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Texibus posted:Planning to get my girlfriend a travel bag for Christmas at around 150 bucks, what's the goon recommended bag these day? I have a Jansport Eurosack that I got after a recommendation from y'all and would love something similar. The Osprey Fairpoint 40 keeps popping up in my searches, how's that one? I've had an Osprey Talon for a few years and love it. I spent 4 months backpacking with that as my entire storage. It was super comfortable, but with the downside that it doesn't have enough different pockets (only 3—two tiny and one huge). But, it was a good enough experience to turn me from a rolly suitcase kind of person into a backpack kind of person, even for business travel (as long as I'm not traveling with anyone else from work, at least). The Farpoint 40 looks better since it has an interior separator. One slight benefit to the 33L is that even when it's full to the brim, it will fit inside any bus/overhead compartment/etc, while larger packs might have to be checked / thrown on the roof of the bus--in case this info is relevant to you. (I doubt the 40L would make the cut when full.) My girlfriend used a larger (50L?) backpack and we had to make sure to put all her important stuff in mine whenever we traveled, in case hers was lost or stolen. I much prefer the Osprey stuff to the Vaude and McKinley backpacks I previously owned, but it's kind of hard to know how a backpack will be until you've personally worn it and seen how it fits for you; it's almost as hard as trying to find the perfect pair of ski boots through online shopping.
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Dec 2, 2016 11:35
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Looks a bit ugly but http://www.tortugabackpacks.com seems to get a fair amount of love.
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Dec 2, 2016 15:52
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Sad Panda posted:Looks a bit ugly but http://www.tortugabackpacks.com seems to get a fair amount of love. I've heard good things about those too on travel forums, but good god they're hideous even for large hiking backpacks. Even people in a drum circle wearing strap "sport" sandals (I don't know the word for these shoes but you know what I mean) might wonder about your style choices.
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Dec 2, 2016 16:08
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Well I expected worse than "suitcase with straps"
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Dec 2, 2016 17:03
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How much do you pack and what do you pack? Are you big into packing cubes? Lots of electronics? Gotta carry DSLR? Laptop? Most important thing is to have a routine and go from there. Actually I always have a 4 day bag ready to go so I don't have to worry about packing poo poo the night before ever again. Different bags will have different features and it's up to you to decide what's good or not. Maybe I'm just suffering from stockholm syndrome Osprey Porter 40. It's a giant empty sac with another pocket. Light as hell, but that's about it It sucks but I just deal with it
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Dec 2, 2016 17:16
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Yeah I looked into that one too. We don't really "backpack". We fly to a town and plop our poo poo down, but I hate doing anything over a carryon and she's got that way too. She normally brings : laptop, two pair of shoes, clothes, and lots of cosmetics.
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Dec 2, 2016 22:05
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I have grown to prefer a bag that is just one big rear end pocket. I am really digging packing all my poo poo into little packing cubes or small makeup bags. It is great if you use the same bag for different stuff, it's super quick to repack for whatever you are up to on a given day.
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Dec 3, 2016 02:04
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Travel gear gift ideas for my sister who is going to New Zealand traveling for 6 weeks then living there for a year? She's got a backpack but not much else, I was thinking of useful things, like one of those collapsible day backpacks, but if anyone has any cool ideas or gadgets that'd be useful.
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Dec 3, 2016 11:24
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For girls? Collapsible toiletry bag stuffed with all kinds of goodies and toiletries. And a quick dry towel paired with a sarong
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Dec 3, 2016 11:51
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I think I'm going with the Patagonia MLC Headway : http://www.patagonia.com/product/headway-mlc-convertible-carry-on-shoulder-bag-45-liters/48765.html
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Dec 3, 2016 13:15
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caberham posted:For girls? Perfect! Thanks!
