The Tortuga Backpacks' Travel Hacking Blog

11 Easy Ways to Pack Less

Fred Perrotta — Thu, 27 Dec 2012 13:50:34 +0000

Many travelers have the noble intention of packing less but most find it difficult, if not impossible.

Have you found yourself in this scenario? You lay out everything you want to bring on your trip. Then you try to fit it into your luggage. No dice.

Breaking away from what you think you need is tough. “Pack less” isn’t actionable enough advice.

Below are 11 easy-to-implement tips to pare down your packing list.

1. Get Rid of Half

When preparing to travel, lay out all your clothes and all your money. Then take half the clothes and twice the money.

This advice sounds like a copout, but it’s actually helpful.

Sometimes the simplest, most obvious solution is the best one.

I find this advice especially helpful when packing more than one of an item like t-shirts, socks, or underwear. You can usually get by with fewer of these redundant items. Plus, if you follow the next bullet point, no one will notice that you’ve worn the same shirt three times.

2. Wear Plain Clothes

Packing light means keeping your color palette simple. All of your clothes should be basic colors and interchangeable.

You should be able to turn 3 shirts and 3 pairs of pants into 9 outfits, not 3.

Dressing in neutral colors, while not exciting, will give you more total outfit combinations and require less effort to plan.

If you’ll miss wearing bright colors and patterns, use accessories as your “flair.” When not in use, they’ll take up much less room in your bag than a bedazzled shirt or zebra-print dress.

3. Dress in Layers, Not Bulk

If you’ve ever packed away your winter wardrobe, you know that sweaters are space-eaters.

Don’t pack bulky items for cold-weather trips. Pack clothes that you can layer.

Instead of a heavy sweater, pack a t-shirt, long-sleeved shirt, and a thin cardigan or sweater. Collectively, they’ll take up as much (or less) space as the thick sweater, but you’ll have a much more flexible wardrobe.

4. Buy Quick-Dry Fabrics

Quick-dry fabrics can be hand-washed and hung to dry overnight, meaning you can carry fewer items since you won’t need to carry enough to get you between 1-2 week laundry cycles.

ExOfficio and other performance apparel companies make moisture-wicking, quick-dry versions of every item of clothing you might pack.

Underwear and socks are the most beneficial since you wouldn’t wear either again without washing them. I hope. Plus, most performance apparel is fairly ugly so you won’t mind relegating it out of sight.

If you aren’t sweating profusely, most pants and shirts can be worn more than once without being washed or becoming smelly.

5. Don’t Buy Clothes Just for the Trip

You could easily fill your bag with a whole new wardrobe of travel clothes from Magellan’s or TravelSmith. Those clothes may have lots of nifty features, but, if you don’t wear them at home, you won’t want to wear them on the road.

With limited space in your bag, you can’t afford to carry something you won’t wear. Plus, if you wore all technical gear, you’d probably look like a jackass.

Instead, pack your normal clothes. You’ll feel more comfortable and look better.

6. Even on Extended Trips, Pack for Two Weeks

Traveling for a month? A year? No matter.

Pack as if you were traveling for two weeks. You’ll have to do laundry by then anyway.

Many travelers make the mistake of imagining everything they wear or use in a year then trying to fit that into a backpack.

Don’t create your packing list based on your entire trip. Break it into a smaller chunk: two weeks.

Earlier, I mentioned that 3 shirts and 3 pairs of pants should work out to 9 outfits. That’s already over a week’s worth of clothing.

Special props to Anil at foXnoMad whose post put this idea into concrete terms for me.

7. Keep Your Shoes on Your Feet

Many people pack their shoes first. Then, even before packing anything else, they realize they’re already low on space. Here’s an easy fix: don’t pack your shoes.

Bulky shoes should be worn, not packed.

Wear your sneakers or boots onto your flight. If you need another pair of shoes, bring flip flops, sandals, or flats in your bag. They can be packed without sacrificing much space.

8. Use Packing Accessories

Compression straps in a bag are great, but packing cubes and stuff sacks can help you further maximize your space.

Packing cubes are great for organization but also offer some compression.

Stuff sacks are less organized but great at squeezing the air out of your clothes to condense them down. Be warned: they’ll probably come out extremely wrinkled.

9. Don’t Pack Anything Cheap

Whether it be toiletries or accessories, if it costs less than $10, buy it at your destination.

If you’re flexible on brands, you can easily forego any liquids in your bag (saving you time and hassle at airport security) and just buy them at your destination. In many countries, you’ll actually save money.

The trip to the grocery or drug store can even be a fun little adventure.

If you don’t speak the language, ask an employee for help. Please don’t poison yourself in the interest of packing light.

10. No Toiletry Gadgets

Ladies, no bathroom appliances.

