Hi, I'm Rick Steves. I'm really committed
to helping people travel smartly.
Getting the information and skills you need
from a good guidebook - that's important.
And so is traveling with the right gear.
Here are four kinds of carry-on-the-airplane-sized
bags, all pretty much the same size -
9 by 21 by 14 inches. I really believe
that to travel in a light-packing, flexible
way, this should be your self-imposed
limit. It's also as big as you're allowed
to carry onto the airplane. Embrace this
concept and right off the bat,
you've simplified a big part of your trip.
I've lived a third of my adult life out of these bags.
They're my home on the road, and I love 'em.
Now, why would I sell four different version
of the same size bag in our Travel Store?
Well, people have different travel styles
and different priorities - so before we
look inside these bags, let's do a quick
comparison to see which one might be the
best fit for you.
This is my Convertible Carry-On backpack.
You wear this like a backpack, and I
like this feature because now your arms
are free when you're hopping off trains
and climbing up to your hotel room. It's just
nice to have this mobility. It comes with
very comfortable padded shoulder straps,
and it's got a waist belt for
distributing that weight that's sitting on
your shoulders. If you want to use the
convertibility aspect of this bag, you
can zip these padded shoulder straps into
this zippered pouch back here, and then you
can carry it like a soft-sided suitcase.
This is handy when you want to check
your bag as luggage onto the airplane.
This bag costs a little bit less
than the roller bag, but can you carry
fifteen or twenty pounds on your back
without experiencing pain or getting all tired?
That's the issue. Now, this is my choice.
As long as I'm hardy enough to
carry this on my back, I'll choose this bag -
but we have other good and popular options.
This is our Rolling Backpack.
Depending on your situation, you can pull
out the handle and then roll it along
really smooth in the airports, or - if you
want to be more flexible - you can pull
out the padded shoulder straps. So it's a
combination roller bag and backpack.
It costs a little more, it weighs a little more,
it carries a little less, and it
doesn't expand like some of the other bags.
But if you're a light packer who
wants the flexibility of being able to go
as a backpack or as a roller bag, this
could be a good fit.
Here's our best-selling bag. This is the
Rolling Carry-On. It's got a molded shell
on the back to protect the handle and the
wheels, and it's got a soft front, like a
backpack, to flexibly fit whatever
you're packing. This is sized to fit
in the smaller overhead compartments that
you'll often find on European airlines.
It's got a handy handle right here that people
really love for getting it up and down.
If you're flying home with a little more
than what you left with, there's an
expandability zipper. You pull that,
and your bag becomes a lot bigger.
For travelers who want maximum carry-on size
and don't want to lug a lot of weight on
their back, this bag is hard to beat.
That's why it's our bestseller.
And this is your fourth option.
It's called our Ravenna Rolling Case.
It's called a "case" because it's hard on the
top and the bottom, and what makes it a hybrid
is that they've got a nice fabric area here
that has a very smart configuration of
three pockets, like you find on all of our
bags. Now, the great thing about this bag
is because it's hard and so structured,
you cannot overpack. This is as big as
you can carry on and it's always going
to fit in the overhead locker.
Now, let's say you'd like to pack heavier.
It has a unique feature which lets you zip this
whole thing around here, and it accordions out.
This is a very popular bag, and
it's a good-looking bag, too.
Okay, let's get an inside look at what
a good carry-on bag should include.
We'll use this Rolling Carry-On bag as an
example. All of our carry-on bags feature
tie-down straps. These hold everything
snug to the back of the bag. If you're
wearing the bag on your back, this lets
you distribute weight smartly and keeps
the weight close to you, so there's less of
a tug on your shoulders. If you're using
the bag as a rolling bag, these tie-down
straps keep the weight closer to the handle,
so the bag is more sturdy. Now, in both
cases the compression straps hold your
things together tightly, so you can
actually pack a little more and still
make that carry-on-the-airplane size limit.
All of our bags have a brilliant
pocket configuration both inside and out.
They have these three beautiful pockets
on the outside and a pocket here inside
the lid. This is handy because you can
put your jacket in here, or put your
laundry in here if you want to keep it
apart from the rest of your luggage and so on.
In the bags we include a couple of very
handy mesh bags, and these are very
convenient for packing a lot of little
extras. And one feature that we've
innovated that I really love is this
special security pouch. Notice it's the
same color as the lining of the bag,
and you can put valuables in here.
They stay in one spot and nobody knows where they are.
Don't tell thieves about this. The nice thing
about this feature is you can unclip it,
and then in one easy little package, you
can slip that into your hotel safe.
Let's talk about packing light - and we'll
use one of these bags as our guinea pig.
Pack light, pack light. That's my travel mantra,
and it's one of the keys to traveling happily.
Think about it - you meet two
kinds of travelers on the road:
those who pack light, and those
who wish they'd packed light.
You'll never meet anybody who, after five trips, brags,
"Every year, I pack heavier."
Just as an example, let me show you what I put
into a carry-on sized bag for one of my trips.
Remember, I spend four months a year in
Europe living out of a bag this size.
I pack exactly the same, whether I'm
traveling for two weeks or two months.
The main difference is less clothes.
Downside of that is you don't wash more,
you just wash a little as you go.
No matter which bag you ultimately buy,
you need to pack it smartly, and an
innovation that has been very popular
among our travelers is our Packing Cubes.
We sell them in packs of three. There's a
big one and two small ones. At a glance,
you can see what you've got and where,
because they've got this see through
mesh cover, and remember - these are
designed with the configuration of the
bag in mind. This lets you get full utility
out of every cubic inch that these little
bags offer. I like it because it lets
me get well-organized. Here I've got my
socks and underwear, for instance. In this
packing cube I would have my electronics,
and over here I would have sweaters and so on.
Also, all of the bags have a full-length
lid pocket, and this is really handy for
your folding items. Each of our bags has a
smart configuration of external pockets.
This bag has four different pockets. I love
this big, huge one hidden here. Imagine all
the practical value you can have from the
full-length external pocket. There's a
sizable pocket here. This is ideal for your
guide book, or, I stick my noise-reduction
headphones in there. You've got a
sizable pocket up here. This is good
for an umbrella or a book you're reading.
And there's this little pocket on the
very outside, and this is great for
small items you want to keep track of.
When I'm going through security at the airport,
everything in my pockets goes right in there.
So now the big question: how do you fit
all your stuff in a bag this size?
Well, we've got a lot of information
on that at ricksteves.com.
I've put together a very practical, half-hour
lecture on packing light, and I know I
don't have a lot of credibility among
women when it comes to packing light, so
one of the women in my office has also put
together a very practical lecture on women
packing light and smart. We also have
practical packing lists at ricksteves.com.
Bottom line: if you pack light, you can travel happy.
Thanks a lot, and have a great trip.