Packing
The Essential Travel Trade-Off: Less Luggage = More & Greater Adventures
Your heavy pack affects your ability to improvise and enjoy travel. Sure, it’s nice to have the variety of outfits, the gear for getting a perfect Instagram shot, familiar-brand cosmetics, a range of screens to read and watch, souvenirs collected along the way, and everything else to make travel feel like more home. But the …
We Listened to the Best Travel Speakers — Here’s the One We’d Take
I’ve been travelling the world for a decade and a half, and no matter how much I whittle down my luggage to the bare essentials, I always have room for a small speaker. I love to follow my podcasts, to share and discover music with people from all over the world, and to improvise occasional …
Wheeled Backpacks for Girls: Cute Designs that Will Roll Through the School Year
What are the cutest, funnest backpacks for girls with the convenience of wheels? We’ve put together photos of the designs along with our thoughts on what are the most durable and useful options for middle and high school use (plus one smaller option for younger, elementary-age girls). As we’ve reported on the best rolling backpacks …
Can I Take Fido? Top Tips for Riding European Trains With Dogs
For over two years I’ve been crisscrossing Europe by train with a dog. I am a digital nomad and the dog in question is actually my daughter’s, but is with me while my daughter finishes her degree. So where I go, the dog goes. Traveling around Europe may seem like a carefree life, but it …
The Differences in the Top Osprey Daypacks — And How to Choose the Perfect Smaller Pack for Daily Use
I’m obsessed with lightweight travel and have been using Osprey packs and daypacks for years. I also think they’re very much worth recommending for school, hiking, cycling, outdoor sports, shopping, carrying laptops and gear for work, and more. An older favorite I’ve used for years: The Osprey Daylite Travel daypack. It’s got a full set …
Stuff we’re currently testing—the good, the bad, and the we dunno yet
Not everything that we test we find interesting enough or useful enough to include in our main packing lists, or review. This article details some of the things we love (but that don’t merit inclusion on a minimalist’s packing list), we hate (and didn’t even want to bother reviewing), or that we’re just not sure …
The Most Durable Rolling School Backpacks (2022 Recommendations)
We’ve taken a thorough look at the rolling backpack options for teens ages 13 and up (and we have a recommendation for elementary-age kids too). Our main goal was to find the most durable and practical option to recommend for middle and high school use, as well as for short overnight trips. We looked at …
How to Choose Between Eagle Creek Convertible Carry-Ons: The Caldera International, Gear Warrior, and Expanse International
As someone who for for more than a decade has basically lived out of various convertible rolling backpack carry-ons, I feel like I know what to look for when comparing them. So I recently took an interest in the Eagle Creek lineup of bags with both backpack straps and wheels that are small enough to …
Older Osprey Daypacks that Are Still Great—and Often Still Available
There are lots of great Osprey Daypacks—that is, the smaller backpacks for everyday use—that appear to no longer be in active production but are still available from some sources (including those we link to in the table below). While in most cases we recommend the newest range of small Osprey Daypacks, and detail the differences …
The Best of Rolling Women’s Laptop Bags, Purses and Carry-Ons
A couple of savvy, stylish female travellers spent a week with me examining rolling laptop bags and purses to see what looks best, what’s rated well, and what would serve most common needs. So here we’ve picked out the top options designed for women — generally with the look and style of a purse, but …