What Are the Best Duffel Bags for Domestic Travel? We love these workhorse bags because they’re so damn useful Eagle Creek’s No Matter What Duffel can stash into another bag or fit atop a larger rolling luggage bag. Duffels aren’t the sexiest gear, but I always use one when traveling in the United States. They’re easy to schlep off-road but classy enough to haul into a five-star hotel. Most are built to take an absolute beating. Here are my five favorites.Eagle Creek No Matter What Duffel S ($70)   Photo: Eagle CreekThe No Matter What Duffel is what you take to celebrate Christmas at your in-laws’ house across the country: When empty, it packs down to stash in another bag. On the way home, it fits nicely into the overhead compartment, even stuffed full to bursting with all your loot. The included packsack doubles as a dirty-underwear case and slips over the handle of a rolling luggage case. Bonus: All that functionality for less than $100. Gregory Alpaca Duffel 60L ($149)    Photo: GregoryThe Alpaca wins in the versatility category.

Integrated padding on the straps helps it transform into a backpack, while gear loops on the exterior hold everything from water bottles and sandals to an extra layer or reading materials. A waterproof tarpaulin material keeps everything dry inside, and super heavy-duty handles proved extremely durable after several seasons of use. backpack kipling malaysiaPatagonia Black Hole Duffel 45L ($99)   Photo: PatagoniaI have a decade-old Black Hole Duffel that’s seen dozens of raft trips, been driven across the country, and currently lives full-time in the trunk of my car, filled with kayaking gear, just in case. lenovo laptop backpack flipkartLike my trusty steed, the new bags are super tough, thanks to a 900-denier fabric, and easy to carry, with grab handles and a shoulder strap. best eberlestock backpack

At 45 liters, this bag is just big enough for the essentials but small enough to carry on a plane. The bag packs into one of its own pockets for storage.The North Face Base Camp Duffel XS ($100)   Photo: The North FaceThere’s a reason you see many of the Everest climbers using big Base Camp Duffels. kikki backpackThese trustworthy bags are absolute workhorses—and damn near indestructible. the best 35l backpackThat same dependability carries over to the extra-small Base Camp Duffel (33 liters), which is my main go-to for domestic travel. laptop bags ryanairI’m a big fan of the small zippered mesh pocket inside the bag that easily holds my smaller items—license, tickets, and receipts. I also love the built-in clear patch on the top where you can stick a business card.

This becomes useful when you forget your bag in the cab.Osprey Transporter 40 ($70)   Photo: OspreyThe U-shaped zipper on this bag splays the body wide open, providing easy access to nearly everything inside. The Transporter, like the No Matter What (above) has padding on the handles, which helps it sit comfortably on your shoulders when carried as a backpack. The spacious front-zip pocket, plus three more on the outside, keep everything from toiletries to dirty laundry tidy.PinClimbing BackpackHiking ClimbingHiking BackpackBackpack B2BBackpack EuropeFrame BackpackCanvas BackpackMountaintop OutdoorMountaintop 50LForwardMountaintop 45L 5L Hiking Backpack/Outdoor Backpack/Travel Backpack/Climbing Backpack/Camping Backpack/Mountaineering Backpack with Rain Cover-5806II -- Save this wonderfull product : Best hiking backpackSee Moreheart 9PinMountaintop [2016 NEW] 70L 10L Internal Frame Backpack Water-resistant Hiking Backpack Backpacking Trekking Bag with Rain Cover for Climbing,camping,hiking,Travel and Mountaineering-5805III -- You can get more details here

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: Best hiking backpackSee Moreheart 5PinCamping BagsCamping TentsColor Multicam20L MulticamBackpacks IdeasOutdoor BackpacksRemarkable ProductBags BackpackRain CoverForwardCONDOR RAIN COVER 40 L => You can find more details here : Hiking backpackSee MorePinBest Hiking BackpackBackpack BigCamping BackpackTofine WaterproofWaterproof Camping40 LiterBlack 40Rain CoverBig BagsForwardTOFINE Waterproof Camping Backpack Big Bags for Traveling with Rain Cover Black 40 Liter => Stop everything and read more details here! : Hiking backpackSee MorePin42 BackpackBackpack CheckMhm GearMhm PacksMhm Flatiron42 ProofTop DetachablePockets MainImage BackpacksForwardMHM Flatiron 38 Backpack *** Details can be found : Hiking backpackSee MoreI wrote an updated version of this post in 2016 – see how to travel carry-on only in 10 easy steps. We are travelling permanently with only carry-on luggage, having sold the rest of our belongings. I have a 30 litre backpack and Simon has a 40 litre backpack and a small travel guitar.

It’s been surprisingly easy to live with such small bags and to fit everything we need into them, including two laptops and an SLR camera. Life is actually much simpler when you own less. Although Simon has two carry-on bags because of the extra guitar we haven’t had a problem taking these on planes, except in the Bolivian Amazon when we were travelling on tiny 18 seater planes. There was no overhead locker and very little room under the seat, so we reluctantly had to check in Simon’s larger backpack and the guitar (in a soft case) – luckily it was fine. We could actually get away with less stuff, but we work as we travel so need laptops, and we’ve needed warmer clothes in South America for high altitudes. Even still, our backpacks are half the size of every other traveller we’ve seen. We just don’t know what they have in those huge packs! We recently updated our packing list to reflect the changes that have happened over the last 10 months of travel. [Update: see our most recent packing list here].

