What kind of luggage do you use?

[mickey&missy]

DH and I are going to get some much needed new luggage before this trip. We are thinking of getting 2 of the Extra Large LL Bean Rolling Adventure Duffles. Soft-sided works best for our needs. We travel a lot by car to New England and PA. Being about to shove something in the trunk with all the other gear is important.

My fear is that the bag is 17"H x 34"W x 15"D, a total of 8,350 cubic inches. I'm concerned that it will easily go over 50 lbs.

Any thoughts?

[kakn7294]

None of our luggage matches - it's all just a bunch of pieces that we've either been given or have purchased for ourselves over the years. We have one larger piece (somewhere around 30+ inches) and it can easily go over 50 lbs. In Dec 2006, it ended up being 48.5 lbs at the SW scale in Orlando (problem is you can't tell how much they weigh at the resort to repack them!). This last time, I only packed it with lighter things like shoes (Crocs and flip-flops), swimsuits, and the costumes for the P&P party.

[Cinderelley]

DH wants to get some of the hard luggage, like we had when I was growing up. Do they even make those anymore? He said the soft ones we have get beat up too easily.

[DisneyDog]

We have hard case luggage. I think it's made by Samsonite. It's bright colors too, which is nice at baggage claim. We have two green ones and a bright yellow one.

I think soft luggage is better for car travel, but hard luggage is better for airplane checked baggage.

[BigRedDad]

My parents are off and traveling somewhere every other month: Europe, Caribbean, Hawaii, here/there/everywhere. Once they started traveling they learned one lesson: baggage handlers do not care about your bags. On top of that, the company responsible is protected on damages. You could have a brand new, first use bag that cost $200. They baggage handler can destroy it. By the time you get any reconciliation, it will only be for about 15% of the value. You are responsible for filing and fighting and they are responsible for delaying as long as possible.

The morale is that you should buy the cheapest, usable, disposable, bags you can find.

[thrillme]

Soft sided with wheels that pivot in all directions. Never realized how important swirly wheels were before.

Funny everytime somebody mentions luggage (especially QUALITY luggage) I think of the "luggage" from the movie Joe Versus the Volcano with Tom Hanks and Meg Ryan. Now THAT was a set of luggage!

[Taja]

I have three pieces of TravelPro that I use as the base for travel. A wheeled computer tote (can fit a change of clothes in it), a tote bag that fits on top of it and a 24" wheeled soft-side case. In bright RED! Love it! I can find it on the luggage carousel--particularly with my turquoise luggage tags! *LOL*

I've slowly been disposing of my older, larger, heavier luggage. I had three 30" cases--purchased one, the others were gifts--but they weighed almost 10 lbs. each. Easily over 50 lbs with very little in them! They are gone.

I still have two black wheeled cases--one is 22" and the other 20" that I use with my TravelPro when appropriate. And a few other odd pieces, which probably will be given to charity in the near future. In excellent condition, but don't really use them any more.

[vamaggie]

When we last went in Nov I had a large wheeled duffel that I used for myself, DS10 & DD4 (DH is always on his own! LOL). We also had a smaller (21" I think) wheeled case we also used. I made sure to weigh the big one before we left so it would not go over 50 lbs. We used the airline check in at the Poly on the return and I don't think they even weighed it (at least I did not see it). In regards to buying new stuff I would not spend too much if you do a lot of air travel--it can be brutal! Think about how much you usually pack for most of your trips and buy bags to accommodate that(bigger is not always better IMHO. We also usually throw a small, collapsible bag into ours in case we need an extra bag on the way home.

[goofiecrazy]

I have every size of the duffle bags from LL BEan and love them.My husband has one of them to and we use them every trip we go on.Mine go from the biggest all the way to the carry on plus the little bag that holds ur shampoo etc plus the little bag that will hold a hair dryer and its the size of a purse.I see the last few years they have the bigger ones on wheels and wonder why they didnt think of that earlier.Our last trip we had a little luggage cart with us and i just staped the big bag onto it and pulled along.Its so easy to spot our bags this way instead of all the black,red and dark blue suit cases..
Last trip down there at the airport while the bags were coming out a guy grab my little bag thinking it was his bag and i ran over to him saying thats my bag and he just looked at me till i said thats my Disney luggage tag hanging off of it.We ended up having the same little green duffle from LL bean..Its a good thing i had a tag on mine.NEver has happened be fore that someone else having the same color or bag..WE love our duffles..

[Cinderelley]

We have hard case luggage. I think it's made by Samsonite. It's bright colors too, which is nice at baggage claim. We have two green ones and a bright yellow one.

I think soft luggage is better for car travel, but hard luggage is better for airplane checked baggage.

Thanks for the info. l'll be sure to check Samsonite out! :thumbsup:

[faline]

In addition to weight, most airlines limit the overall size of your pieces of luggage. Please check airline regulations about the sizes allowed before you buy something that you find will be considered oversized luggage!

[MicMouse]

My husband is a baseball coach, so for our trip we borrowed a huge Louisville Slugger equipment bag from the school. It fit two full size car seats. We did a curbside check in for SW. We pulled the van to the curb, took the kids out and put the car seats in the bag right there. The sky cab person looked at us like we were nuts, but then said that was a pretty cool idea!

I'm thinking we are going to borrow that bag again. I could see us fitting two weeks worth of clothes in that monster!!