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OneBag: The Art and Science of Travelling Light

onebag.com

111–120 of 213 posts

Re: OneBag: The Art and Science of Travelling Light

#111

I’ll offer up my one bag take that’s very much against the mainstream of one bag aficionados. I love traveling light, but think the carefully curated list of expensive branded items are counterproductive. I’d much rather the bag and everything in it to be functional, ugly anonymous and replaceable. If the bag gets stolen, I should be able to walk into the nearest mall and replace everything that was in it without a s…

Your approach seems a little like applying certain ultra-light hiking philosophies to one bag travel. E.g., Don't buy a fancy usb-powered travel toothbrush - buy a plain manual toothbrush and cut off the handle to save space and weight.

Re: OneBag: The Art and Science of Travelling Light

#112
post #12

I found this a particularly interesting page: https://www.onebag.com/wheeled-bags.html ('Wheeled Bags (A Disputation): The Dismal Downsides')

This misses a common reason to avoid wheels: upcharge on carriers that charge for carry-ons. If you are carrying a tiny bag/purse and it has wheels, it is at a minimum considered a carry-on, so you'll have to pay for it, and sometimes check it. Every time I take a cheap flight I hear some poor flight attendant explaining how having wheels puts it in a specific price class.

Re: OneBag: The Art and Science of Travelling Light

#113

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> - Equally absurd restrictions on carrying my Swiss Army Knife. You're not wrong, but for possible future reference, multitools are fine as long as they don't have a knife ( * https://www.tsa.gov/travel/security-screening/whatcanibring/...

The TSA can and does confiscate anything they want. If you happen to get the wrong agent on the wrong day, they may still choose to confiscate a technically compliant multitool.

> they may still choose

Which is the biggest problem, the TSA does not have to follow its own rules. And if you dare point out the rules to them, you will be told that "for your safety and security" individual screening is "up to the agent's discretion" and asked "do you want to fly today" while also being loudly informed that you obviously "do not care about the security of others."

This is why I am such a huge advocate for trains, though I imagine that if rail got more usable and widespread here the TSA would just infest it as well. Until that happens, I will always take a train for short regional trips. SEA to PDX might be scheduled for 45 minutes on the plane and 3 scheduled hours on the train, but the experience is so much better on Amtrak not having to put up with the sad mess our airports are.

Re: OneBag: The Art and Science of Travelling Light

#114

I’ll offer up my one bag take that’s very much against the mainstream of one bag aficionados. I love traveling light, but think the carefully curated list of expensive branded items are counterproductive. I’d much rather the bag and everything in it to be functional, ugly anonymous and replaceable. If the bag gets stolen, I should be able to walk into the nearest mall and replace everything that was in it without a s…

Yeah, it's a ridiculous take because the specialized things you have in a nice onebag setup are not going to be easy to find in a random store. Just replacing the backpack itself is going to be a major issue if you are outside of the United States.

Exactly, which is what makes the mainstream approach very brittle and difficult to recover from failure. If even replacing the bag is a major project, then my vacation can easily be ruined. You say “nice onebag setup,” I say “white elephant that wants me to spend my whole trip focused on it.”

Re: OneBag: The Art and Science of Travelling Light

#115
post #68
post #32

I bought a Goruck GR2 (40L capacity) in 2013 and cumulatively lived out of it for ~4 years. It's been with me up every mountain I've climbed, on 3 continents, on my back as I rode a motorcycle through a snowstorm. I've slept on it, swam with it, skied with it. After nearly 9 years, it's in perfect condition, and one of my most cherished possessions. I'm not one to anthropomorphize... but this one bag is my best frien…

I have the 25L I use for everything for almost 5 years now. Still see no signs of wear and I do not treat that thing nicely. I am wondering for the 40L, can you bring it as carry on item on flights? For the 25L I can and it is usually large enough for me. A bit larger would be nice, but I usually just cut something I will not need anyway.

Even packed to the gills, I've never had an issue on any domestic or international flight using it as a carry on. I can recall maybe one or two occasions where no overhead space was available and I needed to remove a few items from the fully loaded ruck to fit it beneath the seat, but those were situations were outliers.

Re: OneBag: The Art and Science of Travelling Light

#116

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> - Equally absurd restrictions on carrying my Swiss Army Knife. You're not wrong, but for possible future reference, multitools are fine as long as they don't have a knife ( * https://www.tsa.gov/travel/security-screening/whatcanibring/...

The TSA can and does confiscate anything they want. If you happen to get the wrong agent on the wrong day, they may still choose to confiscate a technically compliant multitool.

I've never had the TSA confiscate my bladeless Swiss Army Knife (it has scissors and a screwdriver).

But I have had it confiscated abroad more than once. Many other countries won't allow scissors, or anything that looks like a knife, to fly.

Re: OneBag: The Art and Science of Travelling Light

#117
post #97
post #68

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I have the 25L I use for everything for almost 5 years now. Still see no signs of wear and I do not treat that thing nicely. I am wondering for the 40L, can you bring it as carry on item on flights? For the 25L I can and it is usually large enough for me. A bit larger would be nice, but I usually just cut something I will not need anyway.

I usually use a 46 liter Osprey which is supposedly carry-on size, certainly seems it, and I've never had an issue. It's a bit easier to squeeze into tight overhead space if it's not too jam packed full.

I have 40L/50+10Ls that I can even fit underneath the seat

Re: OneBag: The Art and Science of Travelling Light

#118
post #108

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Or synthetic/wicking shirts. Packs extremely small and dries very quickly.

Synthetics are the worst on airplane and they smell quickly. Yea they dry fast but you have to wash them daily.

Hm, I never had them become smelly. Depends on the fabric and body and climate, I guess.

Re: OneBag: The Art and Science of Travelling Light

#119
post #12

I found this a particularly interesting page: https://www.onebag.com/wheeled-bags.html ('Wheeled Bags (A Disputation): The Dismal Downsides')

I haven’t used a wheeled bag in years (including several international trips) and I would recommend it if you’re physically capable. Particularly if you ever fly on regional jets. Whenever I’m boarding a full flight the flight crew starts going around asking people to gate check their wheeled luggage. Not once have they told me I need to gate check mine.

Modern wheeled luggage can be a godsend with heavy checked luggage. But I've never owned a carryon with wheels. They obviously make sense if someone has trouble carrying their carryon around. And I can see them for people who are dressed up. But I do think a lot of people default to them who would be happier with something else.

Re: OneBag: The Art and Science of Travelling Light

#120
I wonder (aloud) how much of one bag ethos is linked to being a man. Culturally (my experience is US/EU/Latam) women are expected to change clothes often. And in some countries that also means changing belts and shoes. If traveling for business, even worse: few professional clothes designed for women are compressible/washable/fast drying.
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