Travel Vlogging is a relatively new phenomena. With the rise in popularity of YouTube and Instagram, we have seen the ascendance of many Internet stars in many different and varied genres. One of our favorite genres is the Travel Vlog.
If you are like us, we love to travel but when we can't get away, you can always get your fix of the exotic in 10 or 15 minute chunks from one of the many Travel Vloggers flying around the world with cameras (and sometimes drones) in hand.
Many of these travellers travel full-time and often refer to themselves as digital nomads. Yes, you read that right, many Travel Vloggers make enough income from the Internet to support a lifestyle that includes full-time travel. All they need is an Internet connection and power to charge their devices and they are in business - literally.
We really admire these folks. We get to see them at their best, doing fun and exciting things, always full of local knowledge and saying just the right thing. But there is a hidden side that we do not see.
A Travel Vlogger's social channels are their lifeblood and a lot of work goes into maintaining them. It involves shooting, editing, uploading and dealing with a needy public, making deals with brands, planning and budgeting the next location (or two) and all from a tiny table in a coffee shop or in airport waiting area with their laptops perched on their knees. It is a lot of really hard work and the best of the best make it look effortless.
We all know how much work goes into travel but imagine having to then deal with a full-time production schedule and coordination. I couldn't do it. Thankfully there are many that can and do.
Luggage is our passion and once in a while, while watching a Travel Vlog video, you will see a quick glimpse of what kind of luggage these digital nomads use and it got us to thinking... What kind of luggage do Travel Vloggers use?
So we contacted a bunch of our favorite Travel Vloggers and requested interviews. These interviews were short and to the point asking them about their favorite luggage,
What's on This Page:
1) How we chose the Travel Vloggers
2) Travel Vlogger or Food Vlogger?
3) Chasing a Plate
4) Daneger and Stacey
5) Flying The Nest
6) Hey Nadine
7) Kara and Nate
8) Lost Leblanc
9) Luke Martin (Chopstick Travel)
10) The Endless Adventure
11) Travel Man (Richard Ayoade)
12) Vagabrothers
13) What did we learn?
Don't see your favorites on the list? We reached out to 15 of our favorite Travel Vloggers but unfortunately, not all replied. I guess they were busy travelling and working. Luckily, the ones that didn't get back to us have left plenty of evidence about their luggage preferences in both their videos and websites.
In all honesty, we really do follow all of the Travel Vloggers that we feature on this page. They may not have millions of followers (um, but some do) but we hope that they will someday!
Out of the thousands of Travel Vlogs out there, we decided to stick just to our favorite Vloggers. We hope that you enjoy them too and consider following their channels.
Many travel vloggers include food tours and local food reviews as part of their regular episodes but there is a small community of vloggers who specialize in just discussing food. The culinary travel blog is a sub niche of travel vlogging.
You may notice that a couple of our featured vlogs are street food only vlogs. This didn't matter to us as these guys travel just as steadily as the other more mainstream travel vloggers. (And they had some excellent luggage suggestions) It's not so much about the content of a vlog as it is the frequency of travel we were looking at for this article...
YouTube: youtube.com/chasingaplate
Instagram: @chasingaplate
Website: chasingaplate.com
Vlog type: Street Food Vlog
Thomas and Sheena are a couple originally from New Zealand. They started out as a food blog way back in 2013 but in 2016, they packed their lives up and began travelling full-time.
They specialize in local street food and their channel provides a glimpse into some of the more exotic street food that can be found around the world. They are very culturally respectful and always try to communicate in the local language.
They were lovely to communicate with and happily provided us with what luggage they are currently travelling with.
Sheena told us that they use two Kathmandu Hybrid Trolley backpacks as their checked-in luggage and another two Lowepro Fastpack BP 250 AW II as carry-ons for all their expensive camera gear and computers. These seem like pretty good choices.
Kathmandu is a company based in Australia so people in other countries may not be familiar with the name - yet. "Wheel it or wear it." That is Kathmandu's slogan for this versatile combination hybrid backpack or 2-wheel trolly bag. You never know when you are going to need to carry your bags any distance. This bag is great for any type of travel and, it is very light for its size so you can pack more into it without going over airline weight restrictions.
Dimensions, Weight & Volume:
79cm x 40cm x 34cm (31" x 15.7" x 13.4") | 3.42kg (7.5 lbs) | 107 L
Available in: Black, Mid Grey and Russet
Details:
This backpack was designed for travel vloggers. The Lowepro Fastpack 250 camera backpack is the latest in this now famous line of Lowepro packs. This backpack is purpose-built to safely transport a 35mm camera, 2 or 3 lenses, 15" laptop (plus a tablet), large format smartphone, headphones and all of your other travel items. It features Lowepro's weather proof AW Cover™ and CradleFit™ storage technology.
