I’m Way Too Excited About My Latest Luggage Purchase

You have been warned – talking about luggage is definitely not the most exciting thing going on in today’s busy world, but since we are all frequent travelers with a common goal to travel well without spending a lot, I figured I’d share my two cents about my latest purchase.

After all, it’s been a really long time since I’ve written about luggage (in the silliest of ways, of course), and unfortunately my favorite Tumi bag that’s logged hundreds of thousands of miles decided to call it quits last month in the middle of a trip spanning 9 countries in 10 days. It couldn’t have been better timing… not.

Luckily I was in a destination where I was able to quickly find a “single use” luggage at a nearby souvenir shop in Mallorca to get my belongings home safely. I had to walk a whole half a block on the beach on a beautiful summer day in El Arenal. I could think of worse places for this to happen ;).

Just to put this out there – I haven’t had the greatest luck with zippers on Tumi bags in the past. In one instance, the fabric of Tumi backpack tore by the zipper out of the blue, and my local Tumi store clerk assured me that Tumi would repair it under warranty, without a problem. I was discouraged when I received the bag back in the same damaged condition as I sent it in with a $25 credit for me to use towards the purchase of a new full-priced backpack. To add salt to the wound, I had to pay for shipping to send it to Tumi in the first place. Pfft.

With that experience in the books, I made the executive decision to just completely dump the bag in Mallorca instead of even attempting to transport it and send it out for repair back home.

Sorry for the rant, but I’m 3 for 3 with broken zippers on Tumi products, so it was time to jump ship and find a new set of luggage. This time around, I wanted to get 2 bags – one standard Rollaboard carry-on for larger trips, and one smaller option for quick trips spanning 2-3 days, which seem to be the norm for me now (#momlife).

I’ve come to terms that I’m absolutely willing to sacrifice a “luxury” brand name for something more functional, durable, and reliable. I need something that I’ll hopefully have for many years and also fits with my fast-paced lifestyle and keeps me organized.

I recently attended a TravelPro showcase event in NYC where I was introduced to several of their products. The timing couldn’t have been more perfect because it was literally days after my my broken luggage fiasco, so I was absolutely in the market for new luggage. Maybe there was a sprinkle of urgency, but I was thoroughly impressed with what I saw.

Previously, I’ve been vaguely familiar with the TravelPro brand, because it is the brand of luggage that most of the flight crew have used for decades. That alone speaks volumes about TravelPro’s trusted reputation, so I was eager to learn more.

When I had a chance to play around with some of the bags at the event, I instantly fell in love with the Max Lite 4 Rolling Tote for a number of reasons.

1. It is large enough for me to comfortably pack for up to 4-5 days away.
2. The front compartment fits my computer and all of my chargers/tech gear perfectly, resulting in me not having to take along my go-to backpack (which is currently damaged).
3. The bag is marketed as an “under the seat” bag, meaning no more forced gate-checked bags (which is a real problem if you have boarding group 5 stamped on your boarding pass), and I don’t have to worry about accessing/the safety of my computer during takeoff and landing.
4. The price! With a $200 retail, the decision was instant when I worked it out so that in the end I’m paying only $60.47 out of pocket, including shipping!

This post is 1000% not a sponsored post in any way, shape, or form. If anything, it just shows you have uneventful my life must be at the moment if I’m this genuinely excited about the new bag that’ll arrive on my doorstep tomorrow (gotta love ShopRunner).

For those interested in how I was able to get the bag for such a great deal, it boils down to stacking deals:

• I placed my order through TopCashBack, which is offering 16% back at eBags
• I applied a 25% percent off coupon that I received instantly for signing up for the eBags email list.

Bottom Line

I’m excited about this bag for short weekend trips, but I’m still on the lookout for a standard Rollaboard carry-on luggage to take on the majority of my longer trips. If you have any reasonably-priced recommendations that you’re crazy about, feel free to send them my way!

For what it’s worth, this bag is also available and cheap at Macy’s, Luggage Pros, and Zappos if you can find ways to stack deals there.

What luggage are you currently using for your trips?