6 Day San Diego to Atlanta/Greenville/Huntsville/Chattanooga trip - A45 and Pilot

[sgazzz]

Just wanted to give a rundown of my maiden voyage with the A45 and pilot for a 6 day, 5 night semi road trip.

Packing list as follows:
Pilot

• MacBook Air
• Macbook charger
• travel surge protector
• assorted charge cables for cell phone, ipod, jackery bar
• ipad mini
• notebook
• light reading material

A45

• One suit with a couple t-shirts stuffed in there to help it keep shape in the bag's main compartment tied down, unzipped both sides to give extra room.
• One pair jeans, one pair slacks and two ties in an EPPC in main compartment
• 7 button down shirts in a EC compression cube in the main compartment
• Jacket in side compartment with 311 bag in a CQPC along with a sonicare toothbrush
• Dress shoes and belt in the other side compartment in an all fabric EPPC
• assorted socks, boxers, running shorts, running shirt and pj shorts in TLSS in main compartment

Things I didn't use/need:
Extra pair of jeans

Impressions:
Pilot:
Cool little bag fit all my tech gear with no problems at all and was easy to carry around with the handle or absolute strap. I did have some issue with organizing the cables/chargers for everything in a neat manner, but will work on that part. Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

A45:
With everything listed above I felt the bag was full but not to it's ultimate limit. I think I could have squeezed some more things in there, but they might have had to be put in there loosely as the suit in the bottom of the bag threw off any hopes of packing in a neat and compartmentalized fashion.

I think without the suit I could have obviously fit a lot more stuff and in a much neater manner.

The EC compression cube is great for shirts as you can stuff a bunch in there (probably another 2 easily to get to 9) and the compression zipper really helps tighten up that bundle. Not sure how it will fit with the other TB cubes, but think I could get it to work like the EPPC in a bookshelf configuration.

The TLSS is pretty awesome for holding items that can be wrinkled and also serving as a laundry bag, great idea.

The shoes fit perfectly in the fabric EPPC along with the belt. I did put the shoes in a plastic bag to keep the EPPC clean in case I wanted to use it for clothes as well.

The CQPC was also just big enough to fit my sonicare toothbrush on the diagonal and the 311 bag.

I initially walked around the airport holding this in briefcase mode and it did get a little tiring after walking around for 10 minutes or so. I then opened up the backpack straps and it was almost unnoticeable on my back after that.

Overall, I'm stoked with the bags. I think sans a suit, I could probably go down in bag size for anything around a week, or pack for a couple of weeks in the A45. Could also maybe put the pilot in the A45 if it's not stuffed too.

[Bijouxandbeads]

For your cables and chargers, consider a 3D mesh or clear organizer cube to fit in the front left or right pocket of the pilot. I use this in a CP, and still have enough room on top for a mini Q-kit to sit, and the pilot's pockets are a bit bigger (the Pilot would probably fit an SE if you need a bit more room, but someone else would have to confirm).

[bchaplin]

Thanks for the trip report and great photos!
For cables, I always find the charger for an Apple laptop to be a bit of a problem -- it is so large. Usually I rubberband it to keep everything together.
However, for all my other cords, these Velcro wraps are very useful. In fact they "live" on my cords all the time, so that they can be folded up neatly. In general, everything goes into a 3D organizing cube, or sometimes a stuff sack, either of which fit well in a Pilot.

[marytattoo]

Also the fabric 3DOC.

[chinalake]

for my cables, cords, chargers, converters, etc . . . I like either the Snake Charmer, a Clear Quarter Packing Cube, or a 3D Mesh Organizer (although sometimes it's not big enough, depending on what I am taking). I like those Velcro Wraps bchaplin linked us to . . . I am going to order some.