Packing Light

By spinner do you mean on wheels? and by Rick Steves trips do you mean one of his tours? If the answer is yes to both of those, then yes! When traveling independently I mainly use trains for transportation and prefer to use a backpack. However, when I took a Rick Steves Tour I used my RS rolling bag, and carried it on. I think everyone on the tour had a rolling bag (pretty much all carryon size).

We used our RS roller bags on our RS Village Italy tour last summer, and they worked great. Most of the group also used roller bags. I would recommend against spinner wheels since they are smaller and don't handle the cobblestones as well.

Absolutely do not use a spinner. The wheels are too small and get caught in every crack and bump and then they tip over. I have seen too many people struggling with spinners. Spinners only work well inside airports and on smooth surfaces. If you are going to use wheeled luggage then use a standard two wheel rolling bag. The bigger the wheels the better it will handle. And stay with a small to medium size bag otherwise you will tend to pack it full and make it heavy. Even with rolling luggage you will have to carry the luggage at least a third of the time - up and down stairs, in and out of trains, over broken streets, etc. And lightness is a great benefit.

I bought a backpack-on-wheels (carryon size) from the RS Store and only used the backpack feature a couple of times, but it was convenient for stairs! Also, if a wheel breaks, you can still carry your luggage.

Karen, I've been on 3 RS tours and observed that most travelers used a RS 21" roll-aboard and/or backpack. This is from the RS website, "We request that each tour member bring one carry-on-size bag (approx. 9" x 22" x 14") plus one day bag. Wheeled bags are OK as long as you can carry them up lots of stairs." It's not so important to stick to the 21-22" on the 7 day tours since you'll be staying at 1 hotel. For the longer trips with 1 or 2 night stays in various locations, you'll be thankful for having packed light and (in my opinion) having a wheeled suitcase. I don't own a spinner but agree with the other posters that it's probably not the best choice for a RS tour. Hope you have a great trip!

I have a Docker's 21" spinner case and I really like it. It is nice to have those spinners in tight spaces, such as the airport, hotel lobby, elevator. I never tried to roll it over cobblestones, I tilt it just like a two wheel roller case. I have taken it on RS Tours and independent travel.

I don't get the "issues" with spinner wheels that others mention. I have both kinds of suitcases - the diameter of the wheels on the spinner and the wheels on my regular old-style suitcases is the same. If you are handling it correctly, you are pulling it on two wheels. I've never had any probems with cobbles or pavers. Plus there's the advantages of the 360-spin maneveurability. I'd always take a spinner over the old-style, even on a RS tour.

All the spinners I've seen weigh more than the two wheel options. If you're using a European carrier, like Lufthanse or SAS, that enforces carry-on weight allowances, you may prefer the lightest weight roll-on you can find. My wife uses a Hayes-USA roll-on that has molded plastic sides - it's the lightest one we could find. It also has a recessed t-bar handle (that doesn't add to it's dimensions) and urithane wheels that work well everywhere.

I purchased a Rick Steves convertible carry-on for my first of seven Rick Steves tours. Although many women seemed content with the approach, I found it tedious to carry luggage on my back & never used it again. I replaced it with a Rick Steves roll-aboard, which has become my standard luggage. You will find that many people on Rick Steves tours (including the tour guides) use luggage on wheels. We travel to Europe annually for two months at a time, using only carry-on luggage. The Rick Steves roll-aboard, in combination with his Civita day pack (or another light weight bag) should serve you well, as long as you pack sensibly.