Guys, no electric shaver. Use a disposable razor, like a real man.

Remember, these gizmos are for beauty, not hygiene. You don’t NEED them.

Some electronics are inevitable, like a cellphone or, if you’ll be working, a computer. A good rule of thumb is if you use it in the bathrom, you can leave it at home. A Kindle can be an exception.

11. Buy a Smaller Bag

Here’s another tip that should be obvious.

Clothes have a mysterious way of expanding to fill the amount of space in your bag. If you have a 35L bag, you suddenly become a minimalist, but, if you buy an 80L bag, you’ll pack your entire closet.

Give yourself constraints. They’re surprisingly useful.

How do you cut down your packing list when it balloons out of control? Share your tips in the comments.

(Photo: Noël Zia Lee)

11 Easy Ways to Pack Less appeared first on The Tortuga Backpacks' Travel Hacking Blog.

Airbnb Was Booked. Here’s the Site that Saved Me. Twice.

Fred Perrotta — Thu, 29 Nov 2012 12:12:02 +0000

All we needed was a 10-person mansion in Napa Valley for a weekend. On short notice. Preferably with a hot tub.

We were traveling for a wedding, so our dates were definitely not flexible. Oh, and there was a big wine tasting event that weekend so hotels and Airbnb had been booked for weeks, if not months.

Luckily, I’d encountered this problem before, six months earlier. I already knew about an Airbnb alternative that doesn’t get as much publicity but would save me in a tight spot.

The Problem with Airbnb

First off, let’s all agree that Airbnb is awesome. They’ve got great inventory (from cheap mattresses to entire islands), gorgeous photos, and a beautiful user interface.

However, being this awesome has brought Airbnb a lot of press and, consequently, renters. Therein lies the problem. Airbnb is now the #1 or #1A option for many travelers.

While they have plenty of supply for most occasions, demand surges for holiday weekends and special events. If you don’t book way in advance, you might be left scrambling to find a reasonably-priced place to stay.

If Airbnb is booked up, hotels probably are too. Or they’ve increased their prices enough to be unaffordable.

I’ve run into this problem twice this year: for the aforementioned wedding in Napa and for Coachella.

Both had fixed dates and a lot of competition for accommodations.

What’s a budget-minded traveler to do? Stay home?

Hell no.

VRBO to the Rescue

When accommodations are scarce, VRBO is my new first choice. It’s not as pretty or as well known, but it works.

As popular as Airbnb may seem to tech-loving travelers, it’s not the only game in town. Especially from the owner’s perspective.

VRBO, or Vacation Rentals by Owner, has been in business for over 15 years and is now owned by HomeAway, one of the biggest names in online vacation rentals.

For us renters, VRBO and HomeAway are fairly similar, both to each other and to Airbnb. The biggest difference is that HomeAway and VRBO focus on vacation or second-home rentals. The property owners typically use the homes themselves for less than half of the year.

On Airbnb, you’ll find a greater variety of properties (like a room or an apartment). Sometimes the owner will still be living there while you’re in the guest room. Because of this flexibility, you’ll find cheaper accommodations on Airbnb, especially for 1-2 people.

VRBO and other vacation home rental sites are ideal for larger groups of 4 or more. The bigger your group, the cooler properties you can afford.

Our group of 10 stayed in a “compound” with a pool, hot tub, and freaking bocce court in Napa. For Coachella, we booked a 3-bedroom house right in Indio. Yes, it also had a pool. Is this a recurring theme?

Other Airbnb Competitors

The accommodations market is huge. With new models like Airbnb and HotelTonight, you’ll find plenty of legit competitors and “me too” copycats.

Aside from VRBO and Airbnb, you have plenty of other options when availability is scarce.

Couchsurfing will certainly beat everyone else on price: it’s free. The downside, of course, is that you only get a couch.

If you’re looking for sites with Airbnb-like inventory (rooms and flats), check out Roomorama, 9Flats, and Wimdu.

When traveling outside of the US, you can also search for listings on local sites. You can find plenty of options based on your destination in these Quora threads:

What are other rental websites besides Airbnb and Roomorama?
Who is Airbnb’s biggest competition?

Have you used Airbnb or one of the vacation rental sites? Let us know which one you recommend in the comments.

(Photo: VRBO)

Airbnb Was Booked. Here’s the Site that Saved Me. Twice. appeared first on The Tortuga Backpacks' Travel Hacking Blog.

How to Stay Dry While Traveling

Fred Perrotta — Thu, 15 Nov 2012 20:17:54 +0000

On the walk back from dinner, it started to rain. We ducked under an overhang to wait it out.

Ten minutes later, it was still raining. Harder than before.

Now the winding, narrow streets of Old Town Prague were flooded.

