Carrying yet more baggage …

So – for the record – I hate traveling as much as I have to with my new role, and I’ve got a ton of travel coming up this year yet. My older checked baggage is getting long in the tooth and a bit ratty – needs replacement before the wheels fall off and the zippers completely fail (partial failure is long ago). Before my last trips down through the southern US I went and got myself a Briggs and Riley carry-on bag on the recommendation of a coworker and love it. The bag fits a metric crap-ton of clothes, toiletries and all the other junk important things needed when away from home for about a week. The bag has a very cool expand/compress system that allowed me to stuff more than enough into it, compress it down, and not get the stink-eye from the lovely gate people at the airport. I’m sold. The lifetime guarantee wasn’t a bad thing either – I tend to go through bags too often.

So, I need a new larger checked bag, Briggs and Riley it is! I’m grabbing the Medium Expandable Upright in black – it looks like at 25″x18″x10.5″  it will fit more than a full week or so without having to find a laundromat or drop off service, at least until I get to London.

I’ve got this on order, and with my friend Prime  it will be here PDQ … I’ll write up a full review after I put it through its paces in June

While this trip I do not need to bring any suits with me, I am also thinking about grabbing a Briggs & Riley Wheeled Wardrobe Bag to schlep around a week’s worth of suits/dress clothes for those trips I need a suit or four.

Other travel bits I’ve picked up this year to make my life easier (and somewhat more organized) include Eagle Creek Pack-It Toiletry which will be great for all the sundry toiletries, and my DE razor and bits in my checked bags,Eagle Creek Pack-It Garment Folder to keep my shirts from getting completely FUBAR while packed, and Eagle Creek Pack-It Clean/Dirty Cubes to better fit everything and to keep clean and dirty clothes separated from each other while packed up.

Now, what I need to do is find a good phone/data pre-paid SIM card that will work throughout Europe… haven’t found one that will work in the majority of countries (yet). If you have a suggestion please  leave a comment!


John P. Hoke

John P. Hoke headshot

Cyber Security Professional, Photographer, Coffee Junkie, Mac Addict, Craft Beer & Whiskey connoisseur, all around curmudgeon and generally sarcastic SOB – Not necessarily in that order.

The opinions expressed on this blog are mine alone and not those of my employer, family, pets, the voices in my head, or anyone else for that matter … hell in an hour they may not be mine either 🙂

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