How to choose YOUR perfect personal item bag!

The most important luggage item you have to choose for travel is your personal item bag. But with so many options, how do you decide which one? Today we're going to go over the pros and cons of different styles of personal item bags from airline regulations to the comfort and convenience of each. And hopefully by the end of this video you'll know exactly what kind of bag you need for your next trip. Let's go. First, let's talk about the basics of picking the perfect personal item for your flight. And number one is making sure that your bag fits the airline's size and dimension regulations. You don't want to be that person that gets to the gate and has to frantically repack, unpack, rearrange everything, or worse, pay extra fees because your bag doesn't fit the airline regulations. You're going to also want to consider your own personal needs. Are you a light or minimalist packer or do you like to bring all the things just in case? You'll also want to consider the weight of the bag, especially if you have a long travel day with a couple of connections and a lot of moving around once you arrive at your destination. You don't want to be lugging around a bag that feels like it is filled with bricks. So you want to make sure that you can find something that is easy to carry and won't break your back or your shoulders, like I've had issues with mine. And with the minimal space that you are going to have under that seat in front of you, storage and organization are very important. So looking for bags that have the types of compartments and pockets that work for you and your airplane essentials is really important. For some of you that may mean a lot of different pockets and for others it can mean no pockets at all. We all have our own unique organization styles. No judgment here. Another thing to consider is the overall comfort of carrying the personal item bag. Is it more comfortable for you to have a bag that can distribute the weight across the torso like a backpack or is it more comfortable for you to carry something on just one shoulder like a tote bag or a purse? We're going to go over all of these elements with each style of personal item bag starting with what is probably the most minimalist one and that is a purse or even a crossbody bag. Let's start with the pros of using a purse as your personal item bag. Most likely you're not really going to be as concerned about the size regulations from your airline because it's small. Most purses are going to be smaller than what you would be allowed to have as your personal item bag. They're usually going to be fairly compact and you know also hopefully stylish and it's going to be super easy to access your airplane essentials. Most likely it's going to be lightweight and easy to carry especially if you use a crossbody bag like I am showing here. The cons of course are going to be that you have extremely limited space when you use your purse as a personal item. You will definitely have to edit down what you want to bring with you as your airplane essentials and it's obviously not a suitable choice for carrying larger items like a laptop or an iPad if those are something that you need to have or want to have on the plane to use while you are in flight. The purse is the perfect personal item for you if you are a traveler who has very minimal needs during your flight. In fact I thought I would show you what I would be able to fit in my crossbody bag if I were to use it as a personal item. Assuming everything else I need for my trip has been packed in a suitcase. You guys have seen this crossbody sling bag, fanny pack, whatever you want to call it multiple times in many videos and you know it's just basically got one big pocket in here and another little private pocket on the back. So in the private pocket in the back I am going to put my wallet and my passport back here so they are a little bit more protected. I am also going to put my reading glasses back there since they're kind of slim lined and could easily get lost in that other bigger pocket and I'm going to put my chapstick in that little pocket too. And then everything else is going to go in this big open pocket here including the most important thing for me on the plane which is my kindle. So I'll put the kindle in here. We are going to put my portable charger in here and this is one that has both the two cables the USB-C cable and the lightning cable for charging my phone but also charging my headphones which is the next thing I'm going to throw in there. I don't typically use my headphones when I'm on the plane but just in case I decide that between my headphones and my eye mask that I might want to listen to a meditation to help me fall asleep or something it would be nice to have them along. So I'm bringing those. I'm going to stick those in this big pocket up here too. My little pill holder. Actually I'm going to put the pill folder back here in the smaller pocket since again it's a little slim line and it might be harder to find in flight. So the few things we have left. We've got Kleenex. Always, always necessary. I've got my little baggie of wipes so that I can wipe down everything around me on the seat when I get on the plane and I have a little snack bar just in case I get hungry and I don't want to pay the ridiculous amount of the ridiculous amount of money for a snack on the plane and then lastly I have my phone and my water bottle. Now my water bottle I'll kind of slide in here right now but typically if I'm getting on the plane I've already filled up this water bottle in the airport before I get on the plane so I'd be carrying it separate from the purse most likely but we'll slide that in there just so you can see that it all fits and then my phone lastly. Again I'm probably going to have my phone out and in my pocket so that I can show my boarding pass on my phone when I get ready to board the plane but for this demonstration I am going to show how that does just fits right in that bucket. Now it's not super organized but it all fits in there and if you're pulling it up on your lap to get everything out while you are on the plane I mean it's not going to be that hard to do so so yeah there you go it all fits and you're ready to get on the plane and you have everything you need in just this one little bag. That is what packing minimally can look like. The purse is also a great option for people who do prioritize style and simplicity. If you're able to check a couple of bags and don't need to carry a lot of items with you on the plane I would say that this is probably a great option. If you are a first class or business class traveler