Carry-On Only Travel: Eagle Creek Load Warrior International vs. Rick Steve's Rolling Backpack

When Kenyon and I officially booked our Europe travel, we made the decision that we would plan our trip as carry-on only.  What is carry-on only travel?  Well, it means you pack all your clothing, accessories, toiletries, etc. you will need for your entire vacation in one small suitcase.  We also learned that when you travel abroad that your suitcase has to be even smaller because airline limitations are smaller than domestic travel.  We will also have to make sure our bags don’t get to heavy as there are stricter weight restrictions.

Knowing all this…I can see why I have always been such a lousy packer!  I tend to over-pack and that is never fun because then you are hauling around a big heavy suitcase your entire trip.  That is one more reason why we want to travel carry-on only so that we can get around much easier on planes, trains, cars, and boat! 

I did some practice packing before our New York/New England trip and was able to successfully travel carry-on for that trip, for my trip to Missouri, and both of our recent trips to Las Vegas.  We really like the carry-on system and will be no longer lugging large baggage with us unless a trip requires it. 

When we traveled to New York/New England, I bought a new carry-on bag by Eagle Creek.  It was their international size Load Warrior bag.  After our return, Kenyon found some Rick Steve’s carry-on bags that had both backpack straps and wheels.  In hopes we would find an all-in-one bag we would use for years to come, we made the purchase and used them on our recent trip to Las Vegas.  It worked pretty well and I prefer the Rick Steve’s bag to the Eagle Creek bag.  So, I thought I would do a comparison review.

The Eagle Creek International Load Warrior measures about the same but lighter.  The Load Warrior measures 20.25 x 14 x 8 and is 4 lbs 9 oz.

The Rick Steve’s Rolling Backpack is squarer in size and measures 20 x 14 x 7 (including wheels) and is 5 lbs 6 oz.

There are some notable differences between the two bags.

• The Rick Steve’s bag is squarer and the zipper opens up all the way.  This made for easier packing because I could access the entire inside of the suitcase easier, including the top zip pocket.
   

  

   
  

  

   
  

  

  
  
•   The Eagle Creek bag is more rounded and the zipper doesn’t open up all the way, making packing harder.  I felt like I had to stuff items into the top inside zipper pocket when I packed for New York/New England.
   
• The Rick Steve’s bag has more outside pockets, giving you more room to store items.  With the size restrictions on international travel, I won’t plan to stuff these pockets full.  But, it is nice to have my 3-1-1 products ready to pull out of my bag.  The top outside pocket also runs the whole length of the bag, which would make storing a rain coat or map/books easier to access.
   
• The Rick Steve’s bag has the benefit of both wheels and backpack straps.  The straps tuck away nicely when not in use.  I know I am not the type of traveler that enjoys lugging my bag on my back so I prefer a wheeled bag.  While in Vegas, we tried to be mindful of times when we could spare our shoulder/back by using the wheels and then pull the backpack straps out when we needed to move through crowds.  The wheels were not uncomfortable either when the bag was on my back.

  

  
  
   

  

   
  

  

  
  
• The Rick Steve’s bag has a pocket for your water bottle, however, depending on the bottle size, mine fell out in the car and I almost left the Boise Airport without it.  The Eagle Creek bag has more outer straps that made attaching my water bottle easy with a carabineer clip.
   
• The Rick Steve’s bad has a longer and more comfortable wheel pull handle than the Eagle Creek bag.
   
• Lastly, both bags have about the same amount of easy-to-use handles in all the right places.  This makes for getting your bag up/down from the overhead compartment on a plane really easy. 
   

  

   
  

  

  
  

I think you can tell which bag I prefer overall…the Rick Steve’s bag. 

So far, this bag appears to be better suited in my quest for carry-on only travel.  I will note that I backed less clothes for our recent Vegas trip than I did for New York/New England.  And, I will be packing more for Europe.  I’m going to have to practice several times since I don’t have a real trip planned before Europe with the amount of clothes I plan to bring.  I am going to use the Rick Steve’s bag for the rest of my upcoming small trips between now and September.

Kenyon and I really like the flexibility of carry-on only travel and will continue to back this way on future vacations.  If you want to learn more about carry-on travel/packing, Google has a lot of fun tips/tricks/videos.