Our Best Carry-On and Personal Item Travel Bags

The best bags are small enough to be carried on, even if you check.

Over the years, we’ve lugged carry-on and personal item bags of many different shapes and sizes. It’s safe to say that over time, the carry-on luggage we use has gotten smaller and lighter and our packing more efficient. But we’ve sampled all sorts of bags, from roller bags and duffle bags, to backpacks, day packs, camera bags, computer backpacks, purses, and more. Here’s what we’re carrying now, plus some favorites that we grab and use regularly. All that said, here are our top picks for the best type of bag for frequent travelers.

Table of Contents

Primary Luggage Item

Tom’s Primary Bags

For the last two years, my primary carry-on has been the Cotopaxi Allpa 35L backpack. It’s the same capacity as the Eagle Creek roller bag I have been using for about 13 years, but instead of rolling, it’s a very light weight backpack and the right size to fit in the overhead bin. I’ve learned that keeping my hands free and not having something dragging behind me makes getting around airports, trains, and European cobblestone streets a lot easier. I love the internal organizational pockets scheme, too, although they don’t completely replace packing cubes. The spacious main compartment opens up completely so you can see everything you’ve packed right in front of you. There’s a small compartment on the top where I put my jacket and chargers easy access when on the move without having to open the pack all the way. It has a separate padded laptop sleeve. And the shoulder straps fold into the back compartment just in case you want to check the bag or just carry it by the side or top handles. There’s also a removable waist belt, if you’d like to keep the weight off your shoulders, but I’ve found I don’t need it for the short time I have to carry the bag.

Note: The good news is that Cotopaxi has recently updated this bag to add an exterior zipper pocket, with more interior organization pockets and a side water bottle pocket. These improvements make my recommended best travel backpack even better.

Buy the Cotopaxi backpack at Cotopaxi

Buy the Cotopaxi backpack at REI

Try the Cotopaxi backpack at Amazon

Eagle Creek Gear Warrior 22 Inch Carry-On. I’ve been also using this bag for about ten years. It’s the one I use when I’m traveling with my full camera gear. Carrying the camera backpack means I can’t take the Cotopaxi, so I roll this one instead. While it’s small enough to qualify as a carry-on, if I do have the bigger camera bag, this bag gets checked. And when we get where we’re going, it’s a great roller bag. It’s light and yet it’s damn near indestructible. It’s got reinforcement at all the edges. It’s made from a rip-stop material that’s light and strong. The wheels have survived being dragged over every surface from concrete to sand to gravel to cobblestones.

It has a few thoughtful touches I really like. It has long soft zipper pulls. There’s a small outside pocket that makes an easy stash place for all the stuff you can’t carry on, such as my little pocket knife, when I need to check the bag. It also has a zip up compartment that covers the retracted handle to protect it from the rough handling the airlines dish out. And it has handles top and bottom, on the side, and on the top. Whichever way you want to grab it, it’s convenient.

I also like that it comes in various colors. Mine is orange, which makes it easy to spot when it comes off the baggage carousel.

I once broke the zipper (because I was stupid and overfilled the bag, But Eagle Creek repaired it for free, because of their wall-to-wall lifetime guarantee. The repair shop man told me he thoroughly checked the entire bag and found nothing amiss. That’s durability.

Buy the Eagle Creek Gear Warrior 22 inch at REI

Buy the Eagle Creek Gear Warrior 22 inch at Amazon

The Eagle Creek Gear Warrior 30 inch is essentially the same bag as the 22 inch, but larger. I haven’t used it as much as the smaller one, because I haven’t had to carry the trekking poles for a while, and sometimes I can strap the camera tripod onto my camera bag and sweet talk security into letting me carry it on. When that doesn’t work, this is the one that fits the tripod and trekking poles and almost anything else. It’s doubtful it will ever be packed full – unless we’re taking a lot of cold weather gear to Antarctica – and even then there was still some room.

This larger bag can also be great on driving trips. It allows you to be a lot less picky about what you’re packing, because there’s so much more room. Take note, this bag definitely will not carry on a flight. This is definitely a checked bag.

Buy the Eagle Creek Gear Warrior 30 inch at Amazon

See my post on my ultralight packing list for men.

Kris’s Primary Bags

Kris has recently moved her older Eagle Creek bag back to the top of her carry-on baggage list, because it’s nearly perfect and by now it’s retro! Unfortunately, her exact bag – originally called the EC Adventure Carry-On – is no longer available. The current closest version now is this Eagle Creek 2-Wheeled International Carry-On. For Kris, the boxes it checks are: two very sturdy wheels, lightweight, expandable, and with interior and exterior pockets for shirts and jackets respectively. The original has a hard shell back with fabric front (Pilot Blue for Kris). Buckles on each side help compress the closed bag and also protect the zippers if the bag is expanded. This 21.5″ Eagle Creek is more stable on end than the shorter fatter version by Lite Gear she used to use. A keeper. If you are a 4-wheeler person, we suggest you look into Eagle Creek’s 22″ Tarmac Carry-On.

