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I ordered this bag from MEC http://www.mec.ca/AST/ShopMEC/Packs/TravelPacks/PRD~5024-855/mec-wayfarer-travel-pack.jsp Base on the sites info would it serve me well while I travel in Europe for two and a half months? The size is a tad bit over the carry on limit but it does have a pretty sweet feature for covering up straps if I had to check it in.
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Apr 16, 2013 03:36
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Kolta posted:I ordered this bag from MEC http://www.mec.ca/AST/ShopMEC/Packs/TravelPacks/PRD~5024-855/mec-wayfarer-travel-pack.jsp I think it would be fine. The more I travel the more I wish I had a bag similar to that. There are a lot of times where I wish I had a simple shoulder strap on my bag.
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Apr 16, 2013 03:48
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Duh, just fly to America！ It's a shopper's paradise. Or make friends with people who work in the American embassy/military bases and use their addresses. Or Just buy poo poo online and use a forwarder Cheap Chinese knock off poo poo in ebay works as well.
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Apr 16, 2013 04:42
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Kolta posted:I ordered this bag from MEC http://www.mec.ca/AST/ShopMEC/Packs/TravelPacks/PRD~5024-855/mec-wayfarer-travel-pack.jsp I work/maintain the baggage system in a busy airport and let me tell you.. if you plan to check your bags make sure you don't just have straps/random poo poo hanging off your bag. When a strap/lock/trinket gets caught in a conveyor belt we just cut it off. We do make an effort to not damage your bag but 90% of the time when something gets caught I'm gonna have to whip out my knife and cut it. Duffle bags and backpacking bags are the worst. My coworkers and I feel bad every time we have to destroy a military duffle bag by cutting off one of the straps. Keep that in mind when you check bags at an airport.
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Apr 16, 2013 05:59
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They normally have giant plastic bags to protect backpacks available at check in.
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Apr 16, 2013 06:09
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Omits-Bagels posted:I have a question for all you non-US travelers. Where do you buy your travel stuff from? I run http://www.thesavvybackpacker.com and I'm wanting to write up some travel gear articles to people from the UK, Australia and Canada. Down here in Aus, I end up using a lot of different sources. For clothing, stuff I want to be able to touch, try on, move around in, I keep an eye out for sales at brick-and-mortars like Kathmandu and Snowgum. They're also good for little purchases - travel adapters, little alarm clocks, all the little bits and pieces. There's a lot of online shops, but shipping out to Western Australia tends to be very, very expensive. If I'm going to order something online, I may as well order from the US and wait a little longer - shipping won't be that much more, and the cheaper prices tend more than make up the difference.
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Apr 16, 2013 07:06
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Omits-Bagels posted:I have a question for all you non-US travelers. Where do you buy your travel stuff from? I run http://www.thesavvybackpacker.com and I'm wanting to write up some travel gear articles to people from the UK, Australia and Canada. Amazon.co.uk delivers throughout Europe and has most stuff. If I *really* want it, Amazon.com. eBay is also decent. For boots I go to Bever, a Dutch brick-and-mortar company.
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Apr 16, 2013 08:31
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Omits-Bagels posted:I have a question for all you non-US travelers. Where do you buy your travel stuff from? I run http://www.thesavvybackpacker.com and I'm wanting to write up some travel gear articles to people from the UK, Australia and Canada. For Canada, MEC (Mountain Equipment Co-op, https://www.mec.ca) is basically the equipment holy grail. Popular brands if you want something specific + their own MEC brand at great prices and typically solid quality. I very much miss it after leaving Canada for Germany. I'm in the market for a sleeping bag and would love to have access to MEC right now.
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Apr 16, 2013 10:35
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All my backpacks are from Mec. The quality is simply amazing.
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Apr 16, 2013 17:50
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Well guys and gals I got my Mec Wayfarer backpack this morning. First impressions... Amazing! 1 - The pack has so much room that it's almost impossible to explain how everything could fit in it. At first glance the pack seems thin, but expands immensely. Inside I have, 5 t-shirts, 2 dress shirts, 1 pair of khakis, 5 pairs of socks, 5 pairs of boxers, toiletries, notebook, 2 pairs of shorts, 5 small bottles of maple syrup (They're gifts, eh), chargers and adapters, 1 pair of flip flops and 2 ties. I could almost double all the clothes and still make it fit. The interior also has a mesh backing that lets you store more stuff or put away your dirty laundry and the strap downs stretch, keeping all your stuff in line. 2 - The strap cover tucks away discretely under the pack with no hassle, allowing you to switch between backpack and duffelbag easily. 3 - Most comfortable backpack I've ever owned/tried, hands down and it's extremely adjustable. 4 - The day pack is totally kick rear end. The pouch it comes in ends up being inside the pack after you take it out. So you have a small pouch inside the day pack, allowing you to hide a phone or something important. Also I should mention that the small day pack is 29.99$ on Mec on its own. The one thing I can see being a bit of a problem is checking it in as a carry on. It's about 4" over. I did hear however that some people were able to bring it on the plane without the airline noticing it was over. Overall for 80$ I can't complain. Now in less than 2 weeks this bad boy will be my best friend for my 2 and a half month journey around Europe. http://www.mec.ca/AST/ShopMEC/Packs/TravelPacks/TravelPacks/PRD~5024-855/mec-wayfarer-travel-pack.jsp Here's the pack in case anyone missed it in the previous posts. Kolta fucked around with this message at 23:09 on Apr 17, 2013 |
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Apr 17, 2013 19:12
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Made my flight to India last week. I managed to get everything packed into my two carryon bags. I am so glad I didn't check anything. That would have been such a huge pain in the rear end.
