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Sup OP. I don't have any experience with the specific brands you've looked at, but I have close to 10,000 miles of touring experience, so hopefully some of my advice will be useful.
1. Have gears. The more the better. Even if the tour you're thinking about now isn't hilly and you don't plan on bringing much, if you spend any significant time touring, you will appreciate them.
2. Make sure you consider things other than your bike in your budget. A few addons I appreciate include my Brooks saddle and pedals (clipless on one side, platforms on the other). Your preferences may be different, but it will probably be possible to make your touring experience much better by not just taking the bike off the shelf and leaving.
3. Your stuff will break eventually. People who tour in more remote locations value having components which they think will be easier to fix in those areas. I'm reasonably certain that having a village blacksmith weld together your steel frame is a myth, but repairs should be considered.
In my experience, spokes have broken, screws for my rack have fallen out after riding over rough terrain, tires have worn out and, of course, been punctured.
Bar end shifters are popular among tourers because, in theory, they're easier to fix than STI shifters. I won't make any claims about specifics, but just try not to get too far up shit creek if something happens to break.
