Simply The Best - Thule Crossover 38L Rolling Carry-On

Good Ski Guide reviews one of Thule's luggage bags.

In this lark I see a lot of airports, a lot of check-ins and a lot of baggage carousels. Usually I try to see the baggage carousel out of the corner of my eye as I walk to the landside of the airport to pick up a car and dodge people waiting for their luggage, or standing in line to report a lost case.

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These days if at all possible I do 'carry on only'. In addition to the customary shoes 'n' shorts I have to carry electronics; tablets and laptops, in fact a complete PC World of fragile gizmos, none of which fare well if bumped and bounced. A cabin legal bag is the must have for any regular traveler.

Now you can go to your local market and buy a wheelie bag for around £15 and fill it to bursting. I did.. it traveled from Newcastle to London. After the London to Dubai leg the zips were straining and it wheeled like a bad supermarket trolley. In Seoul it exploded fortunately in these troubled times not literally and deposited the contents on the floor of arrivals.

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Don't do it. Buy the best. I now am the proud owner of a Thule 38L crossover bag and it is fantastic. Firstly it is exactly, precisely the correct, approved size for carry on. I know this because the nice lady from the cheap airline asked me to fit it into their carry on template and it fitted, just, Swiss watch precise, so tightly you couldn't fit a sheet of paper in the remaining gap. Perfect, no wasted space.

I was about to say that it's built to a high standard, then stopped myself. It's not built, it's engineered. The wheels are cast alloy with high quality bearings, it rolls straight and smooth. It's balanced standing still and easy to pick up and carry. There's a protected, reinforced side pocked for your sunglasses, which will also take that clear zip lock bag with your shampoo.

Thule released that a bag like this is going to punished so the tough fabric is reinforced with rails. It's also equipped with crush proof safe zones so your tablet and laptop are protected when a fellow passenger decides to throw something else into the overhead locker.

Because carry on bags are inevitably packed to bursting the zips are super strong and have pulls which are easy to grab when you're desperately trying to close it, looking like a character in a 1970s BBC sitcom.

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If you're in a real hurry, or need both hands free, the bag can morph from wheels to backpack. Unzip a secret pocket, connect the heavily padded straps and you've a rucksack so you can sprint to catch a train.

This is, withouy question the best engineered, most thoughtfully designed, complete item of luggage I have ever used.

View Thule Crossover 38L Rolling Carry-On

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