What bag should I travel with?

Most often, the dreaded thing you would want to do is to pack your bag. And when you open up your wardrobe, it sets you pondering.

What bag should I bring along???

And of course, to answer this, below are the crucial questions one need to ask before deciding the bag to travel along.

1)  Which destination am I heading to? ( Certainly, you do not want to bring a fanciful and branded travel bag when you go on a beach holiday knowing it will be sandy and higher possibility of getting your bag wet. Next, you do not want be an eyesore to others by bringing a trolley bag when you know it’s a trekking trip, where everyone else will be carrying backpack.)

2) For how many days? (Obviously, the more days you be away from home, the more things you would need to bring. But do consider that if you stay in the same hotel for a number of nights, you can always afford to wash and hang it to dry in the room. Before you know it, your laundry maybe dry when you are back to your hotel room after a day out in the city. Alternatively, you can send it for laundry services in hotel but not recommended as they charge crazy prices depending on the city you are in.  You need not bring so many clothes even if you are on a long trip. There’ always a possibility to wash your own clothes and keep your bag light!)

3) Type of airline seats you had purchased (Let’s Scoot! Yup, with more Low Cost Carriers offering baggage allowance as an additional add-on purchase, it simply mean if you were want to save money, you can simply choose the option of not having any baggage. Just Hand-carry! Simple and light. Most airlines allow one small piece of hand baggage of not more than 10kg. Having said that, always check with the airline before travelling)

4) Baggage allowance from airline (SQ used to give 20kg FBA [Free Baggage Allowance]. However, with influx of Low Cost Carriers and many airlines vying for market share, the giants such as SQ have accord minimum 30kg FBA from now on. By doing so, it has forced many airlines to follow as well increasing to 30kg and beyond. However, having said that, do check with the amount of baggage allowance accorded and it may influence you to choose the type of luggage)

As a rule of thumb:

The hand luggage should be no more than 25 cm deep, 56 cm long and 46 cm wide.  Dimensions must not be more than 110 cm.  The total size includes the pockets and handles.

However, other airlines allow only a single bag with maximum measurements of 55 cm x 40 cm x 20 cm. The maximum weight varies between 5 kg to 12 kg.

So when the next time you purchase travel bag and want to use it on budget airline as hand carry, always measure the size before parting with your money.  I am carrying a backpack that suits perfectly in most budget carriers size limit and able to use it for trekking trip or in fact, simply dump all my necessities in it with many different compartments. It costs less to purchase one in places that manufacture it such as Nepal and Hanoi (Vietnam).

Categories: Travel Tips