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Dec 3, 2016 14:53
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Make sure you get the right strap size for Patagonia bags. They might be too short or too long and come in different fittings
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Dec 3, 2016 15:17
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Lady Gaza posted:Travel gear gift ideas for my sister who is going to New Zealand traveling for 6 weeks then living there for a year? She's got a backpack but not much else, I was thinking of useful things, like one of those collapsible day backpacks, but if anyone has any cool ideas or gadgets that'd be useful. Find something something utterly pointless like a brick and wrap it up really nicely. Tell her it's important that she only opens it when she gets to her destination. That's how I feel whenever people give me a gift right before I go travelling. 'Oh this'll be so useful! I just know you need a giant clunky adapter or travel towel that takes up two litres of your carefully thought out pack load'. Usually cheaply made bad quality. If you get her something make sure it's really tiny and light, or something she can use before she goes, or ask her if she wants it first. Someone once gave me a rubber chicken, that was funny. Edit: if she hasn't got the latest volume of a guide book for the area I'd go for that. Everyone (including me) shits all over lonely planet/footprint/whatever but they are undeniably useful unless you've spent literally weeks researching where you want to go and/or you have friends in the area. Double edit: or a bunch of really small souvenirs, flag stickers and poo poo like that from your home country she can give to people/friends she meets. People love that poo poo. Australians have little clip on koalas and I hide them in houses/cars when people help me out and it's great getting an email six months down the line when people find them. Outrail fucked around with this message at 15:39 on Dec 3, 2016 |
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Dec 3, 2016 15:28
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Hell no. High quality travel adapters rule and so does upper end travel stuff. Especially when people here has been going to all sorts of places for ages. You can go el cheapo, but stuff like http://www.skross.com/en/category/42/pro-light-usb-series-3-pole-earthed.html is just straight up more reliable. gently caress lonely planet, use wiki travel and goon it up  And something like this works wonders than having some ziplock bag full of gross toiletries https://www.amazon.com/Itraveller-P...SXTAYVEGEX960W5 caberham fucked around with this message at 17:03 on Dec 3, 2016 |
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Dec 3, 2016 17:00
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caberham posted:Hell no. Be cautious, there are plenty of well made and useful items in the world for which I have absolutely no use. Everyone runs his life his own way.
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Dec 3, 2016 17:22
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Lady Gaza posted:Travel gear gift ideas for my sister who is going to New Zealand traveling for 6 weeks then living there for a year? She's got a backpack but not much else, I was thinking of useful things, like one of those collapsible day backpacks, but if anyone has any cool ideas or gadgets that'd be useful. $50 in New Zealand funbux? You know she'll get some use out of it.
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Dec 3, 2016 17:52
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Midjack posted:Be cautious, there are plenty of well made and useful items in the world for which I have absolutely no use. Everyone runs his life his own way. I totally need to wear a suit when I fly because I'm upholding the social contract. And If I go to Europe I must wear the right sneakers
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Dec 3, 2016 18:47
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caberham posted:I totally need to wear a suit when I fly because I'm upholding the social contract. And If I go to Europe I must wear the right sneakers Shut the gently caress up, you noodle packing dipshit. Suit guy hasn't posted here in a year anyway so your sweet burn was utterly wasted. But to provide a more detailed rebuttal to your eloquent counterargument: those Skross adapters you link are really nice and well made. But if I'm going to Europe, a handful of low profile adapters is cheaper and takes up less space while letting me plug more stuff in. Even if half of them fail I'm coming out ahead in every way.
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Dec 3, 2016 19:07
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Oh my God do I wish I brought my dad-core sneakers to Europe instead of the Dockers I got. Only once did anybody care, and that was in London and I could easily find another pub. My achilles crapped out in York and I was limping through the trip for a week. Lake District was a wash because of it.