and you know you're going to be fed and entertained for the entire flight and you have no need to bring any of your other suitcases or items with you on the plane a purse could be all that you need. The next step up from the purse is the tote. I consider a tote bag to be any bag that does not have backpack straps or wheels and is bigger than a normal size purse. A tote bag could have just two handles or it could have two handles and a crossbody strap. You know a little bit of leeway there. I think there are two main pros to using a tote bag. The first is the ease of access to all of your items. Usually you have one big main compartment where all your items will be packed and you can just open the bag up and easily look or feel for what you need. It is much easier to find things if I have a tote bag that does not have black or dark interior lining. The second pro is that generally your bags are going to be lighter because of the lack of extra pockets zippers and straps and for the most part tote bags are usually really streamlined and simple kind of bags. The first con to using a tote bag I think is pretty obvious and that is that it can be extremely uncomfortable to wear for long periods of time especially if you have any weight in there. Now if you have a tote bag that has a trolley strap and you are traveling with a rolling carry-on suitcase this is probably not going to be an issue for you. However if you have to gate check that roll away or roller carry-on suitcase and then you have an additional layover you are going to be stuck carrying that tote bag around on just one shoulder. The second con is the lack of organization available in most tote bags. Now I would consider the Nomad Lane personal item bag a tote bag style and although I do not have one they do have a significant amount of pockets and organization available but generally most tote bags are going to be limited to only one or two extra small pockets and usually there's no padded sleeve area for your iPad or laptop to go into. The tote bag is the perfect personal item for you as a traveler if you prefer a large open space for packing and less pockets. I also think the tote is probably second easiest for accessing your flight essentials while you are sitting in your seat especially in a tight economy seat. If you are someone who is traveling carry-on only with a rolling suitcase and you tend to need fewer airplane essentials a tote bag is a fantastic option especially if it's a style that can be used as an everyday carry once you're at your destination. Moving on to the third style and probably the most popular the backpack. Personally I think the biggest pro of the backpack is the balanced weight distribution. Being able to wear it across my back and not have the straps constantly sliding off of my shoulder makes the biggest difference especially for long travel days with layovers. In addition to it being better ergonomically wearing the backpack keeps your hands free to be able to do other things like film YouTube videos or even to deal with tickets or passports or IDs or whatever you need to be handing to somebody. And the last pro although for some this might be a con is that most backpacks come with multiple compartments for extreme organization. Usually one of those compartments is padded for your laptop or iPad. The first con for the backpack is you will definitely need to research the dimensions allowed on the airline and the aircraft you are flying. Backpacks come in a huge assortment of sizes and you are going to want to make sure that you are not trying to fly with something that is bigger than allowed. And the second con is that due to all of the extra pockets and storage areas in the backpack once it is packed it can become very bulky which can make it challenging to wear and possibly get under the seat in front of you. I have definitely had to rearrange things to get a backpack under a seat before and yeah it can be a little challenging. The third con is it can be more challenging to pull things out during a flight from your backpack especially in those narrow economy seats or in my case trying to remember which compartment I've put whatever I'm looking for into. Never can remember where things are. The backpack is the perfect personal item for you as a traveler if you need to carry a laptop or bigger gadgets with you on the plane. It's also the best personal item for you if you are trying to be fully carry-on only kind of gal and you need that extra space in the backpack to bring more clothes or other items you are going to want during your trip. It's also a great choice for those of you who have a more casual sense of style kind of like I do. And the last style of personal item bag is the under seat roller bag. The obvious big pro for the under seat roller bag is that you can roll it not carry it. This is great if you have back issues or challenges with shoulder mobility especially trying to get a backpack on and off which is something I've struggled with. The under seat roller bag is basically a shrunk down version of a soft-sided suitcase. It is easier to pack and since you are not carrying it you can pack heavier items in the style of personal item bag. And the structure of the bag will help protect items that are inside the suitcase better than the other three styles. However like with the backpack you will definitely need to check your airline's requirements as the under seat roller bag can be a little larger than many of the personal item size allowances. And because the bag is very structured there's not a lot of ability to smush the bag into the measuring bin if it comes to that at the gate. If those gate agents call you out it's kind of hard to squeeze it into that bin. In addition because of the firm structure it is extremely difficult if not downright impossible to maneuver the under seat roller bag to get under the seat in front of you especially if you are sitting in an economy window seat. There's just not enough room between the seat and the seat back to turn and manipulate the bag to get it under the seat and get that down in front of you. I think the under seat roller bag is the perfect personal item for you as a traveler if you really can't carry anything on your back or shoulder for a travel day or you have some heavier items that you need to bring with you in your personal item like a CPAP machine or camera lenses or something like that. In this video over here I did a whole review on what it was like traveling with the under seat roller bag so you can get a much more in-depth idea on if you should try one out. Thank you so much for watching. I hope you have safe and wonderful travels.