Dimensions, Weight & Volume:
31cm x 26cm x 50cm (12" x 10" x 20") | 1.8kg (4 lbs) | 39.3 L
Available in: Black
Details:
YouTube: youtube.com/channel/UCmnpMr4Md5CgZ5MdlghTYqA
Instagram: @danegerandstacey
Website: danegerandstacey.com
Facebook: facebook.com/danegerandstacey
Vlog type: Travel and food
Daneger and Stacey are a couple of full-time travellers and content creators from New Zealand. They have been traveling since 2016 and have currently published over 340 episodes to their travel vlog.
They are one of our favorite travel vlogs and if you don't already follow them we highly suggest that you do, Their channel is a down to earth mix of travel tips and food tours and great scenery. Plus, they also offer some truly spectacular drone footage.
Dane and Stacey have also written a guide to how to travel full time (with out the hype). It provides an unvarnished look into how to support yourself while travelling full-time and it is available through their website.
Dane was kind enough to share what luggage they have used in the past as well as what they are using today. They used to travel with an old fabric suitcase and an Away carry-on but recently they have upgraded their suitcases to a mix of Away medium and full size suitcases. They also use a Douchebags backpack and a Wandrd camera backpack as carry-ons. We are pretty sure that we have seen Stacey sporting an Away Daypack in videos too.
Away luggage is a socially conscious company that hopes they can save waste by selling you the last suitcase that you will ever own. They are also involved in social projects like Peace Direct and World Central Kitchen. They keep prices low by selling their products direct to market - avoiding any middleman mark-up. Their suitcases are gaining in popularity and we have seen many of our vloggers wheeling them around the world.
The Away carry-on spinner suitcase seems to be popular with our travel vloggers (most of them own at least one) that we had to give Away Luggage a page of its own so we wouldn't have to keep repeating it here.
Dimensions, Weight & Volume:
The Carry-on: 55.1 cm x 34.8 cm x 22.9 cm | 3.7 kg | 39.8 L
The Bigger Carry-on: 57.7 cm x 37.3 cm x 24.3 cm | 3.8 kg | 47.9 L
The Medium Suitcase: 66 cm x 47 cm x 28 cm | 4.5 kg | 68.8 L
The Large Suitcase: 73.6 cm x 52 cm x 31.7 cm | 5.3 kg | 99.2 L
Available in: Black, navy, green, asphalt, coast, white, sand, blush & brick
Details:
The Wandrd PRVKE series DSLR camera backpack is a very cleverly designed backpack. It looks like a normal expandable travel backpack but it conceals an interior divided like a padded camera bag (interior can be configured in 4 different ways). Perfect for the travel vlogger, it can even hold a laptop and a tablet plus all the cables and adaptors that go a along with your gear.
This carry-on camera backpack is so popular with most of these travel vloggers (they pretty well all own them) that we had to give the Wandrd PRVKE camera backpack a page of its own so we wouldn't have to keep repeating it here.
Dimensions, Weight & Volume:
21 Liter: 17" X 11" X 6.5" | 1.3 kg (2.8 lbs) | 21 to 25 L (roll top fully extended)
31 Liter: 19" X 12.5" X 7.5" | 1.5 kg (3.4 lbs) | 31 to 36 L (roll top fully extended)
Available in: Black, Wasatch Green & Aegean Blue
Details:
The Douchebags brand was started by Jon Olsson and the Norwegian product designer Truls Brataas in 2012. They have since become one of the top brands in sports travel. The Douchebags "The Avenue" backpack is a perfect travel companion. Perfect as either a day pack for carrying your things around town or as a carry-on bag, this bag is light, rugged yet attractive and stylish.
Dimensions, Weight & Volume:
43cm x 30cm x 12cm | 0.7kg | 16 L
Available in: Cloud Grey, Deep Sea Blue, Desert Khaki and Scarlet Red
Details:
YouTube: youtube.com/flyingthenest
Website: www.flyingthenest.tv
Facebook: facebook.com/flyingthenest
Vlog Type: Travel
Stephen & Jess Parry-Valentine are a couple from Perth, Australia. They started their YouTube channel in 2015 and have been travelling full-time ever since. Another fun couple to follow, they have been to over 70 countries to date.
Stephen and Jess's channel has been moving more towards the sponsored review or "influencer" type blog as they gather a larger and larger following.
Always good for an interesting or quirky story, you should check them out.