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Dec 3, 2016 19:21
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skooma512 posted:Oh my God do I wish I brought my dad-core sneakers to Europe instead of the Dockers I got. Only once did anybody care, and that was in London and I could easily find another pub. IIRC every single person said it would not be a general problem but if you want zero problems ever then don't wear a pair of trainers. Also buy her a merino wool t-shirt or socks or whatever. Merino everything is the best ever, with the only side effect of it costing you hundreds of dollars as you will later throw your cotton clothing into the trash, where it belongs, and need to replace it with merino wool after you realize how much better merino is for traveling.
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Dec 3, 2016 21:10
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Saladman posted:Also buy her a merino wool t-shirt or socks or whatever. Merino everything is the best ever, with the only side effect of it costing you hundreds of dollars as you will later throw your cotton clothing into the trash, where it belongs, and need to replace it with merino wool after you realize how much better merino is for traveling. Bringing wool clothing in to New Zealand is about as dumb as bringing cheap leather goods into Mexico. Wool clothing is kind of their thing.
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Dec 3, 2016 23:31
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Given taxes and import duties it's possible that new Zealand's Marino products are cheaper in the USA than they are in their country of origin.
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Dec 4, 2016 06:56
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bongwizzard posted:Bringing wool clothing in to New Zealand is about as dumb as bringing cheap leather goods into Mexico. Wool clothing is kind of their thing. yrs, that's the point. If she doesn't know how nice it is she won't care and won't bother buying any. Merino isn't going to be any cheaper in NZ. (To other poster.). That kind of thing only works when you go to third world countries that produce things or unless you go to a specific factory that does yours and has factory discounts (and tbh everything is so much cheaper in the US than anywhere else, I bet the US is still going to be cheaper than a factory tour).
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Dec 4, 2016 09:03
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Coffee in Colombia isn't substantially cheaper, and the coffee you can buy in Colombia, is the Grade B and Grade C coffee. All the Grade A coffee is sent for export. As a result the not so cheap grade B coffee is pretty terrible. I don't know if the same applies for wool, but I suspect it does.
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Dec 5, 2016 03:44
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Same thing for Pisco in Chile apparently. Thanks for advice on gifts for my sister - got her a toiletries bag as I know she would find it useful, plus some other little things.
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Dec 5, 2016 03:51
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Saladman posted:Merino isn't going to be any cheaper in NZ. Eh, I don't know, I had a friend who lived there for a year or so and she came back with like an all-merino wardrobe and the prices she was talking were easily like 25% less than I would pay in the US, even assuming I could find like merino work pants and poo poo. When she cracked open her suitcase full of socks it was like briefcase from Pulp Fiction.
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Dec 5, 2016 04:05
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Speaking of merino, I have two Icebreaker Transport polos which are basically perfect for travel. Dressy enough for the types of places I frequent, but still comfortable. Those are all sold out and it seems IB doesn't have another polo available, so does anybody have any other brands they'd recommend? PS - Months, maybe years ago, I was on here discussing IB vs Smartwool and yeah, whomever said that Icebreaker stuff is way more fragile or wears down more quickly was totally right.
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Jan 9, 2017 06:29
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It's not really an undershirt but I recently tried stuff from under armor and it's fabulous. Their cold gear line kept me warm and even sweating during 8 degrees Celsius and Shanghai. The cold gear long sleeve compression shirt and their thin fleece works wonders. I'm going to be in Beijing soon and it's 0 there. I think the shirts and pants are still going to be fine.
