Must Have: Convertible Bag

One bag to hold all your junk by day that becomes a tiny clutch by night? It's true! The Ibiza bag from Hayden Harnett has been on my wishlist for several years. It's a great work bag or travel bag because it's huge, has a separate compartment for a laptop (or other stuff) and can be configured and carried in no fewer than six ways! This bag is perfect to help you limit yourself to carry-on bags and would count as your "personal item" to accompany your carry-on suitcase. The large size is what you need to carry the flight essentials like water bottle, sweater, books, headphones, etc but when you arrive at your destination and no longer need such a huge bag, it can shrink to a more manageable size. Perhaps this bag remained on my wish list because of the price. A $200 price tag can definitely make me think two or three or four times about a purchase. But, can you imagine my excitement the day I discovered that Hayden Harnett created a line of bags for Target and made an almost exact replica of the Ibiza tote for less than $50?!? That bag, the flight tote, is now on clearance for $25! Snatch one up while you still can and let me know what you think!

INTL 101: Carry-On Luggage

Carry-on bag requirements have gotten quite ridiculous in recent years. You used to be able to carry on just about anything, as long as you could physically carry it. These days, the number and size of bags continues to decrease and the contents of your bags are under increasing scrutiny. Internationally, the requirements are quite different. In the U.S. suitcases listed as 22" like in the first photo, are considered to be "airline-approved" for its ability to fit in the overhead bin of most commercial plans. In Europe and elsewhere in the world, showing up to a plane gate with a bag like that will get you a long, well manicured finger waved in  your face and a repeated "NO!" in a french accent. (At least it did for me!) In most countries outside the U.S. the standard is 19" or 20" for a carry-on suitcase. The pink suitcase in the photo is the type you will mostly find in Europe. The bags are almost always hard sided, which means you really can't over stuff them as I like to do on my suitcases. The upside to this limitation is that the 19" hard sided suitcases come in tons of fabulous bright colors and patterns. They also frequently have four small "spinner" wheels that can rotate 360˚ instead of two fixed wheels. This allows for much more maneuverability when racing through a eurorail station and makes the bags more stable when standing so they aren't constantly falling over is your bag is unbalanced (which mine always does). Ebags has a special section of their website dedicated to international carry-on bags and the one shown is currently only $80. If you sign up for their email list, they frequently email discount coupons for 20% off. 

In future posts, I will talk about why it's important to pack everything as a carry-on and to not check luggage, if at all possible. I will also cover how you can pack for a week in a small suitcase like this and still look fabulous!