If you look back over the years of videos, Flying the Nest have had a lot of different luggage. It has generally been a hardsided, zippered check-in style. Jessica tells us that they are using a Samsonite ARQ and a Flylite Latitude for their checked-in luggage and the ever present Wandrd PRVKE camera backpack for their carry-on.
The Samsonite ARQ is only available in Australia and South East Asia but you may be able to find it on Amazon from time to time. The one shown in the images above is the latest version with a small wedge at the bottom end. (Stephen and Jess's is the original version that is straight with no wedge)
This case has a clever 20/80 split between the lid and body to make packing easier.
Dimensions, Weight & Volume:
55cm: 55 x 36 x 24 cm | 2.95 kg | 36 L
69cm: 69 x 47 x 30 cm | 4.3 kg | 74 L
75cm (Jess and Stephen's): 75 x 50 x 35 cm | 4.6 kg |100 L
Available in: Matt Copper, Matt Graphite & Cobalt Blue
Details:
Flylite is a well known brand from India and it is mainly sold in India, Australia and South East Asia but if you are lucky, you may be able to find it on Amazon. We really like this bag thanks mainly to it using puncture resistant zippers.
Dimensions, Weight & Volume:
68cm: 68 x 43 x 29 cm | 3.9 kg | 75/82 L
77cm: 77 x 50 x 32 cm| 4.6 kg | 110/125 L
Available in: Metalic Navy & Champagne
Details:
This carry-on camera backpack is so popular with most of these travel vloggers (they pretty well all own them) that we had to give the Wandrd PRVKE camera backpack a page of its own so we wouldn't have to keep repeating it here.
Click here to see the shorter review further up on this page.
YouTube: youtube.com/heynadine
Instagram: @heynadine/
Website: www.heynadine.com
Vlog Type: Travel
Nadine Sykora is a travel vlogger from Canada. She is one of the longest running vloggers that we follow. She has been at this since 2010 (but her channel goes back even longer).
The HeyNadine channel features many travel tips and tricks along side Nadine's uniquely styled first person narrative style of travel journals.
Like most of the other vloggers on this page she travels with far too much gear to do "carry-on only". Nadine has collected a lot of luggage over the years so we will keep the list as short as possible. You can see a complete list of her luggage on her website. Unfortunately because she has been at this so long, many of her bags are no longer available.
The Away carry-on spinner suitcase seems to be popular with our travel vloggers (most of them own at least one) that we had to give Away Luggage a page of its own so we wouldn't have to keep repeating it here.
Click here to see the shorter review further up on this page.
Osprey is another very popular brand amongst travel vloggers. The Aura AG Women's backpack is supposed to one of the most comfortable women's backpacks on the market.
Dimensions, Weight & Volume:
30" x 18" x 7" | 4.02 lb | 62 L
Available in: Challenger Blue, Vestal Grey and Gamma Red
Details:
YouTube: youtube.com/channel/UC4ijq8Cg-8zQKx8OH12dUSw/
Website: karaandnate.com
Facebook: facebook.com/karaandnate
Vlog Type: Travel
Kara and Nate are a husband and wife from Nashville, Tennessee. They started out travel vlogging January 10, 2016 thinking they were just taking a year off but then they got the idea of seeing 100 countries by the year 2020 (and they did).
Their channel is an entertaining mix of travel knowledge and local sites with a little food featured here and there (and a lot of business class travel in between).
Kara and Nate are like so many other travel vloggers. They started out with backpacks but soon realized that they never used them as backpacks so they switched to carry-on roller bags.
The Osprey Meridian 22" roller backpack was their first bag but has since been replaced with two Wandrd Prvke 31L camera backpacks that they use as carry-ons. For checked luggage, they are big fans of the Away Bigger Carry-on and they have one in grey and one in aluminum. They still swear by using a carry-on as their checked baggage. They must be very good at packing light!
Like the name implies, the Osprey Meridian roller backpack is a great compromise between a roller bag and backpack. It comes in two sizes - 60 Liter and 75 Liter. Both versions come with a detachable day pack.
Dimensions, Weight & Volume:
Meridian 60L/22": 22" x 14" x 9" | 3.8 kg (8.37 lbs) | 60 L
Meridian 75L/28": 28" x 14" x 13" | 4.2 kg (9.26 lbs) | 75 L
Available in: Metal Grey & Lagoon Blue
Details:
This carry-on camera backpack is so popular with most of these travel vloggers (they pretty well all own them) that we had to give the Wandrd PRVKE camera backpack a page of its own so we wouldn't have to keep repeating it here.
Click here to see the shorter review further up on this page.
