I didn’t think that my new travel bag would be worthy of a post on my website, but the positive reaction I got to it on Facebook said “that’s probably not the case.”
My search to find a perfect travel bag has been on now for some time. I think that this one I just bought might signal the end of my quest. I will fill you all in on the features that attracted me to this bag in the photo captions.
I have bought a couple of other somewhat similar bags over the years, which I have given up on for various reasons. Although I am keen on this new bag this little presentation should not be construed as an endorsement for this bag and it’s manufacturer because I haven’t actually travelled with it yet, so I can’t really comment on how it will perform in the field. But I can say that it is loaded with the features that I have been looking for. AND it is Canadian made too boot!
Here is a link to Standard’s product page. It presents a decent video of the bag in use.
It is officially carry-on size, so I may never have to check a bag again when I travel. It should do for either short or very long trips. Not only does it have all the features I’m looking for I think it’s an attractive bag as well. The orange “fittings” really caught my eye… second orange thing I have bought recently… must be a phase I am going through. 🙂
One of the most important features of this bag that it can be used as a backpack. I realized that with my surgically repaired feet, and the good old aging process, I don’t think I’ll be wanting to schlep a rolling bag up and down stairs in European train stations for much longer. This one fits really nicely on the back and has well-padded straps. And there is even a safety whistle built into one strap. It only weighs 3.7 lbs.
When you don’t need the straps you can tuck them away in a zippered compartment. As well, you can see that there’s a band across the middle which will allow me to slip it over someone else’s extended pull handle on their rolling bag. I hope the Love-goddess does not find out about this until it is too late. :-)- the other great feature that you can see better in this photo than the last is that it has a really nicely padded back.
If I want to use it as a suitcase style carry on, or just need to carry it for short distances, there is a second handle on the side that will allow me to do this.
In this configuration it is nice and narrow which will allow it to meet the carry-on requirements of most airlines. Used like this it will hold 35 litres.
There is an expandable water bottle holder on the other side which should hold just about any size water bottle I might want to take with me.
The bag is expandable as well. You simply undo a zipper that goes around the entire perimeter and it will expand to hold 45 litres. This will come in handy when I’m traveling and come back with more stuff than what I take with me. We travel very lightly, but it’s not unusual for us to pick up new pieces of clothing, especially if we’re gone for a couple of months.
It has a nice large main compartment for clothing with compression straps, which will help make sure the bag stays within the carry-on regulation measurements. There is a secret zippered pocket there on the left end… Damn it’s not a secret anymore. 🙂
There are two additional zippered pockets on the lid. The mesh one will be good for toiletries.
The lid itself opens to reveal yet another compartment for larger clothing items.
My plan for our next trip is to start to use zip up packing cubes to ensure that I get maximum use out of the space available to me. I was going to buy them from the Standard company, who I bought the suitcase from, but they got bad marks from a guy who did an extended YouTube review on the bag. His complaint was that the zippers only went halfway around which wouldn’t allow them to open up completely I agreed that this would make them awkward to pack, so I didn’t buy them . As it turns out, the Love-goddess had some kicking around that my “shopping consultant” had bought for her. As you can see though, I did buy one from Standard… for a very specific reason.
The reason I bought this one Standard brand packing cube is because it is special…
After you take your clothes out of this particular packing cube and turn it inside out…
It becomes a daypack! Very handy for everyday use. Wherever you are carrying your extra things around, or you are using it to carry groceries home after you’ve been out shopping.
It even has a zippered pocket on the bottom for you to carry a water bottle or other goodies.
One of the things I really like about this bag is that it will allow me to travel Incognito. When you’re traveling anywhere you really want to look like a local, and not like a tourist from some other part of the world. I never ever put a Canadian flag on anything. It doesn’t really help, and it does identify you as a tourist. These guys allow you to take all of the coloured doodads off of their bag so that it looks terribly neutral. They even allow you to peel off their Velcro attached logo I didn’t bother taking the orange tabs off for this photo just because I thought it would be too much work… feeling’ lazy, but they will come off. You get the idea.
Between the main compartment of the bag and the back there is yet another zippered compartment that holds a pull-out padded laptop sleeve. As you can see it also has a second pocket for an iPad. This will make it easy for me going through security … lay the bag down on the rollers, pull this puppy out, and set my laptop and iPad on top of it before it goes through the scanner.
The laptop storage area also has these two additional zippered pockets. I can see that this will be a great place to stash my passport. Hidden away, but very accessible.
Don’t like the colour orange? It comes with a second set of blue fittings that you can mix and match to your heart’s content. It also comes with a waist strap if you are backpacking for a long distance, and a shoulder strap if you just want to carry it like a suitcase over your shoulder.
The bag is water resistant, but not fully waterproof. To compensate for that they have included a waterproof cover to pull out and pull on over the whole backpack.
This the bag that I bought previously that didn’t really suit the bill. I thought I needed wheels and a handle, but I don’t. It just made the bag a whole lot heavier than I want.