Oh well, we’ll just rough it. Run through the ankle-deep water until we can get back to our hostel. Then I can take a hot shower and hang my clothes to dry.

Great plan except that, after running a half dozen blocks, we realized we were lost. And out of breath. And still wet.

After a series of trial and errors sprints through alleyways, we finally got our bearings and made it back indoors. Completely waterlogged.

As travelers, we encounter every kind of weather from sweltering heat to freezing cold to torrential downpours. Sometimes on the same day.

Packing light won’t allow us to bring ideal gear for every one of these situations. Yet, walking around in wet socks is super gross.

Pareto’s Law says that in a given situation, 80% of the effects result from 20% of the causes. In this article, we’ll outline the 10% of gear that can provide 90% of your rain protection.

If you’re in a hurry, scroll to the bottom for our TL;DR Packing List.

Quick-Dry Gear

Let’s assume that your destination will definitely be getting rain. For example, a trip to London.

If you’re going to be getting wet anyway, take advantage of quick-dry clothing so that you can dry faster. My favorite brand is ExOfficio but most performance apparel brands offer quick-drying fabrics.

Regular readers already know about my dedication to ExOfficio underwear, but quick-dry fabrics are used for shirts, pants, and outerwear too.

Most of these fabrics, if handled correctly, can dry overnight, if not faster.

Having one water-resistant pullover that can dry quickly will get you through most rainy days. For heavier downpours, you’ll need a rain jacket. We’ll get to those in the next section.

Rain really tests my loyalty to jeans. Quick-dry pants are a hideous atrocity, but jeans take foorrreeevvvveeerrrrr to dry. A conundrum.

What’s your solution? Rubber pants? Waders? Let us know in the comments.

Rain Jacket

Light packers know to avoid specialized clothing in favor of multipurpose tools. Rain jackets aren’t warm enough to be beneficial in the cold relegating them to rain duty only.

However, if you’re expecting to face a lot of rain, you can still bring a jacket or shell on your trip.

Here’s why: if you’re wearing it most days, it’s not a specialized tool. Secondly, you can buy one that folds up really freaking small. Try packing a fleece jacket into a pocket like in this picture.

I use a Patagonia Torrentshell Jacket. Patagonia even offers used gear through their Common Threads program if you’re looking for a cheaper jacket. Any reputable brand will suffice.

If you’re on an extended trip that includes a rainy leg, pick up a cheap rain jacket at your destination and pay it forward to another traveler when you move on.

Travel Towel

Carrying a travel towel probably sounds like a bit of an indulgence. If you’re staying in hostels, it’s not. If you’re staying in hotels, skip to the next section.

Since many hostels charge for towels, you can save money by bringing your own. A good travel towel will also fold up as small as your rain jacket and dry as fast as your quick-drying clothes.

If you need your quick-dry clothing to dry in a few hours instead of overnight, here’s a trick: Wring the item, let’s say a shirt, as dry as possible with your hands. Then lay it flat on your travel towel. Roll the towel up as tightly as you can to get even more water out of your shirt. Finally, hang both up to dry.

Water-Resistant Bag

We’ve covered how to keep yourself and the clothes on your back dry. But what about the rest of your gear?

Make sure to buy a bag that’s water-resistant. This is usually enough protection.

You don’t NEED a waterproof bag. They’re more expensive and provide extraneous protection that you don’t need unless you expect to be standing in the rain for hours or submerged underwater.

Save the cash and buy a nylon bag that’s water-resistant. Most product descriptions don’t address this issue, so be sure to ask before buying your bag.

Once you buy one, you can discreetly test it in the shower like Scott Gilbertson of Vagabonding.com did. Just be careful not to ruin it in case you need to return it “unused.”

If you already have a bag, or are otherwise worried about exposure to the rain, you can buy a rain cover on Amazon or at REI. A rain cover is basically a big shower cap for your bag. They’re sized by volume, so make sure to get one that will fit your bag. You should be able to find one for less than $30.

Dry Bags

Are you expecting a lot of wet clothes? Will you be swimming a lot during your trip?

Pick up a small dry bag to prevent your wet clothes from ruining the rest of your stuff.

Dry bags are really designed for hikers who don’t have the same resources at their disposal as travelers. You’ll have more opportunities to hang your stuff to dry or even use a clothes dryer. Just remember to dry your clothes ASAP to prevent them from getting musty.

I once forgot a pair of wet boardshorts in a dry bag for several months. They did not smell okay. I had to throw them out immediately to prevent triggering my gag reflex.

Dry bags can also double as packing cubes, so you’re not wasting space on them if you don’t have any wet clothes.

You can pick up a dry bag for on Amazon for less than $20.

Do you have any experience with dry bags? Have a preferred brand? Let us know in the comments.