See Kris’s post on her ultralight packing list for women.

Personal Item or Backpack

Tom’s Personal Item Choices

The Timbuk2 Classic Messenger Bag in Extra Small is my everyday briefcase, and my usual personal-item carry-on bag. It is light and very durable. It has separate compartments for a laptop and a tablet, and the usual briefcase inside pockets for pens, notebooks, business cards, and other miscellany. The best idea, though, is an inside pocket that’s exactly passport size and inside mesh pockets for small items.

I also like the outside pocket that is just under the flap. That makes it very handy for dumping out the contents of my pockets as I go through airport security.

The Timbuk2 has an over-the-shoulder strap, which allows me to carry the bag either with the Cotopaxi backpack or the Eagle Creek roller. However, it does not have a back strap to slide over the telescoping handle of the roller bag when I want to carry it that way. I remedied that deficiency by getting the Cincha travel belt that does slide over the roller bag handle and – as the name suggests – cinches the Timbuk2 to the roller.

Buy the Timbuk2 messenger bag at Amazon

There are a million laptop backpacks out there, but I’ve recently become fond of is the very small Tomtoc laptop bag. It’s even smaller than the Timbuk2 bag. This small bag is really just designed for a laptop and its accessories. It has a separate well protected laptop compartment and side pockets that fit my Kindle, my notebook, my cell phone, my charger and cables, a couple of pens, my earbuds, and my keys. It’s really minimalist and I’ve now flown with it on a couple short domestic trips and I love it.

Buy the Tomtoc laptop bag at Amazon

See my posts on what I carry in my personal item bag and how to fly with only a personal item. (Hint: they’re not the same.)

Kris’s Personal Item Choices

This Litegear Mobile Pro backpack is Kris’s choice as her best personal item backpack. This compact backpack is great for a shorter frame, and it expands nicely to hold everything you might want in a carry-on, and them some. If it’s not terribly overloaded, it serves as an airline-approved “personal item,” fitting under the seat in front of you. It can be carried as a backpack or with a cross-body strap (but that would be silly), or hooked to the top or the front of her roller bag. The whole system can be carried on without breaking a sweat or alarming the gate agents. The pockets are great for access to all the little things you need on the fly. We like the bonus “apps,” too, including a mini flashlight and a thermal food container (which has already been lifted by a certain family member who continues to use it for baby bottles; also handy for meds requiring refrigeration.)

At minimum, Kris uses this bag for her laptop, electronics, medicine, eyewear, and inflight essentials. It’s pretty slim when zipped up. When expanded, it’s roomy enough to add camera gear, a change of clothes, a neck pillow, and –with a little re-configuring – the “purse” or day pack that needs to be combined if we’re flying carry-on only.

Buy the Litegear Moble Pro backpack at Amazon

Day Packs

Tom’s City Day Pack

For wandering around the city all day, I often repurpose my small Osprey cycling backpack, which can handle all the things I’ll typically need in a day. For city use, I’ll usually replace the hydration bladder with a separate water bottle, mostly because a bottle is a lot easier to refill than the bladder.

Kris’s Day Pack Choices

Kris just recently started using this Pacsafe Anti-Theft Convertible Backpack. Around town it can be used as a small purse or messenger bag. For long days on foot, or as food, water, guidebooks, and small purchases start filling the space, the pack can be converted to a backpack easily. We all know it’s better for our bodies to carry the weight on our backs versus over one shoulder. Kris likes the style and ability to look a little less like a nomad when entering a restaurant or museum. In reality, Pacsafe products are revered for their anti-theft features. Locking zipper pulls, cut-resistant straps, RFID blocking pockets are some of the security features.

Buy the Pacsafe Convertible bag at Pacsafe

Kris is also attached to her Fjallraven Kanken Mini Classic Backpack, which serves as both purse and day pack for all but the most active travel. She calls it her city bag as opposed to her hiking or biking pack. The fabric feels like a waxed canvas (it’s called Vinylon) and resists water and dirt. It takes on a nice patina with use. The secret ingredient is a foam pad which slides into an internal pocket. The pad serves both to keep sharp edges from poking into your back and, when removed, makes a great little seat for resting on damp ground.

The open side pockets will handle a very small water bottle, keys, or a phone, though it’s best to zip those items and your passport inside when need be. This little bag holds a lot – including half an office and the required airline reading, music, cleansers and lotions. But of course it requires swinging to the front and unzipping the main compartment to access your goods. Note: the lack of internal zipper pockets (there’s one on the outside) means it’s easiest to organize your stuff using assorted smaller pouches.

Buy the Fjallraven Kanken at Amazon