Travel Tuesdays: the Aeronaut’s first outing
A couple of weeks ago I nipped off to Chicago for a long weekend of art and, as it turned out, excellent food and drink. It also happened to be my first chance to take my Tom Bihn Aeronaut on the road. I’ve been blithering about this bag since long before I bought it, so it seems only fair that now that I’ve actually traveled with it, I should review it.
I did not use a shoulder strap on the Aeronaut. I carried it by the handle when I was getting on and off the plane, and with the backpack straps the rest of the time. I gather that Tom Bihn used to offer an “Aeronaut Breve” model with the backpack straps positioned especially for shorter people (“breve” is French for “short”). I wish I could have bought that version, since at 5’2″, I found the backpack straps on my Aeronaut weren’t quite in the right place for the waist strap to support the bag’s weight properly. My lower back was really bothering me on the last day of my trip, but to be fair, I’m not sure I can blame that on the bag, since I also spent the previous 3 days standing and walking a lot more than usual.
In my 7 years or so of traveling with the big black backpack, I had developed a packing system to suit it: baggie of liquid toiletries in one specific pocket where it was easy to remove for airport security, cosmetic kit in a spot where I could get at it in a restroom for quick touch-ups in transit, shoes here, phone charger there, and so forth. New luggage means developing a new system for stowing what I need in a way that makes sense. With three zippered external pockets and one zippered open pocket, plus two end compartments, I had plenty of space to stash things that didn’t need to go in the main compartment. I just needed to figure out what went where. I’m going to need another trip or two to refine the new system, but the smallest external zipper pocket — which is on the top of the bag when it’s oriented as a backpack — seems to be the most sensible spot for that baggie of liquids. I allocated the other two zipper pockets thus: on one side, phone charger, spare camera battery, and camera battery charger, and on the other side, things I might want on my flight, like a paperback, a lightweight shawl, and an emergency baggie of trail mix (snacks on a plane!).
The open external pocket faces up in suitcase/duffel mode, but in backpack mode, it not only opens to the side, but is on the bottom of the bag. That means it can’t be used to carry anything slippery, like a magazine or water bottle — the contents just get jounced out as you walk. That’s a shame, because I’m likely to be toting water or a magazine on most trips — and there’s not much else I might risk storing there. However, it worked perfectly on this trip to hold a small umbrella, which is never a bad thing to have handy. (See also “Reasons why I have bought a cheap umbrella on each of my last 3 trips to New York.”)
I put a pair of shoes in one end compartment, and socks and underwear in the other. It just made sense.
The only thing about the Aeronaut that absolutely does not work for me is the mesh pocket on the inside of the flap to the main compartment. The zipper of the pocket is near the fold of the flap, not the edge. As a result, when you open the flap to access the main compartment, everything in the mesh pocket settles near the fold, at the top of the pocket rather than at its bottom. I started out using it to store earplugs, eyemask, bandaids, tampons, a small container of ibuprofen, and other small items that I like to have with me when I travel just in case I need them. I quickly discovered that I needed to take extra care to fold the flap completely back and shake all its contents back away from the opening. Otherwise, unzipping that mesh pocket immediately dumped everything inside, willy-nilly, into the main compartment. Not practical! Not convenient! On my next trip, I’m going to experiment with storing all those small things in a wee mesh packing cube and using the pocket inside the flap for something larger and bulkier. Meanwhile, Tom Bihn, if you’re listening, on future versions of the Aeronaut, you might want to consider moving the opening of that flap pocket to the edge of the flap, near the zipper, rather than toward the fold.
Other than these admittedly minor quibbles, the Aeronaut performed admirably. It’s small enough to be easy to carry, and it fits overhead and underseat with room to spare, and yet it’s still capacious. Even though I pack light, I still put in a pair of jeans, 4 pairs of socks, 4 sets of underthings, 3 t-shirts, a cardigan, a pullover sweater, and a pair of sneakers (not including the trousers, t-shirt, cardigan, and tall boots I traveled in). When I boarded the plane, I also squashed my trenchcoat with wool liner into the bag’s main compartment. Nonetheless, I still had room for another couple of outfits if I’d wanted to overpack. I loved the handles on both ends of the bag, which made pulling it in and out of the overhead bin a piece of cake. The convertible backpack straps tuck away or deploy in seconds, and both they and the waist strap are easy to adjust.
Overall, I’d say that I’m looking forward to further refining my packing habits to suit my new bag, because my new bag clearly suits me. I just need a few more trips so we can get used to each other.
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