Hello all. I was recommended to this site by a few friends. This is my first post here.

I am a new consultant in the IT field, and will now start traveling nationally and globally very soon (this month), anywhere from 50-100% of the time.

I was wondering if you guys could make some recommendations as to types of luggage and toiletry bags to get. Anything helps. Experiences with sizes, materials, brands, etc.

Thanks in advance!

Welcome.


Let's get the cost issues out of the way.

I can recommend a $100 dollar bag or a $20k bag. Both will do the same thing. What quality and finishes are you most attracted to?

Will you be able to do carry on only, or have to check baggage? Any particular characteristics of stuff you need to bring (i.e. bulky, heavy, fragile, etc.)?

Carry on only is favored by many here, especially for outbound legs of your trips, since delayed or lost baggage can be disruptive if a critical item is in the delayed or lost baggage.

For carry on bags, you'll want something easy to carry, and will fit in the various sometimes odd shaped places in the cabin.

For checked bags, you'll want something durable, distinctive in appearance (lots of people have plain black suitcases), and not too tempting to thieves.

There are some great bags out there, you probably want to go to a store and see what features you want. They get so beaten up traveling. I have Tumi.

Used to be a Tumi faithful, but I now buy Briggs & Riley exclusively. My old Tumis are now my check baggage.

This topic has had extensive coverage in other threads. See, for example, http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/showthread.php?t=694399&highlight=luggage

By the way, my vote is for Eddie Bauer. Life time, no hassle guarantee. :D

I use a cheap ($109) Costco rollaboard, because it's relatively durable and Costco offers a generous return policy if it ever breaks. I have had Hartmann, Tumi and Briggs & Riley bags over the years and have my pet peeves with all three, but they are basically all solid bags IME. I like the Hartmann belting leather luggage, but it's too heavy for anyone who travels professionally, I think. (If you do get belting leather, don't do what I've seen some people do and get plastic covers for it, which make it look like your Grandma's plasticized sofa. It's supposed to get scratched.)

I've had some nice leather briefcases as well, but my current laptop bag is a Tom Bihn briefcase (the Empire Builder model), and it's the best bag I've ever had in terms of functionality and durability. I only wish they made rollaboards.

I suggest getting something other than plain black for your suitcase, it makes it less likely to get inadvertently switched. For my briefcase, I went with a muted steel-gray-and-black color scheme because I thought, "boring=professional". In IT, I would stay away from anything too flashy, makes it look like you're taking too much of their money. A bag with a little wear on it (if, say, you have to bring it into the office on Thursday before going right to the airport from work) makes you look like a seasoned veteran.

Henk- www.henk.com (Carbon Fiber--custom)
Valextra- www.valextra (Leather)
Zero Halliburton- www.zerohalliburton.com (Alluminum)
Rimowa- www.rimowa.com (Alluminum)

This topic has had extensive coverage in other threads. See, for example, http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/showthread.php?t=694399&highlight=luggage

By the way, my vote is for Eddie Bauer. Life time, no hassle guarantee. :D

I've got a set of Eddie Bauer, a wheeled carryon and a 26" bag I check that carries tons & tons of clothes & equipment (easy to pack for 2 weeks). The wife bought them for me at Target because she thought they were cool looking. Never seen any like mine in any airport. Slightly wedge shaped, made of sort of a heavyweight brown canvas, with leather touches. Easy to spot on the carousel. Turns out these have been extremely durable, with heavy travel for 3+ years. Starting to look pretty grimy (don't know how to clean the canvas), but not a tear, broken part, or any other problems.

Travelpro was very good for a lot of years and I had a lot of their luggage in different configurations. I would NOT rec. them at this time however. They are not honouring their warranty (and they used to be very good). They apparently now have a policy in effect to argue the fine points of manufacturing defects to the point that it is impossible to get them to fix one of their bags that begins to fall apart. :td:

Well, as for price range. I am looking for under $1000, which should be fairly easy to do.

I probably want something for carry-on, as I tend to pack lightly and hate checking bags. What is the size limit for carry-ons? Materials I like are leather and black ballistic nylon. I also am welcome to look into other things (aluminum and carbon fiber). I am not very familiar with the brand names...