Shoes

Frequent downpours and the resulting flooding and mud can ruin most shoes.

If you’re heading to a rainy climate, wear waterproof boots or flip flops. Anything in between will get ruined.

Good boots should be able to keep your feet and socks dry. Unfortunately, good boots can also be very expensive.

Alternatively, you could concede that you’re going to get wet and wear flip flops or sandals. Yes, your feel will get wet, but you won’t ruin any shoes and can dry your feet once you get indoors. You brought a travel towel, remember?

Umbrella… Just Kidding

Please don’t waste space packing an umbrella, even if you’ll need it. Pick up a cheap one at your destination. If you know rain is in the forecast, buy it before the showers hit and vendors double their prices. Market dynamics are a bitch.

After you leave, pass your umbrella on to the next person. Unless it’s already been turned inside out. If the rain’s that bad, an umbrella will be unusable anyway.

TL;DR Packing List

How do YOU stay dry when traveling? Let us know in the comments.

(Photo: VinothChandar)

How to Stay Dry While Traveling appeared first on The Tortuga Backpacks' Travel Hacking Blog.

6 Must-Follow Travel Hackers

Fred Perrotta — Thu, 08 Nov 2012 15:00:11 +0000

If you’re not a “travel hacker,” you might be paying too much for flights, carrying the wrong gear, and missing out on readily-available freebies.

We all want to save money, but airlines and hotels are using complicated computer algorithms and multi-million dollar revenue optimization systems against us.

Luckily, you can learn travel hacking from the experts. Online. For free.

Below are six travel hackers you should be following. Subscribe to their blogs and follow them on Twitter. Follow their advice and you’ll be the person who always gets the best seat on the plane.

The Points Guy: Frequent Flyer Miles & Rewards

While working as a recruiter for an investment bank, Brian Kelly learned how to make the most of frequent flyer miles and credit card points by traveling over 125,000 miles per year. Starting in 2011, he began sharing his knowledge full time on his website, The Points Guy.

Brian can teach you which rewards programs to join, which credit cards are best for what, and how to rack up extra points for damn near anything, including shopping online and liking Facebook pages.

@ThePointsGuy

Brian’s tricks are exactly what most people are referring to when they talk about travel hacking. But there’s more to it than just outwitting the airlines…

Nomadic Matt: The Ultimate Travel Blogger

Matt Kepnes, aka Nomadic Matt, has been traveling around the world since 2006. In that time, he’s become one of the most prolific and respected travel bloggers. If you’re a new or aspiring blogger, emulate Matt.

He didn’t become the king of travel blogging by putting out mediocre advice. His posts consistently kick ass.

While he doesn’t write exclusively about travel hacking, he’s still an authority on the subject and has produced some classic posts.

Matt’s Ultimate Travel Hacking Guide is practically a reference book on how to hack your trip: from flights, to accommodations, to food. It was even reposted by Lifehacker. You’ll want to bookmark or Evernote his post for future reference.

@NomadicMatt

TripHackr: Tips for Techies

TripHackr is a relatively new addition to my feed reader but has quickly become a favorite because of its focus on using technology to improve travel.

Clint, the head traveler of TripHackr, frequently posts apps, gadgets, and tips geared toward the technologically-inclined. For example, his suggestion of the Belkin mini surge protector went directly onto my Amazon Wish List.

If you’re not a gadget geek, you’ll still find plenty of great travel tips on TripHackr. If you’re a techie like us, you’ll subscribe to the site without hesitating.

@TripHackr

Location180: For Digital Nomads

If you want to fund your travels with something other than blogging, read Sean Ogle’s Location180.

Sean has blogged about his journey to becoming a lifestyle entrepreneur and offers enough guidance to get you started down the same path.

Oh, and he runs his businesses from Thailand. Do you want to own a business and/or live in paradise? Sean can help.

@SeanOgle

The Art of Non-Conformity: Inspiration & Travel Hacking

Chris Guillebeau’s blog and first book, both brilliantly titled The Art of Non-Conformity, are more inspirational than tactical. If that’s all you know of Chris’s work, you might be surprised to find him on this list.

He’s done a lot more than just (a ton of) writing. He’s also created a suite of products for aspiring travel hackers.

Frequent Flyer Master and the Travel Hacking Cartel both outline Chris’s tactics for racking up frequent flyer miles, often without flying or using credit cards.

Both products come with a guarantee. The Travel Hacking Cartel even promises that you’ll “earn at least four free plane tickets for every year you remain a member.” Now there’s some value.

@ChrisGuillebeau

Fluent in 3 Months: Language Hacking

Travel Hacking isn’t just about saving money. If you want to win over the locals or plan to emigrate permanently, you’ll need to speak the language.

