We have owned seven travel bags between us. This is the one we kept.

When you live in a van, your day bag is the thing you carry everywhere that is not the van itself. It goes into cities, onto walking trails, into train stations and petrol stations and ancient ruins. It needs to be light enough to wear all day, organised enough to find your passport at 5am in a dark van, and small enough to fit under an aeroplane seat when you occasionally use aeroplanes.

What We Love

The organisational system inside the main compartment is the best we have used. The laptop compartment is padded and sits against your back. The front panel opens completely flat like a clamshell suitcase, which sounds trivial until you are searching for your sunglasses at Turkish customs at 2am. The magnetic water bottle pocket on the hip allows one-handed access while walking — something almost no bag does correctly. The ballistic nylon exterior has survived two years of daily use without a tear.

The Verdict

Expensive. Worth it. We have both owned cheaper bags that failed earlier and cost more in total. The Travel Pack 3 is a considered, quality piece of equipment. If you are going to buy one bag and own it for five years, this is the one.