Do cross-body bags play well with Rick's convertible carryon?

I have used the RS Classic (not convertible) carryon with a cross body bag - though I wear the cross body bag on my left to have my right hand free. To me it works fine. I like to have my hands free when I am not actively getting anything from my personal item.

I wear my cross body bag UNDER my back pack, to make taking the back pack on and off easier.

I’m a lefty and my RS crossbody strap is on my right shoulder with the bag on my left side. I prefer to pull my RS convertible with my right hand leaving my dominant left hand free to take things out of the crossbody bag when needed. Plus when walking around, I just feel like the weight I’m pulling or carrying is better distributed rather than all on one side. But I’ve also pulled the convertible with my left hand where the crossbody bag is and they both work well together.

I don’t carry a back pack ever. That’s the whole purpose of having the crossbody bag in the first place,

Also, I’ve never used the convertible as a backpack. I don’t know what I was thinking when I bought it. Probably it was a “just in case” purchase at the time.

I think Rosebud has mistaken which bag you mean by RS Convertible Carryon, but I understand you to mean the regular travel backpack. For the 20 years that I carried a similar backpack, I also always used a crossbody day bag/purse. While it felt slightly confining to have even more things hangin on me, it was never really a problem for the amount of time that I needed to carry them. I always preferred this to the idea of having a “partnering” day-bag that clipped onto the front of the backpack straps and covered your whole chest, as some companies offered.

I use a cross body bag daily, wearing it over my right shoulder so it hangs on my left side. When I used my RS convertible bag (I have back problems and prefer wheels these days) I put my purse under the backpack for easier removal. It worked just fine.

I'll echo the other experiences. While I no longer use the RS Convertible Back Pack, when I did I often used it with a cross body purse (LeSportSac Everyday purse). I agree it works better to put that on first and then don your backpack. I have also used it with a LeSportSac tote that was not cross body so had that hanging by the double straps on my left shoulder. That also worked fine as long as I didn't get the backpack loaded down and too heavy.

Beware scarf purchases in Italy as too many will throw you out of balance, lolol!!

Now...I want you to go ahead and be the good forum member/guinea pig and purchase that Flexmoves bag. I'll doubtless now start getting the ads now that I've clicked on the link but it looks good. I like the way it is close to your body but it may not have enough room for my regular purse items. It looks like there is a big compartment that will hold an iPad as well.

Yes, Pam, one pretty obvious thing to wonder about is how it handles anything less flat than a tablet or phone (or phablet, ha)

Rosebud and Laura (and everyone else): I assumed the OP meant https://store.ricksteves.com/shop/p/carry-on-backpack. I am using https://store.ricksteves.com/shop/p/classic-backpack. The difference is that the convertible can expand. They are both convertible from backpack to suitcase, so maybe it should have been called "expandable".

I thought the OP was referring to a roller that can convert to a backpack. This is what I have:
https://store.ricksteves.com/shop/p/rolling-backpack

I also carry this Civita shoulder bag as a crossbody bag:

https://store.ricksteves.com/shop/p/civita-shoulder-bag

Last summer I used the RS Convertible Carry-On with a medium sized crossbody purse and had no issues. I thought it was nice to have my hands free! Occasionally the purse strap would get caught under the backpack strap of the carry-on, but when that happened, I just moved the purse strap over a bit.

"Yes, Pam, one pretty obvious thing to wonder about is how it handles anything less flat than a tablet or phone (or phablet, ha)"

Hahaha...yes, exactly. I generally have a fairly "lumpy" purse! Next trip might be better though. Thru the pandemic I've tried to cut down on taking a purse into a store so will just put my CC wallet or my change purse in my pocket and go. That might have turned out to be good training for European travel!

What color are you going to order? I love the hot pink although I know strategically that black or navy is more useful and less "stand-out-y" to nefarious individuals.

Just for the record, convertible refers to being able to be converted from a bag carried like a suitcase to being carried as a backpack. I does not mean "expandable". Some convertibles are expandable; some are not.

Rick does sell a "rolling backpack", a backpack with wheels, but it is not described as convertible.

I assumed the OP meant was it difficult to use a cross-body bag along with a convertible when the convertible was being carried as a backpack, due to the straps crossing over each other. Obviously, the cross-body bag would not be an issue if you were just dragging a roller bag by the handle.

I guess my first reaction is why is it important? Why use a cross-body bag while using a convertible one anyway? My second bag is just for stuff I want at my seat while my convertible is in the overhead bin. All I really need is a small "personal item" for my netbook and mouse, and a few printed sheets with my itinerary. My personal item is a small laptop bag, about 8½ x 11 by a couple of inches thick. It has a shoulder strap, but I usually just pick it up by the handle after I put on my backpack. Or, as I am exiting the plane, I use the shoulder strap for the laptop bag and carry my backpack by the handle with the shoulder straps in their pocket (so I don't hit anybody).

Incidentally, I have a one shoulder bag, similar to the bag the OP mentions. I found it at a Woolworths in Germany in 2000. I bought it because I was taking an overnight side trip from the pension where I was staying and didn't want to take my big convertible bag. I just put in it a change of clothes and toilet items.

Pam, if I order one of these it would be in gray or black so it would go with everything; since hot pink is the opposite (goes with nothing) it would be the safest choice -- my thinking is that no thief wants to draw attention by going after an item that stands out like a sore thumb, but then again almost no one wants to carry something that clashes all the time.

I say if because so far I'm resisting temptation.
Part of my calculation involves my shirt pocket - normally I keep my phone in my shirt pocket, but that means I have to be wearing a shirt that has a pocket. If this flexmoves bag works, then I could expand my sartorial choices to include pocketless shirts. Do I want to, though? It would mean, I imagine, that I would have no choice but to wear the flexmoves personal bag whenever I had on a pocketless shirt?!

On the color topic, I too am using the small civita shoulder bag as my day bag, but on the plane and during travel days I pack light enough to fit it inside my RS convertible carryon and have my hands completely free -- phone in my shirt pocket, rest in my other pockets with maybe a disposable bag from the snack shop (although I like to stuff that in the top of the RS carryon too)
If you'll recall the earlier part of the avirosemail packing saga, I used to use a promo duffel as my carryon and a pillowcase as my personal item but was persuaded by this forum to save up and invest in the convertible carryon and the civita shoulder bag (and nowadays I even have a folder and a cube or two and a cables pouch inside the carryon along with the shoulder bag instead of re-using grocery bags or drycleaning film) Decadence! But I lost the color thread -- the civita shoulder bag is camel light brown, from the brief period when the RS store had that color choice. I'm thinking about whether I would still carry it if I had the flexmoves bag, or would sometimes be able to leave it behind -- how about a shirt pocket plus the flexmoves personal bag, would that be better than pocketless shirt plus flexmoves plus civita?

The permutations are endless.