost. A bullhorn handle bar actually is quite comfortable; I switched to that some time back on my Surly & was amazed how comfortable it felt. While many touring bikes come with drop bars, am not really sure how many riders go on drops while touring. They mostly rest their hands on the hoods & the horizontal section (next to the steering axis), AFAIK. The bullhorn bars are ideal for those hand positions, IMO.
Racks that allow lower pannier positions are good on the front. On the rear, watch out for low pannier position, as your heels might hit the panniers. Good touring bikes like Surly LHT, have a longer wheelbase (longer frame), so that the rear panniers can be a bit farther back, to reduce chances of contact with the heels. On the front side, watch out for toe over problem -- toe touching rear part of front wheel, while you turn. Again, the longer wheelbase of touring bikes should reduce the chances of that.
Go for a good touring gear set, which will offer a wide range of gear ratios, which usually should mean 3 gears on the front, & atleast 9 (10 preferably) gears on the rear. And something similar or better than Shimano Deore, which will be durable for touring.
Invest in tyres which have good reviews for punture protection -- something like Schwalbe Range Cruisers (i might start using them myself in the next few days), or the even higher (often called bomb proof) Schwalbe Marathoners. The other option is to use tyre liners for puncture protection, which I have used for last 5-6yrs with pretty good results, but am still a bit hesitant to give a complete thumbs up for; they do cause some tube abrasion themselves, so cause some punctures. (though i might not necessarily be following the intructions for use down to the word.). Might be good to use them for a few months, before you go on tour. Also, pay attention to tyre liner width vis-a-vis tyre width. Using a wider tyre liner on a thinner tyre/tube should be ok, but vice versa can be very bad. So overall, the investment in more expensive tyres with good punture protection reviews, is probably well worth it.
-{db}.