The Away carry-on spinner suitcase seems to be popular with our travel vloggers (most of them own at least one) that we had to give Away Luggage a page of its own so we wouldn't have to keep repeating it here.
Click here to see the shorter review further up on this page.
Away luggage is a socially conscious company that hopes to reduce waste by selling suitcases that will last longer. They keep prices low by selling their products direct to market therefor avoiding any middleman mark-up.
They have recently entered the Aluminum suitcase market. They have managed to keep prices low and quality up - that is why this case made number 2 position on our list of the best 5 aluminum suitcase list.
Dimensions, Weight & Volume:
11 lb (5 kg) | 22.6" x 14.5" x 9.5" (57.6 x 36.8 x 24 cm) | 40.9 L
Details:
YouTube: youtube.com/channel/UCt_NLJ4McJlCyYM-dSPRo7Q
Instagram: @lostleblanc
Website: lostleblanc.com
Vlog Type: Travel
Christian LeBlanc is a filmmaker from Vancouver, Canada, He has been travelling and making YouTube videos since January 2015. His channel is filled with beautiful montages of local scenery. He and his travel companion Katy also upload many videos with how-to and travel tips.
By now, you may be seeing a trend with our travel vlogger's luggage and Christian is no different. He usually goes with an Away large suitcase and a Lowepro Flipside 300 AW II camera backpack. For some strange reason, he promotes the Gregory Women's Jade 70 Backpack in many of his video and on his website but we have never seen him use it so we will leave it out.
Lowepro makes some really nice camera backpacks that are perfect for travel vloggers. The Lowepro Flipside 300 AW II camera backpack is a perfect example. It is easily configurable and can handle your 35mm camera and extra lenses or the camera and a drone.
Dimensions, Weight & Volume:
2.64 lb (1.2 kg) | 11.22" x 8.27" x 19.29" (28.5 x 21 x 49 cm) | 29.3 L
Available in one color: Black
Details:
The Away carry-on spinner suitcase seems to be popular with our travel vloggers (most of them own at least one) that we had to give Away Luggage a page of its own so we wouldn't have to keep repeating it here.
Click here to see the shorter review further up on this page.
YouTube: youtube.com/user/ToastWithJim
Instagram: @chopsticktravel
Website: www.chopsticktravel.com
Vlog Type: Food and Travel
Luke Martin & Sabrina Davidson are from New Brunswick, Canada and are currently based out of Taiwan. They have been uploading to their main YouTube channel since July of 2016. Their channel is all about street and local food with a little travel information thrown in along the way.
Luke Martin is a diehard backpack lover. In all of his videos, it is all he and Sabrina have ever used. It the past he has done gear videos with his Cabelas Ridgeline 45 Backpack and Marmot Bootjack 32 Backpack - both of which are now discontinued.
He tells us that he is now using a Lowepro Powder BP 500 AW Outdoor backpack. Unfortunately, no word on what he and Sabrina use as a carry-on or camera bag.
The Lowepro Powder BP 500 AW backpack looks like another winner for anyone travelling with a 35mm camera and accessories. The camera access is on the inside of the bag so when you are wearing this pack, there is no way for anyone to get at your valuable camera.
Dimensions, Weight & Volume:
5.51 lb (2.5 kg) | 12.2" x 10.2" x 26.7" (31 x 26 x 65 cm ) | 55 L
Available in: Grey/Orange and Blue
Details:
YouTube: youtube.com/channel/UCEDrRCC0qRtPd5-sSa1hajw
Instagram: @theendlessadventure
Website: theendlessadventure.co
Vlog Type: Travel
Eric and Allison are a husband and wife team from San Francisco, USA. They have been YouTubers since March of 2016. Their channel is a filled with fun and self-effacing videos about their travels and full-time life on the road. We especially enjoy watching them document how travel can go horribly wrong.
Eric and Alison have gone through quite a bit of different pieces of luggage over the years and they seem to have finally settle on what every other travel vlogger has (you already know what), The Away Carry-on and an Away "The Bigger" Carry-on. They seem to change-up their carry-on back packs a lot so that is a little more difficult to pin down.
They own a Blue regular Away carry-on and a Blush colored "The Bigger" Away carry-on.
The Away carry-on spinner suitcase seems to be popular with our travel vloggers (most of them own at least one) that we had to give Away Luggage a page of its own so we wouldn't have to keep repeating it here.
Click here to see the shorter review further up on this page.
There is nothing really special about this simple daypack. It seems to do the job for Eric and Alison though.
