Packing for adventure travel is never easy. Every trip is different, which means each time you break out the suitcase or duffel bag, you need to start from scratch when deciding what to bring. The clothes and gear will change, that’s a given. But if you want to streamline the packing process for flights, the best advice I can give—based on two decades as a travel writer—is to figure out a carry-on setup that will get you through 90 percent of trips. For most people, the key to that setup is finding the best personal item bag.
Yes, the “personal item,” that ill-defined and rarely size-enforced additional bag that can range from a purse or daypack to a garment sack and even a guitar, depending on the airline and flight attendants on duty. The confusion over what counts as a personal item stems from the fact that most airlines don’t specify exact dimensions, other than it needs to fit under the seat in front of you. That directive comes directly from the Federal Aviation Administration, which is why most airlines follow its lead. But the under-seat space varies from airline to airline, so what’s an adventure traveler who’s trying to avoid aggressive baggage fees (or anxiously waiting at the carousel like a date that’s been stood up) supposed to do?
Here’s a basic tip before we get into the specifics: Traveling is hard enough, so don’t complicate things by trying to sneak a giant duffel and a roller bag on the plane. A large duffel or backpack, no matter how lax the gate agent is, will likely get flagged by flight attendants onboard the plane, and you’ll be forced to check it or your larger carry-on item. Essentially, anything bigger than a day pack will be hard to pass off as a personal item. (Although I once watched, admirably, as a father tried to claim that a giant stuffed giraffe was his kids’ personal item.) For the sake of everyone onboard, get with the program and use a backpack or similar bag as your personal item. It’ll make airline travel, if not headache free, more tolerable.
Here’s what to consider when deciding what personal item-sized bag is best for you.
What Counts As a Personal Item?
Many airlines don’t specify exact size restrictions for personal items, but the FAA mandates that all carry-on items fit under the seat in front of you, if it’s not in an enclosed storage compartment.
This leaves a lot of wiggle room as to what size bag counts as a personal item. A small backpack with a change of clothes and your toiletry bag? Definitely. A messenger bag for your laptop? Sure. A large backpack crammed full of a week’s worth of clothes? Well… it depends. The room under each seat varies from airline to airline, but there’s a general size limit you can go by: if your bag comes in around 18 x 14 x 8 inches, it should fit just fine.
If it’s a soft-side bag with gear inside that can compress, you can probably go slightly larger than those dimensions. In my experience, most flight attendants don’t police the size of personal items as you’re boarding the plane, so all you need to do is make sure you can cram it under the seat when you sit down. This is why a medium-sized backpack works well as something of a cheat code: paired with a suitcase or duffel bag, you can stuff it full of an impressive amount of clothes and gear and still get it to fit under the seat.
This guidance comes with a caveat, though. If you’re going to be tossing your bag on the floor of a plane and kicking it underneath the seat in front, it needs to be durable. It’s going to get a lot of wear and tear, not to mention shoe grime and pretzel dust.
With durability, size, and smart design in mind, here are the best bags to consider in a few different categories.
Backpacks
Best All-Around: Patagonia Black Hole Mini MLC 30L
Dimensions: 20 x 12 x 7 inches
Cost: from $199
It’s hard to find a better pack designed for the rigors of frequent airplane travel than this soft-sided daypack, made from a recycled ripstop polyester fabric, meaning it’s more than durable enough to serve as a personal item. It’s designed with a long list of smart features that make organizing gear easy, like a padded laptop pocket, a large main compartment with two interior pockets (great for passports and/or electric cords), and an exterior stretch-mesh pocket for a water bottle. The padded hip belt can double as a shoulder strap, converting the bag from a backpack to a messenger bag, and all the straps can be tucked away when not being used, turning it into ad hoc duffel bag, which is perfect when you’re fitting it underneath the seat in front of you, so no extra straps get caught on your feet. It even has a wide loop on the back panel that slips over the handle of a rolling suitcase, so you can cruise through the terminal without the weight of the pack on your back.
Also Great: Peak Design Travel Backpack 30L
Dimensions: 21 x 13 x 7 inches
Cost: from $240
This rugged backpack, with a recycled, weatherproof nylon shell, is stuffed with so many travel-specific features that it may take three or four trips to discover them all. A large top pocket with three sleeves makes organizing your keys, wallet, sunglasses, or passport a cinch. There’s the requisite padded laptop sleeve and tuck-away shoulder straps to hide all the backpack accoutrements when cramming it under an airplane seat. The other great thing about this bag, which also separates it from many others, is that it’s expandable, with a zipper that unzips to transform the bag from 27 liters to 33 liters. Either size should fit just fine underneath the seat, making it an excellent overall choice for those looking to maximize packing space in their personal item.
Most Durable: Yeti Crossroads 22L
Dimensions: 18.5 x 12 x 7.1 inches
Cost: from $200
With 22 liters of space, this pack is perfect for stashing an impressive amount of clothes and gear while still fitting under the seat in front of you. An inside sleeve fits a laptop; a zippered compartment up top delivers easy access to sunglasses, keys, and a passport; and a luggage pass-through panel allows you to slip it over the handle of your roller suitcase while cruising through airports. And because it’s made from Yeti’s proprietary Tuffskin nylon, it’s nearly bombproof, meaning it’s great for stashing on the plane and touring around in the wilds once you arrive at your destination.
Best for a Laptop: Cotopaxi Allpa Mini 20L Travel Pack
Dimensions: 17 x 10 x 8 inches
Cost: from $140
If all you need is a pack that can haul your laptop through the airport, along with a few other essentials and a toiletries bag, then this is the daypack for you. With a sleek design that weighs just 18 ounces, this pack is perfect for those types of trips where versatility is key and you’re on the go most days. It has an internal sleeve to secure a tablet or small laptop, a water bottle pocket, and two large internal main pockets for organizing other gear.