Bottom line, I want a very durable carry-on that is stylish, and not too expensive.

I like the suggestions that you have posted so far! Any pros and cons would be good. Are there any review sites out there? Keep the recommendations coming!

Here. Try this

http://www.bizrate.com/luggage/

I've bought $100 bags that lasted 5 years and $400 bags that broke in a year. I would plan on replacing a heavily used carry on every 3-5 years if you are travelling 50% or more.

I think are 2 reasonable options

1) buy a well made $100-$150 bag -- on ebags you can read customer reviews and choose something that fits your needs. I ended up with a Delsey bag about 6-7 years ago that is still going. It's been repaired once (failed zipper) and handed down to my daughter who travels a lot less. I used it for 5 years before the zipper failed.

2) if you want spendier luggage find a local luggage dealer who repairs bags onsite. and who will repair any problems for you fast. then spend a little more and get briggs & riley or andiamo or any other bag with a great warranty that the dealer will repair for you no questions asked. My latest bag is an andiamo. It has a slick folding handle which makes it very comfortable, but that handle is fragile. had it break in europe (fortunately on the last legs of my trip) my luggage dealer replaced it right away at no charge. next time I'll certainly skip the folding handle. but the convenience of a local dealer who fixed it fast at NC was worth it.

I am a new consultant in the IT field, and will now start traveling nationally and globally very soon (this month), anywhere from 50-100% of the time.

Congratulations, lucky you!

Think it depends where you are coming from and going to (you say "globally and nationally", but what is your nation?). It seems Americans particularly like to avoid checking luggage - and I can't say I blame them when there is a regime of not locking your checked luggage so it can be opened and inspected (unless you have TSA locks etc). I generally check luggage - the risk of damage if I try to cram everything into hand luggage and cart it around seems to outweigh the risk of damage/loss through checking it. Also life is simpler. Just one decent "checked bag" with non-essential/non-valuable stuff and one carry-on. For the carry-on, I like to use one big "laptop-style" bag. I can get everything in there. Some travellers who don't check luggage "push the envelope". They have separate briefcase, suitbag, rollaboard, plastic bag with duty frees etc, overcoat with pockets cleverly stuffed full. So easy to forget a bag somewhere, get one snatched if you're somewhere unfamiliar etc. Not to mention you might not get it all in the bin - so have to travel with some of it out of your sight.

So I suggest you do your own "risk assessment" according to the areas you travel between and what people say here about particularly destinations.

For bags you want to check, my advice would be to avoid those "spinner" type suitcases. They have 4 wheels that stick out and are asking to be knocked off in the baggage handling process. Go for two wheeled varieties - the wheels are more enclosed and are generally stronger. Except in smaller sizes, 2 wheelers are becoming increasingly difficult to find. Actually I spoke to a Taiwanese factory that makes them for a variety of brands. They really are unfashionable at the moment - everyone wants "spinners".

I wouldn't get taken in by particular brands. Just look at the build quality of the case in front of you. Top of the range Delseyites might be good - but their middle range stuff might cost more and be of poorer quality than an unknown brand - particularly if the unknown brand is a little more old fashioned and incorporates a chunky metal frame. Also if you don't spend so much, you will find it easier to replace as wear'n'tear takes it toll.

I like hardshell cases. Ideally don't use cases that are bigger than you need - I've noticed as they get bigger, the metal frames don't always scale up so they get weaker. Have at least a couple of sizes. Get a roll of bubble wrap so you can fill any voids, protect fragile objects. Nothing worse than a rattle... And if something is rattling, its being worn down.

I always like to carry a few plastic bags. Anything in a bottle I stick in one or two bags before packing. Also anything prone to water damage - sometimes suitcases get rained on. Stuff like brochures I always put in plastic bags before packing.

Finally I reckon this travel thing really does work most of the time. People tend to post horror stories more than positive experiences. So don't worry about it, have a good time!

...I know that I do -- and have over the years. And since things change, there's no real recommendation of the form "suitcase brand X model Y" that one can give. So I'll not do that, but rather give my thought-process when I buy new luggage.

