EDITOR’S NOTE: With the holiday season in full swing, The Edmond Sun and the online travel site TravelBlur.com are teaming up to bring you “Gifts and Gadgets,” a four-part series highlighting holiday gift ideas for the traveler.
The first three rules of leisure travel are really quite simple:
Pack light.
Pack light.
Pack light.
Oh, and it’s also a good idea to pack light.
As a novice traveler I always packed more than I needed and then threw in a little extra “just in case.” Now, I’m a picky packer. When I fly, my bag fits easily in the overhead bin. No checked bag fees or lost luggage for me.
Help the traveler on your list pack light and pack right this Christmas with these baggage ideas and luggage accessories.
It’s in the Bag
My wife and I each travel with a Convertible Carry-On bag ($99.95, www.ricksteves.com) from travel guru Rick Steves. Weighing less than 3 pounds, the water-resistant bag can be worn like a backpack or carried like a traditional suitcase. It’s sized to comply with most airlines’ carry-on restrictions but does expand to accommodate the piles of souvenir junk we seem to accumulate when on vacation.
I prefer to carry my bag on my back, but some travelers need or simply prefer wheeled luggage. If I were to drag a bag, I would buy a spinner. With four multi-directional wheels, spinner bags roll upright and seem much easier to maneuver through a crowded airport terminal. These bags are available at numerous online retailers and prices vary widely depending on brand and size.
If the drag bag traveler on your list is average to tall in height, consider a handle extender. TravelTow International makes a nifty luggage handle adapter ($16.95, www.travel
tow.com) that both lengthens the bag’s extendable handle and rotates to allow for more comfortable hand and arm positioning when pushing or pulling luggage.
Pack It Right
How a voyager packs is almost as important as what he packs. Give your globetrotter the gift of organization with a set of packing cubes. Having used both packing cubes and compression-type plastic bags on various journeys, I prefer the zipper-top, mesh packing cubes for their functionality. Stores and online retailers sell sets of three packing cubes for about $20.
Bag It and Tag It
Ever notice how almost every suitcase on the baggage claim carousel is the same generic black roller bag? If your traveler checks her luggage, set her bag apart from the others with a personalized identity tag. Bright colors and big letters make MyTags ($29.99 set of three, www.tagsfor
bags.com) hard to miss. Each tag also includes two pockets for the traveler’s contact information and itinerary. For the traveler with attitude, check out the company’s ’TudeTags. A variation on MyTags, ’TudeTags boldly talk trash with snarky sayings like “wrong one,” “not yours” and “don’t even.”
Bag up these great gifts and remember to pack light.
CHARLIE PRICE writes online at www.travelblur.com.
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