We got rid of very few things as everything we have we use. We lost some sunglasses (now replaced) and a cardigan, and we dumped our playing cards and phrasebooks that we no longer needed. Our biggest change is that we have just ordered a Kindle. When this arrives we will be able to leave behind our Spanish dictionary, guidebooks and three novels that we usually carry around. This will save us loads of weight, and solve the struggle to find decent, affordable books to read. We are very excited and will be writing about how we get along. There have been a few additions: You can read our original packing list from our first year in South America and our latest packing list (April 2016). We also wrote about the changes to our gear in 2013 and 2014. We are firmly convinced that travelling with just carry-on bags is the way to go. Here are our tips on how to do it. 1) Choose a Small Backpack Choose a backpack that is no bigger than 40 litres, preferably 30 litres.

If your bag is small you can’t overfill it. Our current backpacks are the Tortuga (Simon) and the Osprey Farpoint 40 (Erin)—you can read a detailed review of our carry-on backpacks here. Most people overpack clothes, but you can get away with very little: a few tops, a few bottoms and a fleece. Pick a colour scheme so that everything goes with everything else. It is cheap to get laundry done in many parts of the world or you can hand wash things. Shoes are heavy so don’t take more than two pairs. We have hiking shoes and sandals (update: I now have a pair of lightweight and ultra comfortable Tieks ballet flats for dressier occasions—see my Tieks review here). In hot climates when you aren’t doing any serious trekking then just a decent pair of sandals is enough. The common wisdom is not to pack jeans but we do have a lightweight pair. In hot climates you don’t need them but in South America it is often cold and these are great to have. We get our laundry done for us so we haven’t had a problem with them taking too long to dry.

Packing cubes can work to squeeze your clothes into a nice organised package, but even better are compression bags. They are plastic bags that you roll up and squeeze out all the air. Ours save us loads of space. We like the Packmate travel bags as they are more durable than most; Eagle Creek compression sacs also get good reviews. To take your backpack on a plane you need all liquids to be under 100ml, so take small amounts of everything and restock when you need to. There are some great products that make this easier: 5) Look into Lightweight Alternatives There are many lightweight alternatives available to heavy items. Here are some of our favourites: Books are heavy so the Kindle is going to make a real difference to us. We also got rid of our paper journals and started writing on the computer instead. We do carry a pocket size notebook for jotting things down when out and about. When we are settled somewhere we often buy a cheap school notebook for planning (sometimes paper is just better for this), but we get rid of it when we are done.

You can take photos of any documents you need, although we do carry copies of our passport. My backpack is actually daypack size so we use this for long treks or when we need a bigger bag. The rest of the time we use a thin cotton shoulder bag that packs away in our main bag, or can be used for extra storage: we often use it for food on long bus rides. 8 ) Share Power Cables We have two cameras and two laptops and they all (annoyingly) have different chargers. All the chargers use the same size kettle lead power cord though. Rather than taking four identical power cords we just have two for when we need to power both laptops at the same time. We never need to charge all four devices at once, and this saves space. Even better, one of the leads fits European style plugs and the other US style (UK plugs are too bulky and less common). We have found either of these two covers us all over South America, so we could even get away with losing our travel power adaptor.

We charge our iPods through our laptops with the small Apple USB cable. 9) Take a Small Camera. I do have an SLR with a big 18-200mm zoom lens, but it is heavy and takes up a significant amount of space in my 30 litre bag. There are times (mostly in cities when I don’t take it out much) when I feel like getting rid of it, but then we see the amazing landscapes of Bolivia’s southwest or spot wildlife in the Amazon and I’m so glad I have it. [Update: I now have a mirrorless camera which is smaller but just as good as my SLR.] There are some great compact cameras around so if you aren’t already into SLR photography then it might be a good idea to stick with a smaller camera. A penknife is one of those really useful items that are always on travel packing lists. In fact, we rarely used ours and you can’t take them on planes in your carry-on bag so we didn’t bring one this time. We haven’t missed it. We picked up a plastic knife from a takeaway and this is good enough for cutting bread, cheese and tomatoes for sandwiches.

We haven’t needed it for anything else. 11) Only Take the Essentials Beware those packing lists that list many items that “might come in handy”. In two years of travel we have never needed a sleeping bag, sleep sheet, mosquito net, washing line, travel sink plug (they don’t work very well anyway and a sock does the job), travel pillow, door stop or collapsable bowl. That said, we do find a small roll of gaffa/duct tape handy for fixing things and taping over holes in mosquito nets (you could manage without it though) and head torches are definitely very useful if you are going anywhere you won’t have power at night (or places like India and Nepal that have frequent power cuts). Ultimately you have to decide what is most important to you. To see exactly what is in our backpacks see our normal packing list and our cold weather packing list for a trip to Finland. We have descriptions of some of our favourite items on our Resources page. Don’t forget travel insurance for your gear—we’ve written about travel insurance for long term travel and how to buy it when you are already abroad.