Need help in choosing new luggage?

[5:00_Somewhere]

That's the problem with these "big" suitcases, they are more like Barcalounger's [as my husband calls the hanging, wheeling, handling of the Briggs & Riley bag our children bought us for our Anniversary!]

 

After trying to maneuver it through the door of our stateroom onboard the Oosterdam and then lugging it out of the terminal and trying to pick it up to place in our car, after our cruise; my DH renamed the darn thing!!!!!!

 

It was pricey and needed to be used but by much younger and stronger persons than us!!!!!!!

 

I had to laugh at that. The TravelPro garment bag I mentioned above is just like that: It's wonderful, but HUGE and so easy to overpack. The Hubby has dubbed it "The Behemoth". ;) The only reason we take it on cruises is that it does such a wonderful job of keeping shirts, jackets and slacks almost completely wrinkle-free. But, these new bags have a removable "shirt board" that has the same features, so I'm hoping it will work as well. I've kept track of our last couple of trips and know that we had about 25 lbs of "content" in each of our suitcases, and about 20 lbs of "shared content" in The Behemoth (subtracting the weight of the luggage from the overall weight.) So, my hope is that if we pack similarly, each take 10 lbs of content that we otherwise would have put in The Behemoth and pack it in our new suitcases, that should lead to a bag that's about 45 lbs each (just under the airlines' 50 lb limit.) Keeping my fingers crossed.

 

Of course, I'm also hoping this will motivate us both to back lighter for cruises, especially tropical cruises. We always end up taking about 25% more clothing than we use.

[wizard-of-roz]

I had to laugh at that. The TravelPro garment bag I mentioned above is just like that: It's wonderful, but HUGE and so easy to overpack. The Hubby has dubbed it "The Behemoth". ;) The only reason we take it on cruises is that it does such a wonderful job of keeping shirts, jackets and slacks almost completely wrinkle-free. But, these new bags have a removable "shirt board" that has the same features, so I'm hoping it will work as well. I've kept track of our last couple of trips and know that we had about 25 lbs of "content" in each of our suitcases, and about 20 lbs of "shared content" in The Behemoth (subtracting the weight of the luggage from the overall weight.) So, my hope is that if we pack similarly, each take 10 lbs of content that we otherwise would have put in The Behemoth and pack it in our new suitcases, that should lead to a bag that's about 45 lbs each (just under the airlines' 50 lb limit.) Keeping my fingers crossed.

 

Of course, I'm also hoping this will motivate us both to back lighter for cruises, especially tropical cruises. We always end up taking about 25% more clothing than we use.

 

Ah! New verbage, "Behemoth"...so appropriate! No matter the luggage, enjoy your travels.

And, YES, let's pack lighter......I must keep repeating these words....."pack lighter", "pack lighter!" Makes travels so much brighter! :p ;)

[5:00_Somewhere]

I like your little rhyme there. I'll keep it in mind.

 

And, for the record, I did my "test pack" this morning with the new bag. I purposely didn't pack lighter than normal for the first test run, just to see where I would end up. With everything, including dress shirts, slacks, a dinner jacket, shoes, swim wear, shorts, "unmentionables", etc., the new suitcase came in at 44 lbs. I was psyched! I can definitely get away with only 1 suitcase for the next cruise(s), and no Behemoth. Plus, we usually set aside some of the stuff I included in the suitcase and pack in a small tote or duffle to take as a carry-on so we'll have clothes on the ship until our suitcases arrive, so we should be fine.

 

Again, I highly recommend these bags if anyone is still looking. The price can't be beat, the quality appears to be outstanding (as the various seem to confirm), and they clearly will hold everything one could need for a cruise.

 

Happy packing everyone! :D