Travel Luggage

Our trip will involve a lot of hopping on and off airplanes and trains, often making connections in a hurry. So we're packing lean and mean with one carry-on suitcase and small backpack per person.

European airlines tend to have tighter restrictions on the dimensions of luggage permitted as carry-on. Our choice is the Quince Small Carry-On Suitcase. Available in seven colors and measuring only 22"x14.4"x10.8", this suitcase should not be a problem to store in the overhead bins. It gets great reviews, is inexpensive, and has smooth 360° wheels that spin easily.

We have not used them yet but will use a couple of trips to test it out and see if it lives up to our expectations.

Each airline has its own restrictions on how large a carry-on suitcase can be. Briggs & Riley have a wonderful table detailing major airlines' maximum carry-on dimensions. While the Quince does slightly exceed some airline's specifications, we've travelled internationally with carry-on bags even slightly larger and have not encountered any issues. So, there's a slight risk of being asked to gate check our bag, but we like our chances.

We're also going with the Quince Eco Compression Packing Cubes. Again, we are yet to try them under real-world conditions but one attribute that seems to set them apart from traditional packing cubes is that they compress by zippers instead of by squeezing out air.

The suitcase runs about $140; the packing cubes, around $60.