On my trip to Shreveport in February, I had two and a half hours between my flights in Memphis, but because of very strong head winds that time was cut down to 30 minutes. However I’d had to gate check my 19” suitcase because I was flying on a very small regional jet, the kind with no head room and tiny overhead bins. I stood on the jet way in Memphis and heard the final call for my flight while I waited for that blasted gate checked bag. I ended up being stuck at the Memphis airport for four hours waiting on the next flight to Shreveport.
That was the nudge I needed to move down in luggage size and ditch the wheels. There are good reasons for having wheels and if you are going to check your bag anyway, then it doesn’t matter if your suitcase has wheels or not. But I rarely check bags—in fact, I think the last time I actually did check a bag was last July on the way back from my first business trip out to Hawaii and I just didn’t want to mess with it. Otherwise I use carry on sized bags.
Anyway.
I got a new tote which you can see
here. I had a nice 20% off discount coupon and the shipping was free so I think I got a good deal. Briggs & Riley has the best warranty in suitcases I’ve ever seen because it even includes damage by the airlines with no time limit.
And here are two pictures of my packing process for my trip to Georgia last week.
To my utter surprise and delight, I didn’t need to take a second tote for my things. I did take my Booq backpack with my netbook and so on in it, but that was it. Talk about freeing--everything fit in the dinky overhead bins or under the seat in front of me.
I think I can do this for a longer trip, too. I’ll almost certainly have a chance to try later this month. It looks like I’ll be in Arkansas, Wyoming and Texas in April.
