Who here travels with checked-in bags and why?

Ding, ding, ding. We have a winner!

WOW! 39 days! That's amazing! Thumbs up! Longest time for me was a 20-day tour...

Always carry-on only. Makes bumps and connecting between tight flights easier. My wife and I often carry camping gear and enough clothes for 2+ weeks in a single carry-on each. Adding NZ weight limits or throwing in snorkel gear makes the packing process extra fun! We often carry clothing that dries fast so it can be washed in a lake or hotel sink.

People hike the Appalachian Trail every year with a lot less.

That is quite an impressive statistic.

I've been told that I will <emphatically> not </emphatically> be allowed to roll with carryon only for my mini rtw. That pretty much ruins the stats for 2011.

And who told you this?

The Charming +1 has determined that we will not be doing 28 days and two hemispheres out of carry on.

I always check one bag domestically for a trip more than 1 day and one or two bags overseas depending on the length of the trip. I like to buy things when I travel.

I don't. But unfortunately I always seem to travel a lot with someone who does.

A few lost bags will take care of that...

You couldn't find a laughing cat?

I'm pure lazy and can't be bothered to lug around suitcase in addition to laptop bag, which always seems to increase in weight.

I cut back on my laptop bag last fall. The bag I have now just barely has enough room for my laptop, ereader, mp3 player and travel wallet. Losing all the other crap that I was lugging around was liberating.

I downsized on laptop bag as well over the past year.
Bought a very light weight/small notebook and looking seriously at buying an Ipad, instead of using the notebook.

Right. A light laptop bag doesn't do much if you carry a massive 17" laptop.

My 12.1" laptop weighs about 3 lbs (1.5 kg) -- and I have no trouble opening the screen even in Y. I've been using this form factor since Toshiba introduced the Portege 7010CT way back in 1996, and I wouldn't want to travel with anything bigger. Mind you, I do have a big monitor both at home and at the office.

Since we're on the subject of laptops already, I'll chime in too. I have (and use) an 11" MacBook Air. Coming from somebody who's owned the Gen. 1 13" MBA, this guy is amazing!

It all depends on what your needs are. I pack a 17" beast since I benefit greatly from having 2 hard drives built into it; 1 for the host operating system and 1 for virtual machines. That said, most people can get away without 2 drives and then it boils down to any number of other factors. If I could get my work done efficiently with a <15" laptop, my shoulders and back would love me.

A 13" ThinkPad X301 would do it -- just pop out the DVD drive and slide in a second hard drive as a replacement. My niece has one, a very nice machine, and almost as light as my 12".

I've looked at that option as well as a USB 2.0 or eSata external hard drive. I've lugged an external hard drive around before and there's something about having another piece of equipment in my bag that is demoralizing.

Another factor, and maybe it's just me, is the size of the keyboard. I've thrown off the shackles of a mouse and trackpad years ago and now only work with the keyboard (using tools like Vim, ViEmu, Vi for Chrome, Autohotkey, etc). I also have a pretty large pair of meat hooks (complete with opposable thumbs contrary to what some would say). Combine those two things and keyboard size and key content become big concerns. I have a 13" HP and I constantly feel like my fingers are tied together when I'm using it.

Rather than sacrificing all these things that are important to me, I decided to purge the contents of my laptop bag. Like I said earlier, there are only 4-5 things in it now and I pack no paperwork or office supplies in it. If I need anything more, it ends up in my carryon (like my NeatReceipts scanner). I'm definitely an edge case for how I use my machines and I really do believe that choosing one is like buying clothes.

I can't argue with that!

I find it goes in cycles, purge down to a small laptop bag, then find end up with too much paper and accessories, IPad, IPod, USB drives... it goes on and then it swells up. Purge down and its small again.

I don't travel for business so I never check in bags. All of the places that I have ever been have laundry arrangements. And do laundry so much better than I.

I almost never check a bag, unless I have bought something while away which can't be carried on. This is true for business and pleasure and makes things much easier in case of irrops, trying to standby etc.

The iPad has been a real game changing device for me on short travel (1-4 days) as it packs well. That said anything over that time and I need my netbook as at one point there's some flash website i need to access on the web.

I was going to commit a cardinal sin of checking in on an upcoming trip (ski clothing) but with the baggage handlers going on strike in YYZ and YUL, i'll nix that brilliant idea. anyone know how to fit ski pants into a carry on?