Luggage help - cant find just the right size!

Old Jul 3rd, 2013, 12:54 PM
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Luggage help - cant find just the right size!

I go through this every time we travel and I still haven't found what I'm looking for (sorry Bono.) I want a bag to get me through 2 week trips (this year multi-country.)

The 20" and 21" carry-on bags I have bought and tried are just too small, and the 24" checked bag pieces are too large. Does something in the middle exist? Since its usually an international flight I don't mind checking the bag, but it also has to be easy enough to take on and off trains, in and out of taxis, etc.

I travel with the entire family (there are 4 of us.) The kids each take their own bag (carry-ons) but they are boys and have less stuff and smaller clothing!! Hubby has been taking the big bag (I think its 26") He has to take all the stuff that we cant fit - usually shoes, toiletries, and first aid/medications.

I looked at the luggage at Target today - there was a 20" and the next size up was 24" in the same collection- Swiss Gear or something and size difference was incredible!!!
Anyone have any suggestions???
Thanks!!!
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Old Jul 3rd, 2013, 01:26 PM
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My advice is to get over being a fashion plate and to just bring less stuff.

My favorite luggage is a 20-21 inch polycarbonate clamshell type that has an expansion capacity.

Heys makes some good ones. I just go to a TJMaxx or similar store and look for something on sale.
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Old Jul 3rd, 2013, 01:32 PM
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24" is the next size up from roll aboard/carry-on.

There are brands that do 19", others 20", and others 21" (most 22's are really 21" but measure 22" w/ the wheels).

So while there is nothing between 'carry on' and 24" - different brands carry on/rollaboards are slightly different sizes. So keep looking.
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Old Jul 3rd, 2013, 05:14 PM
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The "middle ground" that I've found is a convertible backpack from eBags. I can fit almost as much in that bag as I can in my 24" bag but it's carryon size. Unfortunately it has no wheels.

Look for a bag that has compression straps inside. That helps keep things in place and helps cram more in.
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Old Jul 3rd, 2013, 06:02 PM
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I'm currently traveling with this (without expanding it):

http://travelstore.ricksteves.com/ca...rentId=8&id=42

And I travel for months, not weeks. Plan to do laundry. For my packing list start here: http://mytimetotravel.wordpress.com/...take-part-one/
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Old Jul 3rd, 2013, 08:35 PM
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I generally use www.ebags.com and then search the net to see if their offers can be beat.

Personally speaking, my wife and I each have 22" suitcases. Makes it easy if you're moving every couple of days.

It also makes it easy on a 4 flight walk-up, which I had in Provence a few years ago.
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Old Jul 4th, 2013, 07:46 AM
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If I'm staying in one place I use a 24" rolling duffle bag. I like the shape and extra room of it packing for beach vacations, when I'll only be unpacking one time.

For trains around Europe, I have a regular 22" roller.
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Old Jul 4th, 2013, 08:01 AM
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I like the looks of that bag, thursdaysd.
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Old Jul 4th, 2013, 09:13 AM
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I have that same Rick Steves 21" rolling bag and swear by it. We have a few of them, and they really take a beating but have held up really well. Best of all, they are lightweight and hold a lot. We have taken these bags overseas doing carryon only, including DD who was doing a study abroad term.
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Old Jul 4th, 2013, 09:24 AM
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mlgb - I traveled for years with an Eagle Creek backpack - the kind where you can hide the straps. Loved it, but it is mostly nice to have wheels. (Not for cobblestones, stairs and packed shared taxis, of course. Difficult choice...)
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Old Jul 4th, 2013, 09:25 AM
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mlgb - I traveled for years with an Eagle Creek backpack - the kind where you can hide the straps. Loved it, but it is mostly nice to have wheels. (Not for cobblestones, stairs and packed shared taxis, of course. Difficult choice...)
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Old Jul 4th, 2013, 01:45 PM
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You should be able to find something that will work for you at ricksteves dot com
It should have straps so that you can put it on your back when you want to. The backpacks I have bought there have held up very well over many thousands of miles of travel.
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Old Jul 4th, 2013, 02:16 PM
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"It should have straps so that you can put it on your back when you want to"

Sorry, but I disagree. Either a backpack, or a wheeled bag, but not a hybrid. The wheeled version weights too much to use as a backpack.
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Old Jul 4th, 2013, 06:36 PM
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I used to time people that wanted to be a "hot shot".
The standard that has to be met is a "pack test". To qualify you have to carry a 45 lb. backpack 3 miles in less than 45 minutes. If you can't carry a backpack weighing 35 lb. 2 miles in an hour you should not be using a backpack.
Wheels are terrible on cobblestone or brick streets.
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Old Jul 4th, 2013, 07:19 PM
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"If you can't carry a backpack weighing 35 lb. 2 miles in an hour you should not be using a backpack."

