How to World Travel With a Carry-On: Part 1 - Bags

How to World Travel With a Carry-On: Part 1 - Bags

I really enjoy learning what other travelers pack for their long-term travels. It's both interesting and helpful. I've been wanting to share my thoughts and pack for a while, but it's been a bit intimidating because there's actually a lot to cover. This is my third time in the past two years that I’ve had a nomadic long-term-world-travel pack. Needless to say, there are so many ways to go about this, but I’ve found the most suitable for me is to go as light as possible while maintaining the essentials that make life and work practical and comfortable. Thus, I’ve put a lot of thought into the items I’ve managed to fit into my 28-liter bag and I really want to do justice to the full pack, so I’ve found the easiest way is by breaking it down into a few individual posts. This first issue will be focused on bags. Note: no affiliate links in this issue, yet.

The Bags

When it comes to long-term travel, the bags we choose can greatly impact our day-to-day comfort through their functionality, durability, and ergonomics. Not every “travel bag” is going to meet your travel needs. For example, the Peak Design Travel Bag is an excellent camera bag for short-term travel, but not suitable at all for long-term backpacking. However, the Matador SEG28 has been an absolute blessing. My favorite feature is the individual pockets on the front that make organizing and finding items a breeze. The pockets expand to the needs of each compartment. It’s essentially like carrying a comfy closet around. It also has a bunch of extra compartments for valuables, a laptop pocket, and really comfortable straps. I love this thing. The only minor inconvenience I’ve experienced was the plastic on the zipper pulls coming loose, but it was an easy fix with some electrical tape. Also, it would perhaps be nice to have a more substantial waist strap, but the current one does the trick, and I do appreciate how this backpack doesn’t necessarily scream 'backpacker'. All in all, I would say it is one of the best (if not the best) digital nomad bag out there.

When embarking on my most recent trip, I was able to fit all my belongings into the SEG28, including a smaller Matador day bag. However, the day bag has now become a practical day-to-day second bag. It’s where I hold everything that is most essential to me (the things I really really shouldn’t lose). This bag never gets checked in and is pretty much always at my side (or back). The Matador On-Grid is my current favorite, although it is also no longer in production. You can still find it, but not so easily. Matador has some other very good-looking newer iterations, but my major gripe with them is the lack of a laptop pocket. Having even a minimal compartment in a day bag, especially if you are a digital nomad, makes it much easier to get your laptop in and out without dealing with whatever other clutter you have. Also, a pro tip regarding minimal laptop compartments (if they lack padding) is to have a suitable vertical laptop sleeve stay in there. There are plenty of other day bag options out there. I would just look for something light, packable, and durable, that has comfortable straps and of course, a laptop compartment.

That’s it for bags. Feel free to share with me any of your thoughts or favorite bags.

Clothing is up next!

Take care for now,

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