re gears, as someone who started touring with a 6 speed double, I like more gears with closer ratios, ...
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What bike are you talking about, specifically? Dedicated touring bikes are always triples, even the newer ones. You're not going to pedal 300+ pounds of bike, rider, and gear up a long steep hill without a granny gear. We've mentioned the Trek 720 and the Miyata 1000, and modern Surly LHT and Rivendell Atlantis. The current Trek 520 is also a triple. My 720 was 18 speed (3x6) and I never lacked the gear I needed.
That's not to say you can't do light touring on what some people would call a "Sport Touring" bike, which it sounds like you may be talking about. I'm talking about bikes that are purpose-built for loaded touring. You can usually tell the difference by the braze-ons rack mounts on the fork for front panniers. Sport-touring bikes usually have rear rack mounts only. There are other differences of course but that's an easy way to tell.