If you haven’t already figured it out, checking bags on flights is for suckers. Better to travel light, avoid baggage claim, and pack your things in a single bag with seemingly endless compartments and pockets: Gregory Pack’s Border Travel 30L
Easy to Handle
Made out of a tough PVC-free nylon and recycled polyester material, the Border Travel 30L bag is ideal for weekend getaways. Wether I’m traveling my car, bus, train, or air, this bag is easy to maneuver and carry. If I need to hoist the bag from my seat to the overhead bin, there’s a handle on the top of the back. There’s even a handle on the bottom of the bag, making it really easy to grab it out of my trunk. When I drive, I carry the Border Travel 30L bag from my house to the trunk of my car with the handle, just like a suitcase. Both top and side handles are made out of sturdy nylon and are long enough that I can get my big hand under them even when wearing gloves.
I haven’t yet traveled on a long enough trip where I would need to pack a suitcase, but if I did, no problem at baggage claim. The Border Travel 30L bag has openings on both sides of the mesh-encased padding on the back of the pack: I can slide it right onto the handle of my wheeled suitcase.
Most often, I wear the pack like a backpack: on my back. The Border Travel 30L has wide, contoured, tapered, adjustable shoulder straps (with a chest strap). It carries well, and I prefer moving around with my hands free since I use a mobility device.
Organization and Security
The Border Travel 30L bag’s organization options are perfect for me. The main compartment has two sides: a zippered full-length pouch for my dirty clothes and a deeper zippered compartment (with two mesh zippered pockets on the top of the compartment) for my clean clothes. I’m not the greatest packer because I pack at the last minute, but here’s what I easily fit into the compartment for my last trip: a pair of pants, a pair of sweatpants, a long-sleeved merino shirt, a short-sleeved shirt, a tunic shirt, four pairs of underwear, a bra, two pairs of socks, and my electric toothbrush in its case. I used one of the zippered top pockets for my prescriptions medications and the other for my toiletries.
The dirty clothes compartment is treated with Polygiene to be odor- and vapor-resistant. I’m not that worried about germs on my dirty clothes when I travel and I’m not a fan of treated fabrics, but I have to admit that this pouch has come in handy, especially because it has a secret zippered access point from the bottom of the bag. I most often use it to stash sweaty workout clothes or my damp swimsuit if they haven’t dried before I need to depart. I can fit a pair of hiking shoes in there, too, but I usually don’t carry an extra pair of shoes on a two- or three-day trip.
On the outside of the bag there’s a small shallow zippered pocket on the top of the bag: that’s for my inhaler and spacer. Handy for easy and quick access. There’s also a long flat pocket on the front of the pack where I stash a hat and, in the inner zippered mesh pouch, my wallet, a flashlight, and my tarot deck. The inner pouch has a lanyard with a clip for my keys. I always use is because my number one drive in life is not losing my keys. I also put my iPad mini in its Otterbox case in the compartment.
In the back of the pack there’s a thin compartment for my laptop. It seems strange to me to have the computer in the back because when I’m not carrying the pack it’s resting on its back. Seems like it would make more senses to have the padded computer compartment on or hear the front of the bag.
All of the zippers of rubber-like pulls and tiny security sleeves. I can pull the zipper through the sleeve so the pull rests on the outside of it. This way if someone tries to unzip my pack the zipper won’t unzip. I’m sure master criminals can get into any bag they want, but I like these little details. If nothing else they help me make sure my things are secure inside the bag.
There’s a pouch on one side of the bag that I think might be for a fold-up umbrella. The pouch can be unzipped to created a much larger mesh pouch. I tried putting my water bottle in it, but it fell out when I set the bag down. It works best with a thin water bottle. I’ve also stuffed gloves and a hat in it.
Details
Available in Dark Forest and Total Black. Measurements: 21.5″ x 14″ x 7.9″
Bottom Line
I love this organized bag. It easily holds enough for a weekend trip but not so much that it gets heavy. I can and have worn it for hours when an airport pickup ends up as “let’s stop and do this….” and I don’t want to leave my bag in someone’s car. The outer pockets make it easy to quickly access my essentials.
$149.95 at STAY INFORMED
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