Five Types of Suitcases You Absolutely Must Have

Different trips call for different luggage. Here are a few suitcases I own that I adore and how I decide which I will use:

  1. Duffel bag. An overnight bag is like a little black dress for travelers. Everyone should have at least one. I like to use a duffel bag for this, I have three different ones. The key is to find one that has enough storage space as well as pockets on the inside and out to fit everything you need and keep it organized. In addition you can also use a large back pack or oversized purse.
  2. 15″ rolling under the seat luggage. For longer weekend trips, whether you are driving somewhere nearby, or flying out on business, a small rolling suitcase that can fit under an airplane seat is my favorite thing in the world. It is slightly smaller than carry on bags and fits under all airplane seats. Brandon and I both have one for short trips back to NJ to visit our families. The suitcase is roomy enough to fit everything we need yet compact enough to fit on smaller commercial airlines.
  3. Standard carry-on rolling bag. If you are like me and need to bring 3 pairs of shoes on every trip longer than 24 hours, the standard sized rolling bag is a great addition to your luggage collection. One reason I love this is because a standard sized commercial aircraft has room above your seat to store these. Modern technology has made me so lazy. I only fly on airlines I can check in from my phone so I can skip the lines at the gate. Very rarely do I ever check a bag. I hate standing in lines with people who don’t know how to navigate an airport or hardly ever fly. I am inpatient and love being able to get out of my car and walk directly to security so I can grab my Starbucks and relax once I get to the gate.  I hate standing in baggage claim waiting for airport employees to unload the plane and get me my luggage. I’ve also seen one too many suitcases lost or contents stolen in airports. If I can keep my possessions with me at all times I am a happy gal.
  4. Large sized luggage. Buy a nice large luggage bag with a good lock, and don’t skip out on the toiletry bag. When I am going on longer vacations like when we were in Hawaii for 2 weeks, I like to bring a large enough suitcase that I have everything I would need for one week including shoes. You’ll have to check your bag, unless you are lucky enough to live near an airport with curbside check in. In addition, you will need to stand around and wait for your luggage to get off the plane and you’ll run the risk of items being stolen. As long as you are careful, have a good lock on your bag, and pack smart you should be alright. Finger crossed and let’s hope that everything makes it home with you! Luggage sets are nice because they are usually roomy are made well, and come in a matching set which makes it easier to spot on the conveyer belt.
  5. Laptop bag. If you’re like me you’ll want to bring your laptop on the flight with you. I have a laptop bag in the form of a backpack which I found on Amazon. There is a ton of cushion so your laptop doesn’t get damaged and they are really nice and well made. I own the HFSX Vintage Laptop Backpack. You can buy ones with built in phone chargers and a place to store your phone, keys, wallet, and passport. Plus, it will fit under your seat.

Geniuspack.com is my favorite place to shop for luggage. They have great luggage that makes travel easy and organizing natural. Their hard side carryon is amazing. You can also find packing tips and lots of travel related gear other than luggage. You can all of the above INCLUDING universal travel adapters which work in 150 different countries. Another great thing to do if you can invest is to buy a luggage set that includes all of the pieces above. You will save money in the long run and everything will match (if you have OCD like me than that’s really important). Don’t forget to comment below with links to your favorite pieces of luggage and why.

 

Happy travels!

