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!