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Apr 22, 2013 15:45
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I just bought this pack and it is the best pack, except mine is green: http://www.macpac.co.nz/macpac-genesis-70.html We're going to Europe for a 5 week trip over August/September and for ages I was all "blablabla I want a stupid suitcase with wheels that will somehow not break" and literally every single person I know told me to pull my stupid head in and buy a travel pack. I am completely sold on this travel pack now; and now that I've made my First Europe Purchase the trip has magically gone from "in theory" to "real" and I am a bit (a lot) excited. We've never left Australasia/the South Pacific before. Anyway this pack is awesome, the straps completely fold away, the day bag at the front is 15L and hand luggage material, the pack itself is 55L and has almost no protruding straps when it's airport-ready.
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Apr 24, 2013 10:10
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It's your first trip so resist the urge to have a lot of extra stuff with you. The pack should have some extra empty space in it when you depart, about 1/4 or 1/2. Enjoy. raton fucked around with this message at 18:08 on Apr 24, 2013 |
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Apr 24, 2013 18:05
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Tamarillo posted:I just bought this pack and it is the best pack, except mine is green: I'm looking at something similar (but smaller), if you fold away the straps and get rid of the daypack, are there any straps hanging loose? Don't really need the daypack, just want a backpack that I can check in at the airport quickly.
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Apr 24, 2013 18:13
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Pvt Dancer posted:I'm looking at something similar (but smaller), if you fold away the straps and get rid of the daypack, are there any straps hanging loose? Don't really need the daypack, just want a backpack that I can check in at the airport quickly.  This is it without the day pack attached and with the straps/harness stuff zipped away into the back. There's a shoulder strap that tucks away when it's not needed as well, so you can carry it around the airport in it's mostly compact form, stuff the shoulder strap back into it's compartment and check it in.
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Apr 24, 2013 23:27
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Tamarillo posted:This is it without the day pack attached and with the straps/harness stuff zipped away into the back. There's a shoulder strap that tucks away when it's not needed as well, so you can carry it around the airport in it's mostly compact form, stuff the shoulder strap back into it's compartment and check it in. That's excellent, thanks. I found out that a local store sells Macpac (in Holland) so I'll go check it out later today.
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Apr 25, 2013 12:17
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There's 15 pages to struggle through to look for the following tips, so hopefully they haven't been mentioned previously. 1. If for some reason you're bringing baggage in a suitcase(overseas wedding, or longer stay, or just plain masochistic), save yourself the effort of packing your luggage if you have the luxury of cheap laundry in Asia. For a few dollars, all your clothes will get cleaned, ironed, folded and sometimes plastic-packed - just put this bundle of readied clothes straight into your suitcase as is. Save yourself the hassle of having to fold all your filthy clothes to make space, and have clean clothes for when you arrive at home or at your next destination, giving you a few days leeway while you familiarise yourself with the new setting and how to go about getting your stuff cleaned and laundered. 2. Personally, for dive trips, I take a 35L North Face backpack for all my gear. 3 pairs of boardshorts, 3 long sleeve shirts, 2 short sleeve, 1 pair of underwear, swimmer's ear ear drops and deodorant. Everything else toiletries wise can be bought on the way to the boat at local pharmacies - aloe vera, sunscreen, sea-sickness tablets, toothbrush, toothpaste at a fraction of the price I'd buy it at home, and I don't have to worry about travel restrictions. This all gets trashed at the last place I stay before I leave. Don't bother with roller cases or any of that poo poo on dive trips - where you're going may not even have a jetty or sealed roads and you'll need to be able to carry your bag off the boat and wade to shore and walk to your lodgings. If you're taking your own dive gear for whatever reason, don't bring your weights - all dive stores/resorts/companies have their own for customers to use, and you'd be a fool to lug lead weights around anywhere. Make sure you leave enough room in your carry-on for your regulator - don't under any circumstances leave it in your dive gear bag going in the cargo area, as your life relies on fully-functioning and undamaged regulators. Alternatively, you can usually get away with one of the specialised regulator bags in addition to your normal carry-on.  Padded round regulator bag
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Apr 26, 2013 04:43
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I'm heading to Peru in a week or so. I really like the REI adventure pants- I'll be going to nice restaurants (Lima), hanging out in a random old-school city (Cuzco), and then wandering around ruins and the like, and I think I could get away with wearing them for all of the above. The problem is they're too tight. As in, I usually wear tight pants anyway, but my thighs are loving huge. I already bought 2 inches on the waist higher than normal in anticipation of this problem (not uncommon for me), but it's a no go. So my question was do any other companies make a similar light-weight, quick drying product that might fit someone that has played soccer their entire life and lifts constantly? Parallel question, would I look wildly out of place if I just wore khaki or black slacks all over the place? I've got some old slacks that look fine and have enough room, and I wouldn't be too torn up if they got rained on or ruined in some way.
