Sooner or later, we all encounter a problem of choosing the right luggage for travelling. In this post, I wanted to tell you, how to avoid making mistakes and choose GOOD luggage for travelling, that will meet all your expectations and survive many trips.

So, how to choose good luggage for travelling?

First of all, you need to decide, what kind of luggage do you need.

If you’re based in Europe and planning to travel within Europe (that also works for Americans planning a long weekend trip to another American city), most probably, you will need hand-luggage only. Many European low-cost airlines (and recently not only low-cost airlines, e.g. British Airways, Lufthansa) introduced hand-luggage only fares, where you can only bring one cabin-size suitcase and sometimes 1 extra hand bag.

Choosing good hand luggage

If you think that choosing the right cabin-size luggage is super easy, you’re terribly wrong, because it’s not. I’ve travelled to 57+ countries and more than half of them I visited with hand luggage only. My first ever hand luggage I bought was Ryanair-size bag from eBay for $20 and it survived 5 flights (and then one wheel just chipped off, so I had (well, Pepe had) to drag it all day around Cambridge on the way back from Morocco.

The second-hand luggage I had was a better brand, but still nothing fancy. Since the only thing that mattered to me at that time, was the colour of the bag, I ended up buying super heavy pink cabin-size bag, that weighed 3.5 kg and didn’t even have much space. I made the ultimate mistake taking this bag as hand luggage with 5kg allowance at Thomson flight and ended up throwing literally everything to the main suitcase.

So, if you’re choosing a hand luggage, check the following:

– Size of the bag (some airlines have smaller allowances the others, so it makes sense to buy a bag that would fit into all the airlines)
– The weight of the bag – try to choose the lighter options, as many airlines have weight limits for hand luggage. e.g. 8 kg
– The material of the bag – if you’re looking for a waterproof option, you might want to choose hard-case luggage, but be ready, that will be a bit heavier than the average textile cabin-size suitcase.

If you’re looking for a lightweight & affordable option, you might want to check out the Rolling Duffel by Bric’s this bag out.

The more expensive version would be the Etherius carry-on by Victorinox – it’s lightweight, but at the same time very durable.

Don’t forget to check the Carry On’s Guy table on hand baggage limits around the world.

How to choose good checked-in baggage?

With the checked baggage, you must follow pretty much the same principles as with cabin-size luggage.
It shouldn’t be too heavy, otherwise, you’ll end up having 19 kg instead of 23 kg baggage allowance. It should be even more solid and well-made because unlike hand luggage, it will travel on its own and encounter the staff, that will throw it quite heavily. Every time I see the bags arriving on the baggage claim upon arrival, I see some completely wrecked suitcases.

All that you need to choose is the size of your bag (average, big or very big) and material – polycarbonate or textile. You can look for great high-quality checked-in luggage at Kaehler website – www.worldtraveler.com.

Summary – how to choose good luggage for travelling

What I’ve also learnt from travelling to 57+ countries – you need to invest in a good suitcase, otherwise you might end up buying a new one very soon or in the worst-case scenario, end up without your things at all (if your cheap suitcase collapses during your travels – it happens sometimes in the airports, when the staff throws the bags to the baggage claim from too far away.

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Please note, that this is a collaborated post.