I tend to find upright 4-wheelers to be the most comfortable, and have at least my checked bag be one of those -- and sometimes the carry-on too. With that said:

Things which is checked is bound to break. Can it do so in a way which is (i) repairable and (ii) still allowing you to get the suitcase home and (iii) all this without spilling the content of the suitcase all over the airport ;)

Now, I do not know where you're at, but for checked stuff, be careful who will cover repair in case of damage. You? Your insurance? The carrier? The suitcase manufacturer? For example, if I make a claim on SK when flying TO the US the nice US based staff at baggage reclaim essentially say "go f*** yourself". Whereas if I make a claim when returning to Europe, I get a voucher and an address where they repair my suitcase for free.

4-wheelers tend to loose a wheel from time to time, ripped off and not due to wear, and anything with a pull handle will need to have it replaced at least twice (according to my statistics).

So a criteria to me is repairable, and usable even when broken (since I need to get to the EU to make a successful claim at the carrier). For checked-stuff, that is.

I also tend to like hard-shell check-ins, probably due to the fact that of the three I've had, no carrier has successfully managed to damage any content, whereas not so for soft-shelled cases. Probably just dumb luck, but still.

For carry-on, I can count to "one" and know that a 22" rollaboard should not be thought of as a "personal item" :) Furthermore, LHR is just next door, and we all know what that means. So I switch between two carry-on's: a small upright 4-wheeler for when I need to carry some cloths and a laptop in a sleeve -- and a similar-sized "horizontal" dedicated laptop-roller with ample office space (it contains, among other things, a printer, scanner, ...).

Depending on needs, I pick whichever of these two. If I need lots of cloths or other stuff and little "office-stuff" I go with the upright. If I need only emergency clothing and lots of "office-stuff", well it's the horizontal one that wins.

I've managed to wear out a set of wheels on each of these two...wear out....so spare-parts & repairability are important also for these.

My "personal item" is a small purse to hold cellphones, wallet, keys, passport (essentailly the stuff that I would want the least to be stolen) -- and for LHR-purposes, that purse fits into either of the two carry-ons as described above.

For the moment, I seem to have fallen on Samsonite as the brand of luggage -- not really intentionally, but the bags I've liked seemed to be of that brand. They have the benefit of being fairly intl. and thus repairable everywhere, and stuff that can break is usually made such that it is easy to replace. But most of it so old that I can't find a reference to it on the WWW, so I won't burden you with specifics.

I think that if I was to look for luggage, I'd go for one of the brands recommended in this thread (Tumi, Biggs, ....) and see what I like from there. Luggage is a personal matter, and what pleases me doesn't please my colleague (he's a back-pack fetishist, whereas I hate such). Also, my needs are almost guaranteed to differ from yours etc.

Starting to look pretty grimy (don't know how to clean the canvas), but not a tear, broken part, or any other problems.Any simple fabric cleaner (e.g., Resolve (http://www.amazon.com/RECKITT-RESOLVE-MULTI-FABRIC/dp/B000MGMGHW/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1/002-4596735-6575229?ie=UTF8&s=home-garden&qid=1186675394&sr=8-1)) should do the trick.

Hubby and I both love our Victorinox. The Mobilizer NXT 3.0 is on sale right now at Bag 'n Baggage: http://www.bagnbaggage.com/

The store also has a frequent shopper program. If you spend $1,000 you'll get a $100 gift certificate.

Well, as for price range. I am looking for under $1000, which should be fairly easy to do.

I probably want something for carry-on, as I tend to pack lightly and hate checking bags. What is the size limit for carry-ons?

Official carryon size limits may differ by airline (see the airline web sites). However, be aware that different types of airplanes, and different seats within airplanes, may have different size / shape carryon storage areas. For example, window seat underseat storage is often small and oddly shaped. The 22" rollaboards that are popular as carryon baggage are too large to fit in the overheads of many regional jets and may have to be gate-checked.

For carryon baggage, I prefer squishy bags like backpacks, duffel / gym bags, or messenger bags, because they fit in more places. This is especially important when flying on flights heavy with business travelers who like to carryon everything and therefore will fill up the overheads quickly. Leisure travelers seem to be more likely to check baggage and not carryon much.

If you do carryon a 22" rollaboard, try to put it in the overhead wheels out (or 180-degrees from wheels out) so that more of them can fit in the overhead.