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Apr 28, 2013 21:19
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You can just wear slacks everywhere, that's fine. Just not with sneakers, anything plainer in leather would be fine. Also if the material is heavy you'll sweat buckets but if it's fairly thin you'll be okay. The Adventures pants are fairly roomy as far as men's pants go these days, u massiv bro.
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Apr 28, 2013 21:36
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I just got back from my first trip with the Red Oxx Skytrain and all the good things people say about it are true.
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May 1, 2013 00:13
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Hey guys. A few post back I talked about the MEC bag I bought and I was saying how it's a bit over sized for a carry on, welp I've passed check in and now I'm patiently waiting to get on the plane with the bag. I guess she's a bit deceiving :]
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May 1, 2013 21:30
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I've found that with "soft" bags as long as it's not obviously too big nobody's going to give a drat unless it doesn't fit in the overhead neatly.
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May 1, 2013 21:42
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qirex posted:I've found that with "soft" bags as long as it's not obviously too big nobody's going to give a drat unless it doesn't fit in the overhead neatly. It's got a hard back which makes stay it's original height. I will however find out if it fits neatly soon.
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May 1, 2013 21:53
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I usually see more people with carry-ons that are far over the allowed size than I do people with properly sized luggage. Of course that's almost been 100% on US carriers, so that may be a bit unusual. I've never heard any flight attendant or gate attendant say anything about it other than pointing out that they'd have to check it on the jetway (for free).
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May 1, 2013 23:21
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Some budget carriers are cartoonishly strict about the weight limits but I've never even heard of someone measuring the dimensions.
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May 1, 2013 23:43
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duralict posted:Some budget carriers are cartoonishly strict about the weight limits but I've never even heard of someone measuring the dimensions. The one time I flew with Ryan Air they had this metal box with the maximum dimensions at check-in. You had to show it could fit in there and pay for a checked bag if it didn't. Also most budget carriers in Europe will only allow one piece of hand luggage, so no suitcase and laptop bag at the same time. I overheard a gate announcement of KLM's budget carrier where they repeated this restriction, anyone trying to bring two had to pay €20 cash (at the gate!) before they could board 
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May 2, 2013 00:02
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Pvt Dancer posted:Also most budget carriers in Europe will only allow one piece of hand luggage, so no suitcase and laptop bag at the same time. I overheard a gate announcement of KLM's budget carrier where they repeated this restriction, anyone trying to bring two had to pay €20 cash (at the gate!) before they could board I actually like to see this. Because: Brian Fellows posted:I usually see more people with carry-ons that are far over the allowed size than I do people with properly sized luggage. Because this poo poo happens way too much and I've had to wait behind far too many little boys trying to stuff bags as big as they are into overheads that won't hold them.
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May 2, 2013 00:36
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Everyone still brings their laptop bags or whatever, they just put the second bag inside the first and then get it out again while in the aisle of an airplane everyone's trying to board. It doesn't achieve anything, it's just an asinine way to assess extra fees.
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May 2, 2013 01:17
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Well guys I got through. Now in Vienna. The first flight I took was about the size of my Impreza. I thought for sure the pack wasn't going to fit anywhere. But it got under the seat alright.
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May 2, 2013 15:17
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In the latest carry-on news:quote:Frontier Airlines plans to start charging up to $100 for a carry-on bag and $2 for coffee or soda, although its announcement on Wednesday did say that passengers will get to keep the whole can. I've only flown frontier on a round-trip from Austin to Denver a few years ago, was pretty good. They make the flight staff make some wildcat call or something.
