6 Best Pieces of Luggage for Every Type of Travel
Find the Luggage That Suits Your Travel Style
The right piece of luggage can make a significant difference in your stress level while traveling by reducing strain on your back, neck and shoulders, helping you avoid baggage fees and allowing you to bring just what you need for that perfect trip. Accordingly, it’s one of the few things you should avoid cheaping out on when it comes to travel.
The hard part is deciding which is right for your travel habits, individual needs and personal preferences. We’ve made that decision a little easier for you by providing these luggage reviews of the top brands for whatever type of travel you plan to do.
Osprey Farpoint: Ideal for Backpacking
If you’re going on a backpacking trip, you might think that all you need is a good hiking backpack. However, these typically come with one major drawback: they only open from the top, which means you’ll have to unpack a lot of your stuff every time you want to get anything from inside.
Even if you’ve mastered the art of how to pack a backpack, you really don’t want to have to unload your entire pack each time you visit a new destination; you want to be able to open it up, easily get out what you need and be on your way.
The difference with a travel backpack is that it zips open like a traditional suitcase. Plus, most don’t have all of those extra straps, and the suspension system can be stored away behind a zippered panel so it’s safe for transporting in a plane, bus, etc.
Our recommendation for the ideal travel backpack is the Osprey Farpoint. It comes in three different sizes — 40-liter, 55-liter and 70-liter — which range in price from $140 to $200 USD. It offers the most features of any travel backpack on the market today, incorporating many that you’d find in a traditional hiking backpack.
The 55-liter and 70-liter both come with a detachable day pack. As well, all three come in small/medium or medium/large, a great feature that not many other backpacks of this type offer. If you’re 6-foot-2, for example, you’ll need a different backpack for comfort than someone who’s a foot shorter.
Tumi Alpha 2 Continental Expandable 4-Wheel Carry-On: Ideal for Frequent Fliers
Tumi is one of the top luggage brands for frequent fliers. While they’re pricey — it’s $540 to $675 USD for the Tumi Alpha 2 — they also tend to last a very long time, making them a better value than what you might think at first glance.
No matter how often it has to go around that luggage carousel, it holds up like a charm, with many buyers returning to buy one again after owning a piece for a decade or more. Tumi also offers a complimentary two-year warranty for wear and tear issues.
The interior of the bag makes packing easy, and it even has a separate compartment for dirty laundry as well as clips for a garment bag.
Obviously you’re always going to need the same things for all trips, like your toothbrush and underwear, but don’t forget these travel must-haves!
Delsey Luggage Helium Aero Expandable Spinner Trolley: Ideal for Longer Trips Abroad
The Delsey Luggage Helium Aero Expandable Spinner Trolley is our favorite luggage for those longer trips overseas. Not only is it affordable, ranging from about $110 to $130 USD, it has a very durable, scratch-resistant exterior.
Plus it’s incredibly easy to handle. Despite its reinforcements, the case is lightweight, and even then the spinner wheels and adjustable handle make it simple to pull even the heaviest packed suitcase.
There’s lots of room inside, with open-book styling and straps that make packing simple. In fact, it can even expand a couple inches more if you happen to pick up too many bargains while you’re traveling. For peace of mind, it also features a TSA approved security lock.
Aqua Quest White Water Duffel: Ideal for Adventure Travel
If you’re an adventure traveler, a duffel bag is ideal for fitting those oddly shaped specialized pieces of gear. Plus, the Aqua Quest White Water Duffel is fully waterproof, not just “water resistant” like most others, making it the perfect choice if you’ll be taking it outside in all weather conditions or will be traveling via boat.
Aqua Quest is based in the Pacific Northwest, so they understand the importance of keeping those items dry. The roll-top closure offers waterproof protection that outperforms zippers, which means water — with the exception of total, extended submersion — won’t penetrate the duffel.
This bag is really light, weighing just 1.6 pounds, and measures 24 inches by 12 inches by 12 inches so it can be used as a carry-on on flights. It can be carried using handles or with a shoulder sling strap, and it’s affordable too, ranging from about $60 to $80 USD.
Travelers Choice Sienna 2-in-1 Hybrid Hard-Shell: Ideal for Business Traveler
If you travel for business frequently, you really need something that includes garment bags so you can easily hang your clothes up in the hotel, and keep your items wrinkle-free. The 21-inch upright Sienna is ideal.
It has two separate compartments, one that serves as a garment bag, and the other as your typical carry-on space. At about $60 to $89 USD, it offers a good value too.
If your overpacked suitcase needs to lose some weight, here are a few things that you can do to become an expert at packing light.
Biaggi Contempo Foldable 22-inch 4-Wheel Carry-On: Ideal for Shorter Trips
The Biaggi Contempo Foldable is incredibly convenient for those shorter trips and ranges in price from $175 to $229 USD. It boasts a number of airport-friendly features, like four spinning wheels, front compartments and a side handle that makes it so much easier to lift up and get into that overhead bin.
If one of your biggest pet peeves is tripping over your luggage in your hotel room, you’ll especially love that it collapses to half its thickness, making it easy to roll under a bed or tuck against a hotel room closet. The interior offers a number of ways to stay organized too, with a zippered pocket panel, two zippered mesh compartments and an elastic packing strap.
