Best combination for TWO-bag travel?

[theroamingronin]

I just went to Washington DC for 5 days/4 nights with an Aeronaut 30, Synapse 19 and a Side Effect tucked away. I pretty much hefted the A30 as a regular duffel bag and the S19 as the backpack. Pretty much chose between the Side Effect as a fanny pack or S19 to walk about town depending on the activity.

I managed to pack in the Aeronaut 30 without overpacking. I got the A30 as I'm a shorter guy (5'5") and I think you can get away with the A30 as a personal item if you happen to fly on one of the budget airlines like Frontier or Spirit. And the S19 fit fine in the dimensions the U.S. Capitol has for bags you can carry in.

• 4 underwear
• 4 pairs of socks
• 4 undershirts
• 2 pairs of shorts
• 2 polo shirts
• 2 t-shirts
• 1 gym t-shirt
• 1 pair of jeans

[krroller]

I travel via plane about 120K miles per year with some portion of that being international travel and some small portion of that being pleasure/personal travel.

I've found the best combination that maximizes carry on capacity is the Brain Bag with either the small Yeoman Duffel or the Road Buddy Duffel 36. I use two Freudian Slips in the Brain Bag along with Cache for my laptop. I slip my tablet in the back of one of the Freudian slips and sandwich it against the Cache. I also use 2 Maxpedition EDC Organizers in the lower front pockets of the Freudian slip in the front compartment of the Brain Bag, and use 4 Maxpedition EDC Fatty Organizers in the back compartment which is also holding the laptop in a Cache and the tablet in the Freudian Slip. I also have about 8 key straps with various Tom Bihn pouches and a couple of Maui Jim sunglass cases.

I use Eagle Creek Pack-It Specter Tech Compression cubes (4 medium and two small) and one Tom Bihn Side Effect in the Yeoman or Road Buddy Duffel (depending on the type of trip I am doing).
In addition, I use Osprey UltraLight 6 Dry Sacks for dirty clothes. These Osprey sacks are nice because they compress well, are extremely lightweight and take up virtually no space when flat. They also have a square bottom so they keep a nice shape for packing when full.
I carry a Maxpedition Tactical Travel Tray for putting my wallet and other small stuff in at night. The travel tray folds completely flat and when placed on the bottom of the duffel bag, helps create some structure to the bag and offers a small bit of padding to the bottom of the pack.

This set up permits for lots of gear as well as up to 5 days of clothing (business and casual attire).

The Brain Bag has very unique overall dimensions which permit it to fit under most seats (where there is easy access to the gear needed on a plane). The 18" height is a bit shorter than most packs which permits for the under seat access, while the wider than normal dimension of 14" wide permits for lots of capacity in a bag that can still be compressed down.

This combination of two bag travel has been cultivated after many years of learning the optimal way to maximize capacity while using one back pack and one over the shoulder bag (with the Absolute strap, of course). This may be more capacity than many need, but my goal is to never have to check a bag, and still bring everything I may need.

I've also found that stuffing one bag with all the stuff needed for modern day business travel (electronics/gear, casual clothes/business attire) makes that one bag too heavy, and splitting gear and clothes across two bags is a more ideal way to travel.

When I know I am going to a city with lots of walking (San Francisco, NY, London, etc), I'll bring along the Brain Bag Padded Hip belt which does wonders to transfer the weight from your shoulders to the hips. I've carried this pack with about 30 pounds worth of gear for many miles in San Francisco.

Hope this helps give some ideas.

[allanorn]

Main bag is either an A45 or a Tri-Star. I will pack the A45 for week-long trips or if I think I need the space upon return. The Tri-Star is nice for shorter trips, though I hate packing it. I’ve been reading Tri-Star packing threads and they generally mention that you have to think and pack flat/thin, which is completely different than most other bags I own. I’ll have to try that for my next Tri-Star trip.

EDC/secondary bag is a backpack. It’s definitely the S25 if I’m carrying my laptop. I just picked up a Luminary 15, which I will probably use for non-laptop trips.

[backpack]

Tristar/S19 or A45/S19.

