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You can access the bag through a back panel, which doubles as a computer and tablet pouch, as well as through a front one, if you unzip the pass-through divider. Not so with the Peak Design: It looks just as good fully packed at 45 liters as it does compressed to a 30-liter daypack. Most bags’ expanding mechanisms aren’t worth the extra zipper they’re built on, and they look about as attractive as a boiled ham splitting out of its plastic packaging. The larger Peak Design Travel Backpack 45L is the Swiss Army knife of backpacks: adjustable, customizable, and (if you spring for the extra cubes and organizers) an almost perfect system for a photographer or gearhead on the move.

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As the name suggests, “personal items” are very, well, personal, and no one bag will work for all travelers we offer a range of recommendations in our full guide to them.) (One caveat: The Allpa has a minimal amount of administrative organization-places to keep pens and papers, spaces to hold tickets, and so forth-which is where the personal item comes in handy. After three years of testing, this single backpack (plus a personal item to store under the seat) has replaced nearly every travel bag or piece of luggage that Kit Dillon, Wirecutter’s senior staff writer who covers luggage, uses. The rest of the paneling is made with 1,680-denier ballistic nylon, which feels similar to a strong canvas but with a more prominent weave. Its front panel is made of a waterproof, TPU-coated 1,000-denier polyester (a strong fabric covered in a flexible plastic coating), which means you can lay it on its back in a wet field or in gravel without worrying about moisture soaking through or jagged edges ripping the fabric. The bag is protected by a full lifetime warranty and has the build quality to back that up. It’s not a specifically gendered design, but our female tester noticed the improvement right away. Handles on all four sides of this bag make it easy to grab no matter where you’ve stowed it, and the Allpa’s straps are contoured to comfortably fit people who have large or small chests. The Cotopaxi Allpa 35L features an easy-to-pack clamshell design and highly adjustable straps that make it a great all-around bag for any traveler who’s dedicated to packing light, or for a smaller person who wants less to carry.

We also ran our picks by travel gear reviewer Eytan Levy, the Snarky Nomad.Īnd we relied heavily on Wirecutter staff experiences, since this is an especially mobile group that has worked remotely from every continent except Antarctica-the five most frequent flyers among us travel about a half-million miles in any given (normal) year. On top of that, we sought the advice and wisdom of Doug Dyment, the author of OneBag he’s logged millions of miles as a traveling businessman and public speaker over the past few decades. Over the past eight years, we’ve spent hundreds of hours researching and testing dozens of products to find the most dependable items to help you travel well.

Sometimes it’s just the familiar, reliable stuff in your bag.” “Sometimes that is a memory of home, a family, a significant other, friends, etc.

“Traveling well is a fine balance between finding inspiration in the unknown while being grounded in something,” said Wirecutter founder Brian Lam.

But what does it mean to travel well? Along with, of course, traveling safely, following CDC guidelines, and being mindful of what the pandemic situation is wherever you’ve been and may be going, we’d say it involves avoiding hassle, packing a single bag if possible, and bringing only the necessities. Traveling well can be one of life’s great pleasures, whether you’re alone or with family and friends-and this is true now more than ever, after two years of sticking close to home.

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