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May 2, 2013 16:33
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Pvt Dancer posted:The one time I flew with Ryan Air they had this metal box with the maximum dimensions at check-in. You had to show it could fit in there and pay for a checked bag if it didn't. All the US carriers have that box too, they just don't actually enforce it.
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May 2, 2013 19:09
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Thoguh posted:All the US carriers have that box too, they just don't actually enforce it. Yeah, I've flown Ryanair a handful of times and they only once asked me to put my backpack in the holder. I had to really shove it in but it fit. The lady seemed a bit annoyed that it actually fit but she was French so whatever...
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May 3, 2013 20:19
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Ryanair can be cartoonishly strict about (at least on flights I've been on) with anyone with either a hard case or a case that looks on the large side. If it doesn't fit easily into the bin it's EUR50 to check it or leave it behind. As has been said if it's a soft looking case they generally don't bother as you can usually squash it in but you still need to put laptop bags, etc. inside your carry on. Charging for carry on in the bins though seems its just asking for no legroom as everyone starts mashing as much as they can under the seat.
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May 4, 2013 02:33
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Thoguh posted:All the US carriers have that box too, they just don't actually enforce it. I fly a lot and I've been asked domestically to use it several times for my trusty rollerboard. It's usually during the holidays or on flights headed to Latin destinations, so I dunno.
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May 4, 2013 08:50
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Got my Bluff Pants in the mail today (birthday gift from my sister). She showed the site to my brother-in-law (a pretty outdoorsy dude in the military), who liked the idea so much he tried mine on when they arrived at their place, and ordered his own pair  Initial impressions are pretty positive (really lightweight and I like the material), I'll post a review in a few weeks or so with my impressions. Sizing was very accurate.
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May 4, 2013 09:25
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I found this at Target last night on sale for $36. Sale ended today, fwiw. It had way too much of what I was looking for in a day bag that I would use to bike ride and tour in Europe (which I do with my wife every summer). http://www.target.com/p/swissgear-city-pack-black/-/A-14053476#?lnk=sc_qi_detaillink It has an earphone flap, a perfect pocket along the back for my iPad (ebooks) and a perfect sized pocket for my gargantuan passport wallet on the front zippered portion. Also, for those traveling on trains, it had a metal wire reinforced handle on the top that you could use to lock onto the overhead bin so people don't steal you crap while you are sleeping. The bag is small and only intended for day use, but is the perfect size for carrying a layer of clothes, for when the unpredictable european weather (looking at you Bavaria/Austria) changes. It has a waist strap too, which will be nice for biking. I'm done pimping target now. LaserWash fucked around with this message at 14:28 on May 4, 2013 |
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May 4, 2013 14:26
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Pompous Rhombus posted:Got my Bluff Pants in the mail today (birthday gift from my sister). She showed the site to my brother-in-law (a pretty outdoorsy dude in the military), who liked the idea so much he tried mine on when they arrived at their place, and ordered his own pair These look really cool, and would finally settle that "Want something I can wear out on the trail, but also something I can wear to dinner at a nice restaurant, and don't want to pack so many pairs of long pants" problem that keeps coming up for me. Please, let us know your thoughts - the cost is a bit steep for me to jump in just looking at them, but if they're as good as the KS video suggests...
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May 4, 2013 15:35
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First off, I'd like to say thank you to Sheep-Goats for the fantastic thread and Omits-Bagels for the website. You guys are saints. I'm going on my first ever overseas trip (US to Ireland), and I wanted to keep it simple... Now I know how to do that and then some. Outside of that, I have questions about women's shoes. Does anyone have suggestions for quality all-purpose women's shoes with arch support? For most of my casual shoes, I wear shoe inserts to take care of my arch woes; unfortunately, closed shoes and arch inserts often do not mix. What I'd like to do is get athletic shoes in disguise to make sure I'm not the first to collapse on outdoor trips. Are there any particular brands or styles I should consider? For my second pair, I was thinking I might bring my plain black flats. Are those acceptable for nightclub wear, or should I consider something else? I do have a snazzy pair of short boots for an alternative, but naturally, they take up more space. I'm already in a tough spot space-wise due to bringing my DSLR and laptop (for classes and professional work... god knows I'd leave the laptop behind if I could). Thanks again, guys. I'm feeling a lot better about my trip now that I have some plans laid out.
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May 7, 2013 09:13
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I'd suggest checking Merrell Moab Ventilator out. They have great arch support and are hella comfortable. I'm on my second pair now and when the soles wear out, I'm getting the same model again. REI has them if you've got one nearby and want to try them on before buying.
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May 7, 2013 21:47
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Any UK'ers have any good experience with something very similar to the REI adventure pants available over here? I'd rather not have to order from the US, but I'd also rather get something exactly right and they sound like just the ticket.
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May 8, 2013 10:46
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