The mission to find duffel bags is OVER! I ordered them last week and this evening I came home to three lovely boxes sitting in my foyer. I practically jumped for joy when I saw them. I'm an impatient person in case you haven't figured that out yet and I've been dying to see these in person. A lot went into finding the perfect duffel because I am one of the pickiest people alive. When I say picky, I don't just mean I have certain taste and don't like to stray. I mean I will literally not settle for anything that doesn't meet my standards.
My criteria was pretty ridiculous. I wanted a medium size bag that had a shoulder strap and wheels. It had to be easy to pack and also lightweight, but durable. It also needed to be under $50 a bag. I'm not sure if you've ever tried to find a wheeled duffel that has a shoulder strap, it's freaking hard! Apparently if they have wheels the manufacturer just assumes you will never need to carry it. I wanted both because I wanted the luxury of wheeling in on flat surfaces, but the ability to carry it when walking over the cobblestone and doing the train. I also wanted it to be stylish, but that was on the lower end of my priority list. So imagine how ecstatic I was to find this bag.
Wheels..check. Shoulder strap..check. Lightweight and easy to pack..check. Under $50..check. Stylish..check. I was so excited to find this bag and even more excited when I saw the price. It was well under my $50 limit and because I've purchased from ebags before, I got an additional 10% off & free shipping. Score!! T and I ended up going with pretty neutral bags, but mine does have a little more flare. T went with boring, manly, classic black and I went with a black and white houndsooth pattern. I really wanted something that would be easy to pick out on the luggage carousel, but not be overly crazy.
I ended up only taking mine out of the box so far just to see it, play with it and try it out. A couple of negatives right off the bat, the smell. Good god does this bag have a horrible smell. I know it's the materials and thankfully we have enough time to air them out, but this is definitely not one of those buy, get and immediately travel type. I was prepared for that though as a couple of the reviews did note the smell. The next issue is the bottom. Because it does have wheels and a handle (it folds down into a compartment at the bottom of the bag) it does smack against you when you are walking. While this might not sound like a big deal, it's definitely not comfortable. These are not deal breakers though and considering the very reasonable price, we'll keep 'em.
I also got our wallet belts. These will come in handy to keep our personal effects close and protected. They are definitely NOT fashionable, but that doesn't really matter since they will be under our clothes. Now I just need to make sure I keep the minimum in mine and not pack it full like I do my purse. My mental goal is to only carry my money, passport, other important docs and my chapstick & cellphone. Our digital camera is small so that can go in my pocket, but will most likely spend a majority of the time in my hand.
Speaking of my camera, I need to learn how to use that damn thing. I've been wanting to get a better camera, but T refuses until I actually learn how to use our existing one, that we had purchased specifically for Mexico. It was not cheap and I'm sure would take beautiful pictures if I figured out the settings and which ones to use. Great, just added yet another item to my to do list.
Sign up for shore excursions
Israel
Greece
Naples
Make sure vaccines up to date
Get visas for required countries
Get all US Embassy info for each country
Learn to use digital camera
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