Dimensions, Weight & Volume:
3 lbs, 15 oz lb | 22" X 14" X 9" | 54 L
Available in ten colors: Please don't make us list them all :)
Details:
YouTube: youtube.com/channel/UCKuSn_LSQ_U_8o35jjpi0xQ
Website: www.travelman48hrs.com
Vlog Type: Travel
Travel Man is a long-running British travel show. Although Richard Ayoade is not a full-time traveller, his show is very entertaining and informative so we decided to include him here. His signature vintage style Globe-Trotter suitcase has gone through several iterations over the nine seasons of the show - from brown to bright yellow. It is just such an iconic suitcase that we just had to include it.
Unfortunately, the original yellow case is no longer available but there are others available on the Globe-Trotter website. These case are not cheap (£1700 and up - way up) so we have provided a less expensive alternative below.
Dimensions, Weight & Volume:
18" (carry-on): 21.85" x 13.0" x 7.68" | 8.6 lbs | 31 L
20" (carry-on): 22.83" x 13.39" x 8.07" | 9.3 lbs | 31 L
30" (checked): 81" x 48" x 24" cm | 5.5 kg | 78 L
Available in: Sapphire Blue, Blue/Navy, Burgundy/Navy, Navy/Red/Polished Chrome, Oxblood/Black, Amethyst, Green/Brown and Navy/Navy
Details:
Dimensions, Weight & Volume:
20" (carry-on): 21.85 " x 13.0" x 7.68" | 8.6 lbs | 31 L
22" (carry-on): 22.83" x 13.39" x 8.07" | 9.3 lbs | 31 L
24" (checked): 25.98" x 14.17" x 8.27" | 10 lbs | 44 L
26" (checked): 27.95" x 15.35" x 8.66" | 11 lbs | 55 L
Available in: Dark Blue, Dark Green, Ivory, Light Grey, Light Pink, Matcha Green, Navy Blue and Peach Pink
Details:
YouTube: youtube.com/user/vagabrothers
Instagram: @vagabrothers
Website: www.vagabrothers.com
Vlog Type: Travel
Marko and Alex Ayling are the Vagabrothers, a travelling pair of brothers based in Santa Monica, California. They have been running their YouTube channel since 2012, making them the "old men" of travel vlogging. Like many other channels, they provide useful tips on travel planning, gear tips as well as some breath taking images from all around the globe.
Marko and Alex are big fans of backpacks. Backpacks seem to work for these brothers and they have used a number of different backpacks over the years. They also promote using carry-ons instead of checking your luggage. They both own carry-ons from Away Luggage.
The Vagabrothers are not full-time travellers so this may explain their belief that "smaller is better". You can get away with less if you are only going somewhere for a few weeks or a month.
Dimensions, Weight & Volume:
Redwing 32 : 22 x 14 x 11 in | 2 lbs | 32 L
Redwing 40 (women's): 23 x 14 x 12 in | 2 lbs 10 oz | 39 L
Redwing 44 : 25 x 15 x 12 in | 2 lbs 10 oz | 44 L
Redwing 51 : 26 x 16 x 12 in | 3 lbs 11 oz kg | 55 L
Available in: Ponderosa Pine, Black, Dark Shadow and Twilight Blue
Details:
Dimensions, Weight & Volume:
Farpoint 40: 22" x 14" x 9" | 3 lbs | 40L
Farpoint 55: 25" x 13" x 13" | 3.9 lbs | 55 L
Farpoint 70: 26" x 13" x 13" | 4 lbs | 70 L
Farpoint 80: 29" x 15" x 16" | 4.3 lbs | 80 L
Available in: Jasper Red and Volcanic Grey
Harness Sizes: Medium and large
Details:
The Away carry-on spinner suitcase seems to be popular with our travel vloggers (most of them own at least one) that we had to give Away Luggage a page of its own so we wouldn't have to keep repeating it here.
Click here to see the shorter review further up on this page.
We went into writing this article with no real expectations about what these travellers use for luggage. After our interviews it became abundantly clear that there are three brands that are very popular amongst travel vloggers and they are Wandrd, Lowepro and Away Luggage.
Okay, we have to admit it, we had never heard of Wandrd until we started researching this article. Once we started seeing what they offer, we were really impressed to say the least.
Who knew that Lowepro makes all these backpacks specially built for the travelling videographer and their gear? These vlogger knew... And now you do to.
Seeing how many of our vloggers use Away luggage did not come as a surprise. This company is really making a name for themselves and we wish them all the best.
We hope that have enjoyed our exploration into what luggage travel vloggers use. We had a lot of fun putting it together. What do you think of their choices? Have our travel vloggers opened you eyes to any new products?
What kind of luggage do you use?
Happy travels!
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