I’ve been searching for the perfect carry-on bag for as long as I’ve been traveling. My storage space is cluttered with a plethora of contenders and I’ve never been satisfied. Until now.

THE WEEKENDER

The amazing folks at eBags read my mind and promised that their Weekender bag would be just what I needed and boy, were they right! For so many reasons, this bag is now my holy grail of travel bags. It weighs in at under 4 pounds, measures 22 x 14 x 9 inches around and comes in 5 colors: black, red, eggplant, blue and green. They all come with an orange (it’s the color of the year!) lining. The price is a very reasonable $79.99. I’m sure we’ve all paid twice as much for items not half as useful.

Pockets

I’ve owned this bag for a few months now and I still don’t think I’ve discovered all the pockets. A couple of my favorites: the half-moon shaped one at the front, top of the bag is perfect in size and position for my quart size ziplock bag that holds my 3 oz. liquids. On the backside there is a zippered compartment that holds not only my laptop in a secured way, but all the magazines that I always feel the need to take with me. Maybe someday I’ll download the digital version of all of these and not have to lug the print ones with me, but till then they’ll fit fine in this bag.

Space

This is another commodity that the Weekender has plenty of – in fact I suggested they rename the bag The Everything Bag. Amazingly, everything I need to bring with my on a typical trip fits easily with extra room for souvenirs. I tested the capacity on a 5 day sort-of-work trip to Florida in April then again on a week-long trip to Arizona in May. I needed clothing and supplies for many different activities on both occasions and was able to squeeze everything in. Bear in mind, this bag is not a roller bag, so everything you bring, you have to be able to carry. The handy, zip-away-when-you’re-not-using-them backpack straps help tremendously with that. The upside of not having wheels is that the space that the wheels would have taken up is available for your packing pleasure.

Durability

I expect a lot out of my travel companions – both animate and inanimate. A bag that I’m going to trust with my personal possessions must meet several criteria. It’s got to be tough enough to stand up to some light mistreatment, such as dragging across the ground, tossing into the back of a car, van or bus and being pulled and poked at every turn. I’ve had so many would-be perfect carry-on bags ultimately fail due to straps pulling out or zippers jamming up. So far – and I’ve already put it to quite the test – the Weekender is holding up wonderfully.

 I can honestly say that I am no longer searching for the bag of my dreams…I already own it.

Many thanks to eBags for providing me with the Weekender to use and review.  It was given to me free of charge for my evaluation and my opinions are all my own.