What nonsense. We're talking traveling here, not trekking. What on earth do "hot shots" have to do with it? My backpack weighed in around 22 lbs, even if you add my daypack the total wasn't over 30 lbs. And I never carted it two miles!! Rarely one. More like a half.
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Old Jul 5th, 2013, 03:35 AM
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I use a http://www.lowealpine.com/tt-carry-on-40 which meets the carry on criteria for the vast majority of airlines. The back straps can be zipped away and it also has a detachable single shoulder strap. At 40Lts it is big enough to hold all I need for 6 months in South America. It does not have wheels but I dislike those anyway as they add weight and are a complete menace in airports. Lost count of the number of scraped ankles I have sustained as a result inconsiderate people losing control of their luggage. But perhaps its just me!
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Old Jul 5th, 2013, 01:52 PM
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IME wheels can be just fine on cobblestones, etc. Our RS bags have traveled a bunch on those and have held up just fine.

tomfuller--We backpack in the mountains and your post is downright ridiculous. Saying someone should be able to carry 45, or even 35 pounds is crazy. For a larger person, yes, but for small people that would be downright dangerous. When we backpack, I keep my pack to 25 pounds or less. My DH is a mountain climber, and even with all the rope, gear he keeps his pack to around 45-50. Weight should fall in the 25-30% of your body weight.

Now, back to traveling instead of backpacking
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Old Jul 5th, 2013, 02:48 PM
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A suitcase
A duffle bag
A backpack
A travel pack
A hybrid.

All are designed for specific types of travel. Only one of those is designed for wilderness travel. All the rest are actually designed for versions of 'travel' in the sense that most here would be talking about.

Backpacks are in fact not the best choice for most 'travellers' at all. That they have become known as a standard item for low budget travellers is more about fashion born out of early necessity than anything else.

In the 70s, people such as myself who went on extended travels where a suitcase (wheeled suitcases were not yet invented) simply would not be suitable. The only thing that made any sense was a rucksack/haversack. Here is a fairly typical example: http://selekkt.com/alpenweit-vintage...ack-gross.html

Backpacks such as the internal frame backpacks that so many 'backpackers' use today were not yet invented either. So a rucksack it was. The 'hippy trail', see map here: http://www.thehippietrail.me/origins...-hippie-trail/ or other long distance trips were mostly done with packs like that. You had to walk with your stuff and a suitcase simply wasn't practical.

As time went on and travel on a real cheap budget became a bigger fad for young people (getting into the 1980s), they started using backpacks designed for wilderness travel to carry their stuff and from that started being referred to and referring to themselves as 'backpackers'. Thus corrupting and changing the original definition of a backpacker which was someone who went into th wilderness carrying all they needed in a backpack.

Eventually we arrived at today where being a 'backpacker'(non-wilderness) automatically means you have to buy a backpack, to a lot of young people. They are immediately recognizeable in a European train station or the streets of Bangkok, they wear their badge (the backpack) with pride.

The funny thing is that in the last decade or so, manufacturers of backpacks have recognized this separate market buying their backpacks designed for wilderness travel and designed new products specifically for that market.

That product is the travel pack. Basically, a pack with shoulder straps and a hip belt that can be zipped away behind a panel for better use on airport carousels, luggage bins, etc. Usually with few if any external pockets. Crellston above is referring to a 'travel pack'.

A simple way to know if you should buy a travel pack vs. a suitcase with wheels for example is to answer the question, will I take a taxi from the train station to a hotel or will I walk from a train station to a hostel. Anyone who is likely to walk any signifigant distance should look at travel packs. Anyone likely to use taxis doesn't need to and can use a suitcase (with or without wheels).

Backpacks however should no longer be used by anyone other than those they are actually designed for, wilderness backpackers. Why would you use one when a better product for the type of travel you intend to do has been designed and is readily available? ie. the travel pack

As for hybrids, some manufacturers got the idea that if you combined a wheeled suitcase with zip away shoulder straps of a travel pack it would be the best of both worlds. It is not the best of either world. Neither fish nor fowl as the saying goes. They should be avoided by ALL travellers of any kind.

Either you are a suitcase type traveller or you are a pack type traveller.
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Old Jul 5th, 2013, 03:17 PM
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Once again Improviser can only see the world in two dimensions. i.e., "either you are a suitcase type traveler or you are a pack traveler."

A lot of long term travel is mixed. Spend months in a big city (learning Spanish perhaps?) Yeah, a suitcase is fine.

Take off to the countryside on the way to the border, where travel is by bus, launch or foot down muddy roads on which no wheeled suitcase can function. One may need to trek up and down hills trying to find the border/customs authorities. Suitcase, not so much. The primary luggage that works best is something that can be carried on your back, something that does not need to be a wilderness backpack.

I don't like the wheels on those, either. Too much added weight.
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Old Jul 5th, 2013, 09:41 PM
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I learned a great saying in speech class in college.

"Practice Makes Permanent".

Maybe improviser just can't help himself. It takes years of practice to be negative.
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