Some of you might remember my tale of packing woe from 2023. I did better last year, and thought I’d continue in a similar vein this year. I went to England for 10 days in late May.
I usually take my trusty Travelpro Maxlite 21” spinner, plus an LL Bean Carryall Tote that has been discontinued. I check the spinner and use the tote as my carryon, and a foldable backpack (also from LL Bean) as my personal item, which later becomes my day bag.
After a lot of research and thought, I bought a Briggs & Riley Cabin Spinner on eBay. This was meant to replace the Carryall Tote. I also had another new bag, the Alpaka Tote Pack. It has a trolley sleeve on the back, internal and external water bottle pockets, and backpack straps that tuck away. Unfortunately, the external water bottle pocket was too small to accommodate my 22 oz. Takeya bottle. The only bottles that fit in there were 18 oz. or less and the exterior pocket had almost no give. That was a big disappointment. The exterior pockets on the B&R bag were also too small for my Takeya bottle.
Instead of using my Alpaka as my day bag once I arrived in England, I packed my Roka Canfield B medium backpack in the outer pocket of my Travelpro spinner. I also bring along a Tom Bihn Side Kick, which I wear as a crossbody bag (in addition to the backpack/day bag. I put that in my carryon until I’m on board the plane. In the Side Kick, I keep one of my phones (one is used for photography only), my sunglasses, my prescription reading glasses, tissues and my wallet.
I want to say that I was very happy with the Briggs & Riley Baseline Cabin Spinner. I intended to put it atop my Travelpro MaxLite 22” bag, but quickly discovered that that was a pipe dream. The Cabin Spinner attaches to the pull-out handle on another bag by a bungee cord that is attached pretty tightly to the Cabin Spinner. I was unable to keep a good grip on the Travelpro while pulling the bungee out and away from the B&R bag, simultaneously lifting the B&R a couple of feet above the Travelpro. After a few comedic tries, I gave up. I hope this is all making sense and you can picture what I mean.
Now, I usually do some shopping when I am on my trips. I mostly buy clothing, which is easy to fit in the Travelpro, as I put dirty laundry in one of those vacuum bags and squish it down. However, for some reason, I decided I needed a new backpack in London. I visited an outdoors store in Covent Garden, and saw the Osprey Daylite backpack. I thought it was very attractive, and I bought it without giving much thought as to how I would get it home.
I also bought a pair of Skechers sneakers because I discovered that my well-worn Brooks Glycerin sneakers were a bit TOO well-worn and my feet weren’t as comfy as I would have liked. on the streets of London.
Up to that point, I was using my Roka as a day bag. (I also have a Tom Bihn zip top shop bag that I use for shopping). I began using the Osprey the very next day. I knew I was going to have a challenge packing to go back home. First I packed to go to Lewes, after five days in London. I had a big brown paper shopping bag from the outdoors store, and I put the Alpaka in there, along with the Brooks. It was unwieldly on the train but I managed without too much trouble.
continued in part 2