The Hero's Journey early thoughts and pictures

[Ilkyway]

The Cat is out of the sack/Bag anyway, and as this Debut is very different from previos ones, I now take the time and talk about my impressions, share my pictures about the Hero's Journey (HsJ).




I find, that I am quite nervouse about this. And when I tought about the why, this is what I realised: I had people in the past tell me, that they baught a bag due to pictures I took. This is a great compliment to me. But this also makes me responsilbe, at least partly, for people spending their money. I have some experiance of my own with shopping for items, that I saw in other peoples pictures.
I am glad, that Tom Bihn, Darcy and everybody else involved in the decition makeing progress has made so much informations about this knew bag available ahead of time. This gives all of you hopefully the time and information to decide, if you want to invest in it. So all nice pictures asside, make a list of what you want in a bag and see if this one (or any other) meets thousre requirements.

Sorry for that, lets dive in:






When I only had sean pictures, I feared a bit, that the two toned version of the HsJ would be a bit too 80th for my taste. I find, that the all black one looks very nice going by the great pictures of @NWhikergal but when mine arrived I was glad, that I stuck to my colour-sceme :-)

Ilkyway

[Ilkyway]

This is by no means a small bag, the main body of it compares nicely to the A45 in size and the upper detachable bag/backpack also holds quite a bit. Here is a size comparesion between the A30, A45 and the HsJ:





The bottom of the HsJ is from Balistic, as this is the part, that you put on the ground on hikes, it makes sense, that here the stronber material was used over the lighter Halcyon that dominates the rest of the bag. You can see a grap handle (as with all TB travel bags, you can grap this bag from every position and pull it out/towards you) but no pocket, like on the Aeronouts, wich have a different "main orientation" if that makes sense.



Ilkyway

[Ilkyway]

This summer I did a trip to England with my Family, we took two A45, a Brain Bag and a Smart Alec with both Modular Pockets. The SA held everything I brought. We staied for 12 days. Why tell you this here? Because after that exersize this bag felt HUGE :-) Let me show how I packed it:

The Airline we flew with was easyjet and they do not allow for a personal item. The main body of the HsJ would be all I'd bring on an easyjet flight.


I used two small Aether Packing Cubes from the A45 and one small Aether Packing Cube from the A30. I do prefear the "bookshelf" method of packing my cubes. I could have easily fitted three of the A45 small Cubes but I prefeard the extra room for a Clear 3D 311, a Side Effect (lying on top of the A30 cube) and a rolled up Small Shop Bag (always handy!)


Here you see all I had put into the main compartment:


The bottom compartment was not needed for clothing and as I am no hiker, I would most likely not pack a sleeping bag. I put a full sized cotton throw in there (150 x 200 cm) to show the capacity:


What I would do though: the upper detachable bag does fit (if not stuffed to its absolute maximum) inside the lower "sleepingbag pocket". So if I intended to use the zipped together complete HsJ at the destination, there is where I'd stash it. But more likely I'd put in there a daybag for my destination, say a DLBP, a rolled up S19... plus the edc items that I would bring. More about the Upper Modular Bag/Backpack in a monent.

Ilkyway

PS: since packing habits vary so much, I did not inkclude what I have inside the Packing Cubes. If your are interested in seeing my clothes... I can do so later ;-)

[Ilkyway]

Lets talk about the small satelite bag: You already know it can be either a backpack or a shoulder bag. As a shoulder bag I feel it looks like a cute minituere sutecase type of bag but I would not carry it like that because I tent to get a sore back and tens shoulder mussles from bags that I carry on one soulder. Anyway: this bag has a big main compartment, that is also accsessable when it is attached to the main body.

In there I put: A Standard Spiff Kit, the knew size organizer pouch (wich I realy realy like by the way!) a stuffed small Q-Kit (that is the larger of the two!), my wallet, a bar of shocolat and a scarf. This filled the bag but not to the brim.


Inside that knew pouch was all the "handbag-stuff" that I lugg around on a daily basis. The size of this pouch makes rumagin around quite easy.


And than there is another compartment, wich is not accessable (or not easy, and this compartment needs to be able to be flattened for the fit) when this satelite is attached to the main body. This means, the detached bag holds more, than the attached bag. Hope this makes sence. This holds an iPad in a not very thin case with a keyboard attached and the Field Journal Notebook.


