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Osprey Sojourn Review – Our Trusty Luggage!

His packing list. Photo: Eeva Routio
Steve’s ‘family of bags’. The Osprey in the background. Photo: Eeva Routio.

Osprey Sojourn 80L/28″ Wheeled Convertible Luggage

Choosing the right type of luggage for a long trip is quite an art form. You need to think about the size, type, weight and features of the bag. And the cost too – good luggage is not cheap. But investing in a good travel bag is SO important. You don’t want to be that traveler dragging your luggage – complete with sparks and accompanying sound effects – with a missing wheel through the airport. Or the one trying to carry a backpack with a broken strap. What you do want is a bag that’s durable, easy to maneuver around and light – qualities generally not found in cheap bags. Your luggage also needs to fit the type of trip you’re planning to undertake.

We were initially thinking about getting backpacks for our 15-month trip. But since we knew we had to pack quite a decent amount of stuff (see my Tips for Packing: How and What to Pack for Long-term Travel post for all the stuff I have in my bag!) we started leaning towards wheeled luggage as the idea of carrying around heavy backpacks wasn’t that appealing. We did a fair bit of research online, and Osprey seemed to be one of the brands that kept popping up in many travel blogs. We then discovered their wheeled convertible luggage and were intrigued – a wheeled luggage that could be converted into a backpack, as needed? It seemed perfect for us and after seeing the bag ‘in person’ we went ahead and got two identical Osprey Sojourn 80L/28″ bags (in hindsight we probably could have gone for different colors…).

Osprey Sojourn Review

Osprey Sojourn Review. Photo: Eeva Routio.This trip has so far taken us to cities, beaches, jungles, mountains and pretty much everything in between, on all sorts of terrain. There’s been lots of unpacking and repacking throughout the trip, as well as plenty of wheeling around the luggage. But the one thing we actually have not used is the backpack conversion… There have been a couple of times when we were thinking about whipping out the backpack straps, however messing around with your bag in the middle of a street in Paris just [Read more…]

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Traveling On A Budget: 10 Tips For Keeping Your Travel Expenses On Track

Traveling on a budget. Photo: Eeva Routio.
Keep those piggies smiling! Photo: Eeva Routio.

Smart choices and tracking your expenses will make traveling on a budget easier

“Expenses tracking, oh yes please tell me more!” – said no one ever. I’m the first to admit there’s nothing exciting or sexy about budgets or tracking your expenses. But what IS exciting is that by dedicating a bit of time and effort to your travel budget you can not only ensure that you can keep traveling, but also stay on the road for longer.

Keeping track of your travel expenses can actually be done very quickly and easily. Something that takes maybe a minute or two each day can save a whole lot of hassle later and ensure you can stick to your travel plan and budget. There are also many small things you can do on the road to help you stretch your dollar and your travel budget further. Small adjustments to your travel spending habits can have a big impact long term.

By managing our travel budget carefully and understanding the impact our travel choices make on our budget, we’re actually tracking well under our initial travel budget. This encouraged us [Read more…]

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Pacsafe Metrosafe 300 GII Anti-theft Laptop Bag – Review

Choosing a laptop bag has always been a challenge to me. Previous bags I have owned have either been too big, too small, or didn’t protect the contents well. For an extended trip like ours, my laptop bag of choice is the Pacsafe Metrosafe 300 GII anti-theft laptop bag. It’s a spacious laptop bag that comes with clever anti-theft and other handy features. I chose this bag as I needed something that could fit all my tech gadgets, keep them safe and was easily accessible for going through security or just generally throughout the day.

I chose the Pacsafe laptop bag for our trip because I wanted the security features of the locking zippered compartments, the mesh lining, as well something comfortable to carry. I also didn’t want to worry about someone doing a slash and grab on the bag or pulling it from my arm. The locking shoulder strap and the slashguard wire mesh built into the bag help prevent any of those types of theft. The bag comes with RFID blocking material in [Read more…]

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Tips for Packing: How and What to Pack for Long-term Travel

nHow and what to pack for a gap year or long-term travel? What a dilemma! In this post I give some tips for packing and a detailed account of how and what I packed for our career break traveling through Europe, North America, Central America and South East Asia. I hope my packing tips and steps will get you started and organised, and also give you some idea about what (not) to pack.

You would think that it would be kind of fun, packing, as you’re all excited about getting ready for your trip, but really – most of the time it’s a pain. Just as every person is unique, every trip is unique as are the contents of your suitcase/backpack/wheeled luggage. There is no ‘one packing list fits all’ solution. Steve and I read some great travel blog posts and watched many a Youtube packing tip video before starting to pack for our trip. Even with all those great [Read more…]

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© Steven Owen, Eeva Routio and Coconut Compass, 2015. Unauthorized use and/or duplication of this material without express and written permission from this blog’s author and/or owner is strictly prohibited. Excerpts and links may be used, provided that full and clear credit is given to Steven Owen, Eeva Routio and Coconut Compass with appropriate and specific direction to the original content.