Benny Lewis is the ultimate language hacker. At 21, Benny only spoke his native English. Today, he’s fluent in 10 languages and is in the process of learning another.

He believes that the best way to learn a language is… drumroll please… to speak it!

Don’t wait until you’re “ready” to start having conversations with native speakers. Do it from day one.

Of course you still need to learn basic grammar and study common vocabulary. With Benny’s system, you should be reasonably conversant in a new language in 2-3 months.

@IrishPolyglot

If you want to see Benny show off, check out this video of him speaking eight different languages.

Following the advice of these six travel hackers, you can earn free flights, use technology to improve your travels, master a new language, and create a business to fund your new lifestyle. Every aspect of travel: hacked.

Which other travel hackers should we be following?

6 Must-Follow Travel Hackers appeared first on The Tortuga Backpacks' Travel Hacking Blog.

How to Crowdsource Your Next Trip

Fred Perrotta — Thu, 01 Nov 2012 12:30:19 +0000

Three travel startups recently teamed up to issue a challenge to travel hackers. Their people-powered trip planning contest asked contestants to design a two-week trip including flights, accommodations, and activities for under $3,000/person.

The winning trips looked amazing.

The good news is that you can use each of these travel sites yourself to create your own dream trip.

Crowdsourcing is the practice of obtaining services from a distributed group of people, often via the internet, rather than from traditional suppliers.

Turning to people, rather than corporations, for your travel planning can save you money and help you find unique accommodations and activities that you couldn’t experience otherwise.

Ready to give it a try? Here’s your guide to crowdsourcing your next trip.

Crowdsource Flights

Flights are unique when it comes to crowdsourcing. Not many people have private jets that you can rent. If you do have cash to burn, check out NetJets.

The rest of us can crowdsource our flight search. Flightfox is a flight search marketplace that brings together travelers looking for flights and flight hackers who can save them money.

First, submit your preferred itinerary including locations, dates, and preferences. Then set the finder’s fee, the cash award for the expert who finds the best flight for you. Your contest will last 1-3 days. The final step is to choose a winner and book the flights they suggested.

Unless you’re an accomplished flight hacker with a stockpile of frequent flyer miles, Flightfox’s experts can probably save you money. They know the tricks. They know how to use points effectively, how to negotiate complex routes, and when to fly smaller, local airlines.

Flightfox is ideal for “flexible flyers and complex trips.”

If you’re planning a multi-month, multistop trip across a few continents, you can save significant amounts of money by turning over your flight booking to Flightfox’s network.

Just ask this guy. He saved $2,000 on a flight by paying a $39 finder’s fee.

Where has @flightfox been all my life? Just saved almost $2k on a round trip to Cape Town for a $39 search investment. #happywiththat

— Chris Maclean (@cmaclean) October 17, 2012

Crowdsource Accommodations

Despite their high price tags, hotels are often in unideal locations. In San Francisco, where I live, the big hotel chains are clustered downtown amongst a shopping district clogged with tourists. Hardly a good way to immerse yourself in a new city and find the hidden local gems.

Crowdsourcing your accommodations with Airbnb or Couchsurfing can help you find a better location while saving money.

Even with all of the amazing properties on Airbnb, you’ll probably end up in a pretty normal apartment or house, not a mansion. Nothing wrong with that. The real advantage is that you can find places in the heart of a city’s hippest neighborhood or in the country outside of the busy city center.

If you luck out and get a great host, you’ll end up with a binder of recommendations or even a local guide to show you around his favorite spots.

When we booked a weekend retreat to California’s central coast, our awesome hosts left us a book of suggestions. We followed them to a cheap happy hour spot (tacos! cervesas!) and a delicious dinner on an outdoor patio. Thanks, Brian.

Couchsurfing will save you even more money. Because it’s free.

Your accommodations (a couch) might not be as upscale, but you’ll likely be more immersed in the local culture. Being a gracious host is an important part of how the couchsurfing community maintains its high standards.

Have you ever used Airbnb or Couchsurfing to find a place to stay? Share your experiences in the comments.

Crowdsource Things to Do

Now you have a way to get there and a place to stay. Being a cultural explorer, you’ll also want some cool stuff to do.

Guidebooks are fine for the big tourist spots and landmarks. No shame in checking them off the list. But good luck using a guidebook to find a cool restaurant or more offbeat attractions and experiences.

Luckily, the crowdsourcing phenomenon has come to “experiences” too. Vayable and Gidsy are the leading marketplaces for activities. Both sites take the stale guided tour concept and turn it over to the locals.

In my experience, guided tours are lousy. You pay $50-100 to ride around in a shitty van spending twenty minutes at each spot and getting a watered down view of the place you’re visiting. To hell with that.