50 Quotes to Fill Your Wanderlust

  1. “This gypsy heart just needs to wander. Wander to undiscovered mountains and caves that guard the mysteries of this world. I will upturn every stone, I will drive through the darkest seas, just to discover the secrets that were only meant for me” -Chrissie Pinney
  2. “Jobs will fill your pocket, adventures will fill your soul”
  3. “I have an insane calling to be where I’m not”
  4. “Escape and breathe the air of new places”
  5. “There is no time to be bored in a world as beautiful as this”
  6. “I travel because I need to… because my wild, adventurous spirit can’t live according to the “norm.” I travel to regroup, to reinvent myself, to be the best me I can be, to find joy in the ordinary and peace in exploring. I travel to be.”
  7. “We travel not to escape life, but for life not to escape us”
  8. “If adventures will not befall a young lady in her own village, she must seek them abroad.” – Jane Austen
  9. “Once the travel bug bits there is no known antidote, and I know that I shall be happy infected until the end of my life.” -Michael Palin
  10. “A mind stretched by new experience can never go back to it’s old dimensions”
  11. “But the world is calling, and I must go hear what it has to say”.
  12. “Wherever you go becomes a part of you somehow.” -Anita Desai
  13. “Travel sparks our imagination, feeds our curiosity and reminds us how much we all have in common.” – Deborah Lloyd
  14. “Because in the end you won’t remember the time you spent working in the office or mowing your lawn. Climb that goddamn mountain.” -Jack Kerouac
  15. “A person susceptible to wanderlust is not so much addicted to movement as committed to transformation.” -Pico Iyer
  16. “Travel brings power and love back into your life.” -Rumi
  17. “If we were meant to stay in one place we would have roots instead of feet”
  18. “Certainly, travel is more than the seeing of sights; it is a change that goes on, deep and permanent, in the ideas of living.”
  19. “I haven’t been everywhere, but it’s on my list.” -Susan Sontag
  20. “One travels to run away from routine. That dreadful routine that kills all imagination and all our capacity for enthusiasm.” -Ella Maillart
  21. “No one realizes how beautiful it is to travel until he comes home and rests his head on his old, familiar pillow.” -Lin Yutang
  22. “Travel, not to find yourself but to remember who you have been all along”
  23. “‘I’m bored’ is a useless thing to say. You live in a great, big, vast world that you’ve seen non percent of.” -Louis C.K. “
  24. “The best education you will ever get is traveling. Nothing teaches you more than exploring the world and accumulating experiences.”
  25. “I am not the same having seen the moon shine on. the other side of the world” -Mary Anne Radmacher
  26. “Of all the books in the world, the best stories are found between the pages of a passport.”
  27. “Traveling makes one modest, you see the tiny space you occupy in the world. -Gustave Flaubert
  28. “I would gladly live out of a suitcase if it meant I could see the world.”
  29. “The world is too big to stay in one place, and life is too short to do just one thing.”
  30. “If happiness is the goal, and it should be, then adventures should be top priority.” -Richard Branson
  31. “Someday is a disease that will take your dreams to the grave with you.” -Timothy Ferriss
  32. “The impulse to travel is one of the hopeful symptoms of life.” -Agnes Repplier
  33. “And then there is the most dangerous risk of all, the risk of spending your life not doing what you want on the bet you can buy yourself the freedom to do it later.” -Randy Komisar
  34. “My favorite thing is to go where I’ve never been.” Diane Arbus
  35. “Travel. Because money returns, time doesn’t.”
  36. “I travel because it makes me realize how much I haven’t seen, how much I’m not going to see, and how much I still need to see.”
  37. “Traveling is like flirting with life. It’s like saying “I would stay and love you, but I have to go; this is my station.” -Lisa St. Aubin de Teran
  38. “Life is meant for spectacular adventures. Let your feet wander, your eyes marvel, and your soul ignite.”
  39. “When one door closes pack your bags and go where there are no doors.”
  40. “Traveling; it gives you home in a thousand strange places, then leaves you a stranger in your own land. -Ibn Batutta
  41. “Please understand, I have been waiting to leave ever since I figured out that there were roads willing to take me anywhere I wanted to go.”
  42. “Live your life by a compass, not a clock.”
  43. “I travel not to cross countries off a list, but to ignite passionate affairs with destinations.”
  44. “Don’t be the person who is ‘too busy’ when you’re young and ‘too tired’ when you’re old”
  45. “Travel while you’re young and able. Don’t worry about the money, just make it work. Experience is far more valuable than money ever will be.”
  46. “Take only memories, leave only footprints.”
  47. “Travel opens your heart, broadens your mind, and fills your life with stories to tell.” -Paula Bendfeldt
  48. “Cover the earth before it covers you.” -Dagobert D. Runes
  49. “If you think adventure is dangerous try routine; it’s lethal.” -Paulo Coleho
  50. “If you want to know the truth of who you are, walk until not a person knows your name. Travel is the great teacher, bitter as medicine, crueler than mirror-glass. A long stretch of road will teach you more about yourself than a hundred years of quiet.” – Patrick Rothfuss