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Jan 9, 2017 06:33
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caberham posted:It's not really an undershirt but I recently tried stuff from under armor and it's fabulous. Their cold gear line kept me warm and even sweating during 8 degrees Celsius and Shanghai. The cold gear long sleeve compression shirt and their thin fleece works wonders. I'm going to be in Beijing soon and it's 0 there. I think the shirts and pants are still going to be fine. The Patagonia light and mid base layer bottoms I have is fine to even good (I have a corporate discount connect) but the REI cold weather base layer bottoms I have are poo poo for 0 degrees, sitting still on a moving zodiac with my softshell pants over them. I'll check out the UA cold gear line for bottoms at the very least. Thanks. But, for general travel I go with wool because of the anti-stink factor. Unless UA has broken that on poly layers, the tops aren't doing me much good. Blinkman987 fucked around with this message at 07:50 on Jan 9, 2017 |
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Jan 9, 2017 07:39
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They surprisingly have and that's why I'm shilling for them. Their magic is that they somehow don't make you sweat that much or wick away the moisture quite fast. It's weird. As for heavy use stinkage I guess I will just hand wash em in the evening. They dry super fast. The pants and shoes are my favorite buys. You don't look so tech dad wearing em
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Jan 9, 2017 08:04
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Blinkman987 posted:Speaking of merino, I have two Icebreaker Transport polos which are basically perfect for travel. Dressy enough for the types of places I frequent, but still comfortable. Those are all sold out and it seems IB doesn't have another polo available, so does anybody have any other brands they'd recommend? I've found all wool baselayers that aren't really thick tend to disintegrate pretty easily. Toose polo's look way better than the poo poo stripey one I bought back in early 2011. Wore it a handful of times over a year or so of travel but couldn;t bring myself to chuck it out given how much I'd paid for it. Eventually gave it away. edit: it's washing and drying that seems to destroy clothes, I've started hanging all my wool based layers out to dry rather than tumble dry. Way less holes and wear.
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Jan 10, 2017 03:09
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caberham posted:It's not really an undershirt but I recently tried stuff from under armor and it's fabulous. Their cold gear line kept me warm and even sweating during 8 degrees Celsius and Shanghai. The cold gear long sleeve compression shirt and their thin fleece works wonders. I'm going to be in Beijing soon and it's 0 there. I think the shirts and pants are still going to be fine. Yeah, their summer stuff is great too. It made teaching in July in rural Japan (no AC or even fans) bearable.
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Jan 10, 2017 07:46
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Outrail posted:I've found all wool baselayers that aren't really thick tend to disintegrate pretty easily. It also seems to be the sun. I've used a variety of merino baselayers as tops for cycling in when it's warm, and after a few months they all look like they've been eaten by moths, but only on the back. The other big difference is if it started out as red, the back is some rather pale pink.
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Jan 10, 2017 10:41
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Outrail posted:edit: it's washing and drying that seems to destroy clothes, I've started hanging all my wool based layers out to dry rather than tumble dry. Way less holes and wear. Yeah, don't dry your wool stuff even on low heat, just hang it up to dry. I've worn my Icebreaker shirts once to twice a week for almost two years now and they're all still fine, not that ~100 wears is all that much.
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Jan 10, 2017 12:14
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I tired running at freezing temperature today and underarmour makes amazing stuff. Only my hands were cold because I didn't wear gloves
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Jan 10, 2017 16:29
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Quick check if anyone had used the Osprey far point 80 and has an opinion about it? I'm looking for a new travel case that can hold a bit more then the 60L duffel that I have but still be easily portable. Not necessarily looking for backpacking stuff but easier to carry than a duffel. I am constitutionally incapable of using a wheelie case.
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Jan 10, 2017 17:13
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What's the best travel water bottle-bladder-flask for casual travel? My Sigg (remember those?!) is a little too bulky for carry on-only travel.
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Mar 12, 2017 21:04
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Blinkman987 posted:What's the best travel water bottle-bladder-flask for casual travel? My Sigg (remember those?!) is a little too bulky for carry on-only travel.
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Mar 12, 2017 21:12
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I don't like the plastic bag collapsible ones, they're hard to fill and tricky to drink from. I usually just buy a store bottle when I get where I'm going, refill it until it gets funky, recycle, repeat. I wish they still made oval Siggs. qirex fucked around with this message at 22:46 on Mar 12, 2017 |
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Mar 12, 2017 22:44
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I'm a fan of reusing a 500 ml water bottle until it gets funky. Buying a new one every 6 months is less drain on the environment than buying a dedicated waterbottle every few years.
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Mar 13, 2017 00:59
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