Instead of following the usual tourist routes, do something unique with a local. On Vayable, you can see the Louvre in an hour or take a guided street food tour of East London. Gidsy offers Argentinian wine tasting in Buenos Aires and an Istanbul photo tour led by a former National Geographic photographer.

Don’t those sound a hell of a lot better than the guided tours you’ve been on?

They’re cheaper too. Plus, the money stays in the locals’ hands instead of going to a company that’s too cheap to buy a non-smelly bus.

Have you tried any of the services above? Willing to test one out on your next trip? Let us know in the comments.

(Photo: crsan – christianholmer.com)

How to Crowdsource Your Next Trip appeared first on The Tortuga Backpacks' Travel Hacking Blog.

Tortuga Backpacks V2: The Second Prototype

Fred Perrotta — Fri, 10 Aug 2012 15:29:08 +0000

We’ve spent the summer hard at work on our first product update. Right now, we’re on the second prototype of the new version of our travel backpack. We’ve settled on most of the major design issues and are now working out the final kinks with our designers and factory.

Last weekend, we held the first ever Tortuga Design Summit in beautiful Pismo Beach, CA. (Yes, that’s a joke. We’re a 2-man show.) Below are a handful of pictures we took at the house we rented on Airbnb.

Check them out and let us know what you think in the comments.

In situ, fully packed

Using the side compression strap to hold a towel

What’s that in the distance? The future of Tortuga.

Front view, fully packed

Side view, fully packed but unzipped

Packed and upright but partially unzipped

Top handle and new, dedicated laptop pocket

Flat with front cover unzipped

New, clamshell opening allows access to everything at once

Tortuga Backpacks V2: The Second Prototype appeared first on The Tortuga Backpacks' Travel Hacking Blog.

3 Weeks in London + 1 Wedding, All in One Bag

Fred Perrotta — Thu, 31 May 2012 12:00:18 +0000

By the time you read this, I’ll just be touching down in London for a three week trip. On my way home to San Francisco at the end of June, I’ll be stopping on the east coast for a beach weekend slash wedding.

Why am I telling you this?

To show you how much you can pack in a carry on bag. To show that you can pack clothes for any amount of time and any situation all in one bag. And, at least partially, to show that we practice what we preach: CARRY ON ONLY.

Below is my full packing list, all of which fit into my carry-on sized Tortuga. There’s not much room to spare, but it did all fit.

This trip was tough to pack for because I won’t be spending my time crashing in hostels, sightseeing, and hanging out. I’ll be working. Hence, I needed some respectable shirts (read: collars, buttons) in addition to my usual array of t-shirts.

I’ll also have the clothes on my back, a messenger bag with my laptop, and my trusty travel vest.

Fred’s Packing List for London

1 suit
1 pair of jeans
2 pairs of shorts, 1 pair of boardshorts
4 button down shirts
5 t-shirts
2 polo shirts
5 pairs of socks
2 belts
9 pairs of underwear
1 pair of flip flops
1 pair of dress shoes
1 tie

The dress shoes are the biggest space eaters. If I didn’t need them, I’d have a lot more breathing room in the bag.

The lesson is: you can pack a hell of a lot in just a carry on bag.

What’s the widest-ranging trip you’ve ever packed for in a single bag? Let us know in the comments.

3 Weeks in London + 1 Wedding, All in One Bag appeared first on The Tortuga Backpacks' Travel Hacking Blog.

A Sneak Peek at Tortuga Backpacks V2

Fred Perrotta — Tue, 29 May 2012 15:06:17 +0000

We’ve had a crazy last few weeks here at Tortuga HQ. Today we have a sneak preview of a forthcoming product update, the announcement of our sweepstakes winner, and some great press to share.

On with it then…

Tortuga Backpacks V2

If you follow us on Facebook or Twitter, you may already know that we’re in the process of redesigning our flagship product.

Why are we making changes less than a year after launching?

First is appearance. While we love the Tortuga, she is a bit…well, fugly. The logo ended up larger than we intended, and the shape was dumbed down to a rectangle during a long, arduous prototyping process. This is the biggest complaint we get from prospective customers.

The new bag will have a drastically smaller logo and a more streamlined shape.

Tortuga V2's less boxy shape

Secondly, we’re using this opportunity to improve some of the Tortuga’s features. While we’re confident in the current feature set, we have found a few areas for improvement. Here’s what we’re planning:

Make the entire front of the bag zip open for better accessibility
Move the laptop sleeve to the outside of the main compartment for easier access
Add a large, exterior pocket on the front of the bag
Improve the waist belt pockets so that they can hold more
Add interior and exterior compression straps
Increase padding in the shoulder straps for extra comfort

Organization pockets along the inside of the cover

Interior compression straps, flaps, and pockets (still in testing)

Please note that these are very early pictures of initial samples from new factories. We still have a lot of work ahead of us before these are ready.

