BYOLuggage

En route to Mexico, circa 2007

The little C&Gs have been toting their wheelie backpacks behind them for many years, and the heavy duty bags have been trusty companions on all of our trips. Long ago I made it a rule that the boys were in charge of packing up whatever toys, books, and Legos they wanted to drag across cities, states, and countries. If they wanted to play with it, they were in charge of it. It's one less thing for me to worry about, and I never get blamed for not packing the right things.

On our travels last summer I noticed Big C&G was getting too big for his neon green panda-patched classic wheelie. He was too tall to reach down and drag it behind him, and he ended up with a sore back from all that stooping. It was hard (for me) to let it go and upgrade to a big kid bag, but I guess that now he's a tween the neon green panda bag might not be cool enough to be seen with. And since my rule is: it's your bag and you're responsible for it at all times, I (and the TSA) make sure it's never too far away from him.

Fresh off the plane/train in Copenhagen

Big C&G and I headed up to Freeport to try out the LLBean backpacks in the store, but found they were extremely bulky and heavy and the handle was pretty short. Which means my $99 investment wouldn't last too long before I needed to upgrade again, as Big C&G gains a few inches every time I look away. Pottery Barn Teen has a good selection of wheeled backpacks in some cool boyish patterns, and we ended up ordering one online. It has similar dimensions to the LLBean ones, but with a handle a full inch and a half longer (at 19.5") the PB Teen rolling backpack is sure to last us on lots more adventures in the years to come.

The new bag showed up last week, and so far Big C&G is very happy with it. He loves all the zippered pouches and pockets and he's so happy that it doesn't bang into his heels as he wheels it behind him. I think it's going to work out perfectly on our upcoming travels and there's plenty of room for all his books and gear. We'll see how it holds up and I'll get him to report back and maybe write up a review. Now excuse me while I go unsubscribe myself from PBTeen emails, because I can't possibly be old enough to have a (almost) teen.