2tall4economy

After doing a lot of research (including here on the forums), some soul searching, and really gauging my desires for style, practicality, and less stress when traveling, I've come up with the following. Haven't pulled the trigger yet as I'm undecided on two items, so thought I'd post here to get any additional input.

First: A recent picture of my packing for a 10 day trip to Greece (my "before"):

http://flic.kr/p/gLywL5



The ultimate goal is to get down to 1 wallet, 1 carryon, 1 checked. I plan to cut out about half of the stuff for my next trip (details below), though I still need to shift around my items used to carry.

For the checked bag, it's a no brainer for me. The SBL Suitcase (Large, Dark Coffee) is the perfect mix of durability, practicality (though I may miss the wheels someday) and style:

http://www.saddlebackleather.com/sui...&category=1289

For the wallet + carryon, I have a dilemma. I could either go with:

1) The Bellroy travel wallet (room for 1 passport) and the SBL Thin Brief:
http://bellroy.com/wallets/travel-wallet
http://www.saddlebackleather.com/bri...ategory=301406

2) The Bellroy note sleeve (not willing to go with a "fold your bills" wallet just yet) and the SBL Classic Brief + Passport wallet:
http://bellroy.com/wallets/note-sleeve-wallet
http://www.saddlebackleather.com/bri...ategory=301406
http://www.saddlebackleather.com/pas...=8&category=87

Whatever carryon I settle on would be what I use daily for work commute as well as for my travels, so I'm interested in "light when possible but can be increased when I need to head for the airport".

The rationale for the first is that given I live overseas and travel internationally at least 6 times (14+ flights) per year, a few months/weeks at a time, I need my passport readily accessible on a daily basis for hotels, planes, overzealous local police and transport checkpoints, Visas, etc...

However, my passport has 76 pages (normally they have 28 but I burned through 28 pages in about 3 years and it's cheaper and more convenient to add pages than get a new passport) so having it in the travel wallet means it's a little uncomfortable to have as my primary wallet. The downside is that having my passport and medical docs in my briefcase instead of my pantleg means I will need to get the Classic Briefcase (9" wide) instead of the Thin Briefcase (4" wide), since the 4" will be packed to the gills on a business trip, even after I cut down.

Personally, I really prefer the Thin brief to the Classic brief due to the size and look.

I guess it comes down to heavy pants or heavy shoulder. Any thoughts?

-------------------

Breakdown and plan:

Wallet
Cash - minimize
Receipts - toss unless needed for expense report, then put into envelope in carryon
3 ID cards - have to keep
4 money cards (preferred, EMV, ATM, and Local currency) - have to keep
3 loyalty cards - use iPhone apps (I wish Delta would let me push to passbook!)
2 gift cards - keep in carryon until needed

Work Laptop Bag (keeping most of it - it's my basic necessities)
Family passports & proof of immunization docs - keep mine, family situational
work laptop (13") + power + mouse - keep
headphones for iStuff - keep
iStuff chargers - keep
Visa/Passport photos - leave at home
keys - keep
Eye masks - reduce to 2
Tissues - keep
Wet naps - toss
Pen - keep
USB stick - keep
lip balm - just 1
iPad - keep
business cards - reduce
ticket stubs - toss once miles post
book 1, book 2 - max 1 book
local currency (doesn't fit in a wallet) - keep
travel docs (birth certs, etc...) - keep
work notepad - keep


Personal Laptop Backpack
Personal laptop (18") + power + mouse - smaller laptop (14"), and just 1 mouse
extra shirt and socks for cold planes - wear the shirt, keep the socks; see how many times socks actually used
book 3, book 4 - just the 1 above.
medicine cabinet of "essentials" - pillbox, reduce total meds
2 universal plug converters - keep 1
various chits and flight attendant rewards to give away - donate to someone else
3 more eye masks - just 2
ear plugs - toss
loose medications - toss
my favorite "business class" package holding eye masks, shoe horn, various loyalty cards, etc... - toss based on reduction of other needs

Checked Bag
Clothes - no change
Shaving bag - reduce items
Toothcare bag - reduce items
Skincare / haircare bag - reduce items
Clippers/tweezers - reduce items

RCyyz

I purchased a Bellroy Travel Wallet. The ad makes it sound great! I loved the idea of being able to put the passport, the boarding passes and all the other usual wallet stuff in there.

The wallet arrived and I eagerly unwrapped it. It seemed well constructed and as advertised it was the right size for a standard passport and it had the pen for filling out forms etc. Just what I wanted!

So I took the $$$ out of my old wallet and stuffed it in the Bellroy. And it didn't fit. Admittedly I was cash-heavy at that point; I think I had almost $400 in twenties on me. But I really couldn't put more than $150 in there without the wallet folding funny. Hmmm ...

So OK, carry less cash. Not really that big a deal I guess. So I put my passport in. And it fit! Or did it? Well once again the wallet wouldn't close properly. My Canadian passport has 48 pages. So I tried my 31-page British passport and that worked better. Except I don't really use my British passport. So that wasn't going so well ...

The credit cards all fit properly in the various slots. But with $$$ and cards and British passport the pen kind of got in the way. Sigh ...

So I took advantage of the no hassle money back guarantee and sent the wallet back.

Overall I think the Bellroy is not a bad wallet but it's thinner because it forces you to carry less. And you can accomplish this without a Bellroy.

Hope this helps.

2tall4economy

The downside of living where I do; "mail back for a full refund" is either impossible or not worth the time and effort.

Would be a $120 lesson. Thanks for the input.