If you have any questions about the bag or want to make suggestions, leave them in the comments or email me (fred AT tortuga backpacks DOT COM). I’d love to hear what you think.

To follow along with the product development process and find out when the new bags are ready, sign up for updates.

Summer Sweepstakes Winner

Congratulations to Agnes C., the winner a boatload of awesome travel gear in our Summer Sweepstakes.

Thanks again to everyone who entered and to our awesome sponsors Clothing Arts, Clever Travel Companion, Gobi Gear, Vapur, and Cocoon.

What do you want to win in the next giveaway? Let us know in the comments.

Entrepreneur’s 100 Brilliant Companies 2012

We’re honored to have been named one of Entrepreneur’s 100 Brilliant Companies for 2012. Entrepreneur chose us as one of ten companies in the travel category alongside two of our favorites: WeHostels and Hotel Tonight.

Thanks to all of you for supporting us through our first ten months as a company. We have a lot of great stuff planned for the future and hope you’ll join us for the ride.

A Sneak Peek at Tortuga Backpacks V2 appeared first on The Tortuga Backpacks' Travel Hacking Blog.

Win Our Favorite Travel Gear in the Tortuga Summer Sweepstakes

Tortuga Backpacks — Mon, 14 May 2012 15:20:16 +0000

Update: This sweepstakes is now closed. Congratulations to our winner, Agnes C. To be notified about future sweepstakes, sign up for updates.

The summer travel season is almost upon us. We want to make sure you have all the gear you need to make your next trip unforgettable, so we’re giving it away.

Just follow the directions below to enter the sweepstakes.

Enter the contest using the widget in the next section. A bit further down the page, you can see all of the awesome prizes from us and our amazing sponsors: Clothing Arts, Clever Travel Companion, Gobi Gear, Vapur, and Cocoon Innovations. The total prize is valued at nearly $400. Good luck!

How to Enter

If you’re reading this post in your email or RSS reader, click here for the full post with the entry widget.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

The Prizes

The Ultimate Travel Backpack

The Tortuga Travel Backpack 45 is the ultimate travel backpack and our flagship product.

Pick-Pocket Proof Pants

Clothing Arts’ P^cubed Travel Pants offer the functionality and security of four money belts. Their pants and shorts have loads of hidden and expandable pockets with zippers and buttons for added security. You can win one pair of shorts or pants in your choice of style.

Clever Travel Companion Underwear

Hide your money, credit cards, and passport in the most secure of locations: your underwear! Clever Travel Companion’s pickpocket-proof underwear have specially-designed, built-in pockets to keep your valuables safe. You can win one pair of underwear in your choice of style and color.

Hoboroll

The Hoboroll is a reinvented compression sack that’s more organized and can double as a stand-alone bag. We love clever packing innovations like this!

Vapur

The Vapur Anti-Bottle is a collapsible, clip-able alternative to bulky Nalgene bottles and overkill Camelbak systems. For a more detailed breakdown, check out Jeremy’s review.

Grid-It

A Grid-It is a great tool for organizing all of your electronics, so you don’t have to dig through your bag to find them.

Thank you to all of our sponsors and good luck to all of the entrants. If you win, where’s your next trip?

The Fine Print

Sweepstakes entries will be accepted from Monday, May 14, 2012 at 12:01am EST until Friday, May 25, 2012 at 11:59pm EST. The winner will be chosen at random through the Rafflecopter contest widget and notified by Saturday, May 26, 2012. The winner will have seven (7) days to respond and claim his or her prize. If he/she do not respond within seven (7) days, he/she forfeits the prize, and a new winner will be chosen. The sweepstakes is only open to entrants with a valid US postal address.

Facebook is in no way affiliated with this sweepstakes.

Win Our Favorite Travel Gear in the Tortuga Summer Sweepstakes appeared first on The Tortuga Backpacks' Travel Hacking Blog.

Why the Vapur Anti-Bottle is the Best Water Bottle I’ve Ever Used

Jeremy Michael Cohen — Fri, 20 Apr 2012 18:13:07 +0000

Fred’s at Coachella right now, so odds are he’s very thirsty. That got me thinking about hydration and water bottles, in general, and how most of the solutions to one of the most basic human problems of quenching thirst suck.

Most water bottles are about as elegant as a concrete block. They’re hard, they take up a lot of space, they start to stink after a while and make water taste bad, thereby inherently making them bad at doing their sole job. I imagine most cavemen had the exact same problems with their water-carrying devices.

Can’t we find a better solution?