Duffel and Weekender Bags
Best All-Around Duffel: The North Face Base Camp Voyager Duffel 32L
Dimensions: 22.7 x 13.8 x 8.7
Cost: from $125
This is the smaller, backpack-hybrid version of The North Face’s ubiquitous workhorse, the Base Camp Duffel, and it works exceptionally well for traveling, with an adjustable interior divider to help with organization, padded shoulder straps that can be stowed behind the back panel, and even a laptop compartment. Made from ballistic nylon and polyester tarpaulin, it’s designed for the long haul, along with a few backcountry beat-ups along the way. This duffel pick comes with a slight caveat, however: its maximum dimension comes in at slightly larger than recommended for an under-seat bag. I’ve gotten mine to fit on all but one occasion, when I had it packed to the gills and was flying on a smaller plane on a regional airline. Unless you find yourself in similar situations often, you should be fine with this bag, particularly because it’s soft-sided and compresses when getting it to fit.
Best Non-Nylon Weekender Bag: Tom Beckbe Canvas Weekender Duffel Bag
Dimensions: 20 x 11 x 11.5 inches
Cost: from $595
Sometimes you just need a bag with even more durability and class than the usual ripstop nylon offering. Waxed canvas is the material you want, with its superior abrasion resistance and good looks, and the bag you want is this one, from Southern outdoor brand Tom Beckbe (named loosely after a river in Alabama). With leather trims and a large clamshell opening, this weekend bag is perfect for a trip to a genteel lodge—along with any other use you can throw at it.
Best Packable Duffel: Waterfield Packable Duffel
Dimensions: 18 x 8 x 10 inches (18 x 8 x 13 inches expanded)
Cost: from $129
Sometimes you need an extra bag with a lot of space but only for one way on your travels—maybe for taking some gifts to friends overseas, for example. This lightweight, water-resistant bag is that perfect extra bag for just such an occasion. The ripstop nylon lining offers lightweight durability and it packs down into its own 9-inch by 8-inch pocket.
Camera Bags
Best Bombproof Camera Bag: Wandrd Prvke 21L
Dimensions: 19 x 11 x 6.5 inches
Cost: from $219
For serious photographers, a durable, weatherproof bag that allows you to keep your expensive gear by your side at all times, including on the plane, is essential. Camera equipment is personal, and thus everyone has a preference on what camera bag offers the best combination of protection and easy access. For most people, this one should hit the sweet spot. With an exterior made from a waterproof tarpaulin and ripstop nylon fabrics, it sloughs off rain and snow and stands up to repeated scuffs and abrasions. Inside, it has padded space dividers with compartments designed to perfectly fit Wandrd’s Essential Camera Cube ($64) and a protective case for lenses and DSLR bodies that you can configure to whatever interior size you need. The Prvke also has a clamshell opening that’s designed to make grabbing your camera on the go easy and quick while maintaining protection when closed. The bag’s padded straps make it comfortable to wear for long periods, and there’s even a hidden passport pocket for overseas travel. It’s also backed by a lifetime warranty, so you don’t need to worry about the bag itself, just what’s inside, when tramping around in the forest or on city streets.
Wheeled Bags
Best Underseat Luggage: Briggs & Riley Baseline Cabin Spinner
Dimensions: 16.5 x 14.5 x 8.5 inches
Cost: from $499
It’s rare that an adventure traveler will require a wheeled under-seat suitcase on the regular; it’s more for business travelers setting out for one-night jaunts. But if you do find yourself in need of one, it’s hard to do better than this compact suitcase from one of the best names in luggage: Briggs & Riley. Made from ballistic nylon fabric, it offers exceptional durability, both on and off the plane, plus its telescoping handle and spinning wheels make it a cinch to pull through terminals and city streets. If you need a diminutive wheeled bag for heavy, expensive items (like camera lenses and equipment), this is a great option, and with Briggs and Riley’s best-in-class lifetime guarantee, the steep price is more than worth the cost.
Packable Bags/Totes
Best All-Around: Patagonia Terravia Tote Pack 24L
Dimensions: 16″ x 10″ x 8″
Cost: from $99
One of the hacks I’ve developed over years of traveling is carrying a version of this extremely lightweight (just 14 ounces) bag on pretty much every trip. It packs into its own pocket and, unfurled, you can carry it as a backpack or a tote. On the road, it serves as a perfect pack for grabbing groceries or bringing a bathing suit and a towel to a backcountry hot spring. (Usually, though, I simply use it as a laundry bag for dirty clothes.) When it comes time to pack for home, you also have an extra bag to carry on any souvenirs or other purchases you’ve made along the way. I usually check my main suitcase (it doesn’t matter if it gets delayed on the way home) and carry on the most important things in a backpack and this tote bag.
Best Low-Cost Option: Peak Design Packable Tote
Dimensions: 15.5 x 10.25 x 8 inches
Cost: from $30
If you’re looking for an ultra-packable sack for those just-in-case moments while traveling—say you bought an extra sweater or two in Norway that won’t fit in your carry-on—this 12-liter nylon tote, which weighs just 2.8 ounces, is an excellent option. It packs down to roughly the size of a deck of cards, meaning it can fit just about anywhere in your luggage and, at just $30, it’s a cheap investment to help you easily expand your luggage space when traveling home, if you decide to check your primary bag.
Ryan Krogh is a freelance writer and editor based in Austin, Texas. In the last decade, he’s traveled to 27 countries and every U.S. state, nearly all with just a carry-on suitcase and a personal item—usually a backpack stuffed with clothes or fishing gear but also the occasional dog food bag when traveling with his yellow labrador, Magnolia.
The post The 11 Best Personal Item Bags for Adventure Travelers appeared first on Outside Online.
