Choosing the right travel bag that works for you is an important part of your travel journey. If you’re like me, you’ve probably gone through many suitcases over the years. From hand-me-downs to bargains to those things you bought online that were not quite what you thought they were. Have you ever been walking through an airport and one wheel locks or even falls off? Or the handle won’t go back down…it’s frustrating to say the least. As with most things in my life, I now buy the best I can afford because I know I’ll own it for years instead of donating it to Goodwill and having to go buy a new one! It’s amazing how much money in the long run you actually can save if you buy quality vs. something that just looks nice…life lesson! Below are the cases I recommend and all the features that make them worth it.
How to Choose the Right Roller Suitcase for Carry On Only Travel
Carry on only style of travel is freeing…as long as you have the right gear! Here are the key things I look for when buying a new case for traveling Carry On Only:
- Get a hard sided suitcase. I cringe when I see people shoving their items in the overhead bins next to a bag with somebody’s souvenirs or soft sided case…I just imagine something breaking or items getting squished. I’ve been on a flight where somebody’s Duty Free liquor got broken exactly that way and it started leaking on the people below. Protect your items by getting a hard side case!
- Get a case that opens up in half. This way you can easily live out of your suitcase if you’re staying in places for a short while. Being able to see everything because it opens up in half is a must. How you pack is also affected when you do this and I think it makes it even easier. You’ll see this in the blog about how to pack a carry on.
- Make sure that the wheels rotate 360 degrees easily. It may seem unnecessary but I promise you it is not. If you don’t have one and aren’t sure about it, go to a luggage store and try one out for yourself!
- Buy a quality bag to make sure that the zippers are good quality and that those spinner wheels actually work!
- Buy a bag that has the built-in TSA lock so no additional lock is necessary and there is nothing to lose!
So now that we know all of the features to look for, here is my favorite suitcase that has all of these features.
Favorite Roller Suitcase for Carry On Only Travel
The Samsonite Hard Sided 20 Inch Carry On is hard to beat! It has every single feature above that I’ve mentioned AND it comes in a bunch of cute colors from pink and purple to blue and silver. Again if you have to check it, make sure you can find it amongst the sea of black bags!
How to Choose the Right Roller Suitcase for Checked Luggage
The list of key items for the carry-on apply here with a couple of additional items. If you are checking a bag and it’s big, it must be very sturdy! I just had a large suitcase crack because of what I can only assume was the luggage being thrown around. Now it was my husband’s case and he had it for about 10 years so it was time for a new one. Luckily, it actually broke before I got to the check-in counter so I had time to buy a new one. There is a great luggage store in the Johannesburg airport so I bought the newer version of the red one and re-packed the suitcase outside of the shop (I would have done it inside but there was no room). Luckily, I had used packing cubes for that trip so it made it quick and easy to move everything over. Luckily, the luggage store said they would take care of the broken one for me. As much as I wasn’t thrilled over having to buy a new and expensive piece of luggage, I knew because it was Samsonite that it would last me another 10+ years!
Favorite Roller Suitcases for Checked Luggage
Even though I rarely check luggage anymore, I still need solid pieces for when I do need to! Moving from Costa Rica to South Africa we used 4 of these big suitcases as well as other smaller ones…everything we had! If we didn’t have these, we wouldn’t have been able to bring back some of our precious things like Boruca Masks! My husband owned all of these big ones and I’m so glad he did. He used them when he moved from South Africa to Costa Rica so they are well traveled cases with a lot of mileage and a lot of scratches! This is the Grand Daddy of the suitcases out there made of a super light hard wearing plastic. Here is a link to the Samsonite 30″ Suitcase on Amazon.
Below are pictures of our cases and then the new cases online:
How to Choose the Right Carry On Bags for Traveling
If you are doing carry-on only, then this is an important section for you! Even if you check your bag, there are times that you will still be traveling with your carry on and suitcase together so this information should help. A few key items to look for in that carry-on to go on your suitcase are as follows:
- The case must have a luggage sleeve, that is that extra piece of fabric that the luggage handle goes through. Trying to hold it, keep it in place, etc just is an extra unnecessary stress…make sure your bag has this.
- Personally I like it to not have wheels…it adds too much bulk and weight.
- Make sure that the bottom is not a fixed size. I say this because the carry-on restrictions where you have to make your bag fit in that little metal contraption by the check-in? A fixed/hard bottom will not fit in many of those while one that is softer will. Many of the cute weekender bags out there have a leather bottom or fixed wide bottom. Although that may have its advantages, for fitting into the airline carry on measurer, it is a big disadvantage.
- Make sure that it has straps that are comfortable if you have to check your suitcase and have to end up carrying it vs. rolling it on top of your case. This happens especially on smaller planes and on planes that run out of luggage space so make sure that your carry-on is comfortable for you to carry on your shoulder through the airport if necessary.
Favorite Carry On Bags for Traveling
I purchased a bag at a surf shop here in South Africa and I absolutely love it. I’ve used it for a couple of years ago and I use it as a Beach Bag during the day on trips too so its multifunctional. Unfortunately, it isn’t available anywhere online (sorry ladies) but the following bag has everything I mentioned and comes in 40+ colors/patterns! So this is the closest I can find and it has everything you need: Vera Bradley Women’s Signature Cotton Weekender Travel Bag.
How to Choose Bags or Totes for Travel
There are so many bags to choose from but here is some key advice when picking which ones you choose to buy and which ones you choose to travel with.
- Make sure that the bag closes completely, whether it be a zipper, velcro, etc-have nothing with open gaps. This prevents items being lost if the bag falls over and also from a pick pocketer.
- If you are going to do some shopping and want to have an extra bag to bring them home with, I suggest getting a soft sided bag that folds flat and takes up virtually no additional space. Note that you may need to check this bag with your clothes and then bring as carry-on your valuable souvenirs in a carry-on to keep them secure & from getting damage. So make sure that whatever it is you check is of a sturdy fabric and can be locked-even it’s an external TSA lock, make sure you bring that lock too!
- If I know I am going to be doing shopping at the market, I do pack a reusable grocery bag to cut down on the plastic usage. A lot of third world countries are still using plastic because it’s cheap so do your part and bring your own bag. It weighs next to nothing and can be used as a laundry bag or other uses…it’s worth it.
Favorite Purse for Travel
The Travelon Anti-Theft Purse
The Travelon Anti-Theft purse is so good that I wrote an entire blog about it! I even have photos of me wearing the 5 purses I own. Read all about the best purse for travel here: The Best Women’s Anti-Theft Purse.