The Problem With Hard Water Bottles

I’ve tried to use Nalgene-style water bottles a few times in my life, but I’ve always been excessively disappointed from a utility standpoint alone. Let’s be honest: they’re less than ideal to drink from. The size of the opening is simply too big for a bottle that large. Unless I’m enjoying the great outdoors on a hot day, I have zero interest in pouring water all over my chest.

Hard water bottles take up a fixed amount of space. When they’re empty, they don’t become any smaller. Should we take it for granted that a water bottle should take up a fixed amount of volume in our precious luggage space?

And what to do with the bottle when it’s not being stored in luggage but you’re not actually drinking? Am I supposed to carry it in my hand? And, yes, I know I can clip a water bottle to my belt with a carabiner. But who doesn’t hate that thump-thump-thump with every step against their leg?

There have also been safety concerns with Nalgene. I don’t know if the concerns have any merit, but I choose to stay away.

Lower quality plastic water bottles are even worse than Nalgene. They oftentimes start to stink and make water taste bad after just a few uses. I have no patience for products that are bad at doing the only job they’re designed to do.

CamelBak and Their Brethren: Close but No Cigar

CamelBaks and other similar “hydration systems” are a great solution in some settings. They’re clearly designed for outdoor activities like biking and hiking, and I think they’re perfect for those activities.

If I were walking across Europe, I’d definitely want a CamelBak. Couldn’t beat it.

But not for most traveling or in every day life. In my humble opinion, CamelBaks are less than ideal for most people that are traveling. Drinking tubes seem best suited for babies and astronauts. I don’t want to be sipping from a CamelBak at the Louvre.

As For Disposable Water Bottles… Duh

For honesty’s sake, I’ll admit that I’m not obsessed with environmentalism. But I am very conscientious of it. I certainly don’t want to go out of my way to hurt the planet.

And, frankly, I feel that chronic use of disposable plastic water bottles is about as bad as it gets. I have no problem with occasionally buying a bottle of water, but no one should be drinking and throwing away five a day. Yet plenty of people do. It’s too much garbage to solve a simple problem.

More importantly, tap water is one of the greatest resources of the modern world. It’s close to free, it’s perfectly safe, and it tastes just as good as most bottled water.

Simply put, it’s wasteful and expensive to drink bottled water. I don’t like it. I don’t endorse. It’s a primitive, inelegant solution.

The Best Solution I’ve Found

When I was in Park City for Sundance this year, I got a .5 L Vapur Anti-Bottle in a swag bag. I was immediately taken by it. First, it’s pretty to look it. My bottle is an attractive purple with a slightly abstract white print of the map of the world. It’s understated and nice.

But even aside from the design, I realized it was a genius solution as soon as I saw it. Just looking at it, it’s obvious what the Vapur does and how it works. And because you get really thirsty in the dry, mountain air, I was extra-eager to give it a try.

Vapur’s Anti-Bottle is roughly 8.5 inches long with a 2-inch hard plastic drinking spout at one end. When fully extended, it’s less than a foot long and exactly as wide as an iPhone is long. When it’s empty and free of air, you can fold it to about the size of a small wallet. The body of the bottle is a durable, flexible plastic. There’s a small carabiner at the top of the Anti-Bottle near the spout to allow you to hang the bottle where you want.

I loved the Vapur. Its small mouth was great to drink from (similar to the mouth of a disposable plastic bottle). When it was full, I used it’s carabiner to hang it from the leather belt around my jeans. When it was empty, I stored it in a pocket on my NorthFace shell, and I never knew it was there. I’ve had no problem with its durability.

The damn thing just worked. I was jealous I hadn’t thought of it.

I’d compare the Vapur Anti-Bottle to the magnetic iPad Smart Cover. The solution is so very simple, obvious, and elegant that only a genius could think of it.

The Vapur also cleans easily with soap and water. Mine doesn’t smell bad yet. I still drink from it.

However, since a Vapur is only $10, they’re also readily replaceable. It seems reasonable that someone who consistently uses a Vapur would go through about two per year. That’s a whole a hell of a lot better than throwing out a disposable plastic water bottle every day.

Vapur also has a new Anti-Bottle which I haven’t yet tried. It’s called the Element, and it’s slightly larger and designed to be more durable. Best of all, it’s only $2 more expensive. Outdoor enthusiasts and those traveling to very dry climates might want to give the Element a try.

The Vapur Anti-Bottle is the best solution for how to carry water on the road that I’ve ever found. They’ve managed to elegantly solve a problem humans have had since we were cavemen. For that, I thank and applaud Vapur.

Have you tried the Vapur Anti-Bottle? Do you prefer a different solution to the water bottle problem? Let us know below.

(Photo: mape_s)

Why the Vapur Anti-Bottle is the Best Water Bottle I’ve Ever Used appeared first on The Tortuga Backpacks' Travel Hacking Blog.