The choice depend on the season, or more accurately, the predicted weather at the departure and destination points.

Is the trip is 100% casual or, do I need to look nice for dinner, an event? Or, Do I need to look polished, all the time?

The factors above combined to the length of the trip.

I also use Packing Cube Shoulder Bags and Backpack to organize clothes and I also pack a Small Cafe Bag, which I also use as a temporary Packing Cube.

On many trips, I have used the Packing Cube Backpack for excursions but, when the Daylight Backpack was introduced, it became part of the packing list as a clothes organizer and a better lightweight excursions backpack for museums, libraries, book stores and parks' visitor centers visits.

Both the SE and its vertical cousin the TC, can be used as pockets, inside the S19 and as fancy mini purses.

The TC also fits in the SCB and is perfect for farmers' markets and town centers strolling.

[jr39]

Currently S19 is my EDC and REI 40L Big Haul Duffel (only partially filled and compressed to just under 8” thick) is my carry-on.

Gonna replace REI duffel with WF for most trips. It arrives Tuesday—yea!

In a different thread, someone said they could fit into a Pilot everything they carried in their S19. I don’t have a Pilot—yet—but I think I could too. The S19 is great but there are times I’d prefer a shoulder bag to a backpack for EDC.

Anyone using Pilot-WF combo?

[melminimalist]

My favorite combo right now is the smart alec and pop tote, my only wish would be to have a way to add a crossbody strap to the pop tote.


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[bartleby]

enjoy! I envy you!

[Rei]

The Jura is so gorgeous! The local cheese (Comté) is one of my all time favorites and tastes fantastic with the local wine!

I just sip some Cerdon and Rosé (Wines) and yes Comté is so yummy (I brought some with me)

[bartleby]

I did a 1 week trip (to the Jura) with my GES25 + a foldable shopping bag (with a SE like pouch, actually the peakdesign field pouch)
I may redo it for a 3 weeks trip to South-East Asia.

The Jura is so gorgeous! The local cheese (Comté) is one of my all time favorites and tastes fantastic with the local wine!

[Rei]

I did a 1 week trip (to the Jura) with my GES25 + a foldable shopping bag (with a SE like pouch, actually the peakdesign field pouch)
I may redo it for a 3 weeks trip to South-East Asia.

[DaiwaNut]

A45 + Brain Bag

[aedifica]

(and if this looks familiar, it somehow ended up a comment on the A45 vs A30 thread. Odd)

Yes, I was wondering why I thought I'd seen it, so thanks!

[sujo]

My new favorite is the Daylight Backpack and mini Yeoman Duffel, as I talked about here.

Otherwise, I like the Western Flyer (with Daylight Briefcase packed inside) and the Travel Cubelet or Side Effect carried cross-body. Though, not sure that counts.

(and if this looks familiar, it somehow ended up a comment on the A45 vs A30 thread. Odd)

[Cristina]

One camera and either raincoat or umbrella plus wallet and pouches with sunscreen, bandaids, pills

Folding umbrella about nine inches long or packed raincoat in packing cube 7”x10”
Camera is Sony point and shoot or micro four-thirds Panasonic GX85 with zoom lens. No hard case.

I suppose any of the three bags won’t keep me from looking like a tourist.

Thanks that's very useful info. As much as I love the PU, it seems like this might be a better load for a Pilot. The PU could hold these things but I don't think it would be the best use of the space as several smaller pockets would be left unused. I don't have a Pilot but I'm sure others will chime in. I can imagine that the umbrella might fit nicely in the water bottle pocket, the Sony would fit in a front pocket and the rain coat would fit in the back pocket. Not sure how the bigger camera and lens would fit but it would, somewhere. Those things make sense with the Pilot, space-wise.

[BrendaH]

One camera and either raincoat or umbrella plus wallet and pouches with sunscreen, bandaids, pills

Folding umbrella about nine inches long or packed raincoat in packing cube 7”x10”
Camera is Sony point and shoot or micro four-thirds Panasonic GX85 with zoom lens. No hard case.

I suppose any of the three bags won’t keep me from looking like a tourist.