Ilkyway

[Ilkyway]

When I took Ceepee back to the airport, I used the small bag in backpack mode. In there was the my quite substancial fauxdori (a take on the Midori Traveler's Notebook, but with more capazity to stuff it) has ruffly the form of a brick, the knew NWSky pouch with the "handbag stuff" and a KK 500 ml water bottle. Ceepee took this picture of me, wearing the bag (6,2"):



Ilkyway

[Ilkyway]

And than I found... a SECRET COMPARTMENT ;-)

After I took pictures of my husband wearing the HsJ in Backpackmode I went and put the packpackstraps away again. Inside that compartment, where they hide away in (we know that compartment form the Aeronouts) there is a zipper, that lets you access the foam, that makes for a polstered backpannle. You can not store a ton in there, but flat items will fit. It is a bit fiddly to open, but hey, that is good for a secret compartment, right? I would put my passport and extra cash in there, though I put poth in an organizer pouch first, as small itmes, that sink to the bottem, would be arkward to reach again.





Ilkyway

[Ilkyway]

Soooo would I buy this bag... The only TB Backpack I do not own so far is the Guide's Pack and the reason for that is: I am not a hiker. This means, I am not in the marked for a hikers bag.
As a travel bag, I feel more inklined to use this one in Backpack mode than I would my Aeronouts, wich I so far have never used in backpackmode other than for testing purposes. The HsJ just looks more backpacky and with the backpannel it is more compftable to wear in that mode than the Aeronouts.
My Aeronouts are both Balistic, as I feel a travel bag needs to be able to take a lot abuse. I do know, that Halcyon is tuff, and I have not one TB bag, that shows signs of abresive. But what I am saying is: Balistic feels tuffer and travelbags in my head need to be tuff.

Of cause a Balstic HsJ would be way too heavy. The assambled bag (the full HsJ) feels slightly more heavy than a Balistic A45.
I like the idea of the two in one bag with multiple use-scenarios but my main use will be travel-bag either by plaine, train or car. This bag will do all these jobs nicely, but I have the Aeronouts, wich also do these jobs nicely. So what I am saying is: if I had no Aeronouts, I would go for this, as it seems more versitail. As I have them, and can not take a personal item on many of our flights, this bag in all its cleverness (and man this bag is CLEVER) I would have to sell my A45s to not have multiple bags with the same purpose.

I do hope this makes sense.
Ilkyway

[Ilkyway]

And here some aditional shots with my 199 cm tall husband wearing the HsJ, just because...











Ilkyway

[Ilkyway]

If you have questions, want side by side pictures with other TB bags I might have or need a close pup of a detail... I am back home in 3 hours from fetching my girls and some shores with a camera and my bags ready to shoot :-)

Ilkyway

[brucep]

I would have to sell my A45s to not have multiple bags with the same purpose.

You mean you didn't sell them in advance so you could afford the HsJ on launch day? 😬

[Pokilani]

@Ilkyway, I love how you put together art and function in your photos! Thanks for one more perspective!


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[bchaplin]

Thanks! Wonderful pictures as always. I am not a hiker either (at least not multi-day hiking), so you can ease any guilt you might feel in convincing me to buy this bag. :) it is fun to read about everyone's impressions without going through the thought process of wondering if I need this one.

I am learning a lot about how to deal with an Easyjet flight of that ever comes up though.

[ceepee]

I am learning a lot about how to deal with an Easyjet flight of that ever comes up though.

Pops in to add: An advantage of EasyJet is that they don't (currently) have a weight limit on your one bag, and if you pay the extra (currently £9.99/flight between the UK & EU) for an 'extra legroom' seat then you can take a personal item too (and get Speedy Boarding :)). HTH

To stay on topic, I would add that I was lucky enough to be able to play with the HsJ when I visited Ilkyway. I concur with her observation that this is a BIG bag. Can I be the first to say ........ please, please make a smaller (and perhaps a tad less 'clever') version for those of us that favour the budget EU airlines :)

[luvdabags]

In there I put: A Standard Spiff Kit, the knew size organizer pouch (wich I realy realy like by the way!) a stuffed small Q-Kit (that is the larger of the two!), my wallet, a bar of shocolat and a scarf. This filled the bag but not to the brim.

Ilkyway

There is a new OP size? Can't seem to find that on the website. Can you tell us more about it? Thanks.

[Shanisol]

Gorgeous pictures, as always, and thank you for the comparison shots! I'm fascinated by this bag but not sure it's something I need, so I appreciate seeing everyone's thoughts and uses for it.