Sep

One Bag trip report: 5d/4n trip to Vegas with the Red Oxx Air Boss

Kevin on September 5th, 2008

We are back from our quick trip to Las Vegas, and I’m happy to report that my love/hate relationship with the town remains intact. What a place!

We had a great time, but I’m happy to be back home after enduring 5 days of tackiness — along with some great food, a fantastic show, and really enjoyable trips to Hoover Dam and Zion National Park. A few quick notes:

It is easy to do a trip like this – 5 days, 4 nights, casual + dressy clothing – with one bag and no checked luggage
We canceled our reservation at Ferraro’s and went to see the Blue Man Group instead, and went to a sushi place in Caesars afterward
We used Tix4Tonight for our tickets, and saved ~$120 by doing so
When we arrived I thought I’d overpacked, but I wore every single item in my bag except for one tee shirt
Mini Rant: why is it that every inexpensive hotel in the nation (Hampton Inn, Holiday Inn, etc.) offers FREE internet, and the Luxor charged $1 per minute – in their Business Center!
They also wanted $10/day to use their workout room!
I am now officially a member of the lunatic fringe for bringing a sports jacket to Vegas. This is the direct result of having attended too many conferences in the city and going out to dinner afterward. No one, well hardly anyone, dresses up at all in the town
I used an Eagle Creek money belt on both flights without incident, and didn’t have to remove it for TSA screening at either airport
The National Park Service runs a very efficient operation at Zion National Park – a true model of efficiency

Comments on the Red Oxx Air Boss:

The Air Boss is a beast and I love it. I’ll write a formal review at some point (more on this in a moment,) but a few thoughts:

18 lbs. is pushing the limit for the amount of weight I want to carry via a single shoulder strap. Having said that, the bag was comfortable during 15-20 minute jaunts through airports
The one feature that I am not crazy about is the fastening mechanism on the two handles. As you can see, there’s much more material on the side with the female part of the snaps than on the other side. (Click on images for much larger view.) As a result, wrapping the shorter side around the heavy straps is a slight pain in the rear – see picture on right:

This isn’t a big deal, but with the amount of attention to detail that Red Oxx has shown with every aspect of the bag, I’m a bit surprised by this. In actual practice it means that fastening the handles takes a few seconds longer than what otherwise might be the case

So how did my clothing look after spending ~24 hours in the bag? This is exactly how it looked when I opened the bag in our room:

One thing I’ve never mentioned is that the bundle has a good deal of “structural integrity” – plus it takes up much less space than if you individually folded items; in any event, I flipped it over and this is what the other side looked like:

As you can see in the first photo, the blue shirt on top picked up a couple of wrinkles on its back, but looked pretty good when I hung it up:

The bundle packing method worked just fine – again, if you’ve never tried it, please do so – it’s a terrific way to avoid wrinkles! Click here for full details.

As for the Air Boss, my sense of Red Oxx’s approach – based upon my experiences with both the Air Boss and the Metro briefcase - is that they eschew some of the bells and whistles you sometimes find on other (including less expensive) bags in return for bullet proof durability and the very finest materials – and light weight.

For example, I’d like to have a removable tab for my car keys somewhere in the bag, or one or two small zippered pockets for keys or other small items… an iPod or the like. With the Air Boss I ended up putting my car keys in the bottom of the “airline ticket” pocket on the backside of the bag. This worked OK, but isn’t super convenient and there is the possibility that one of the key fob’s buttons could be pressed inadvertantly, thereby draining the battery.

Another couple of small pockets would be very useful – particularly if you’re traveling with one bag – which is the clear intent with the Air Boss.

A few random notes about the trip, packing and miscellanea:

The convertible Columbia pants I brought along are terrific. They weigh almost nothing, and I wore the shorts several times during the day, zipping the lower pant legs back on and at night when we were doing more casual “stuff” in town. The model I have is called Titanium, and I purchased them at Campmor
When you have deodorant, shaving cream and similar items that are almost completely used up – just several more uses left – put them in your travel bag & save them for your next trip. Use them on the trip and jettison them before departing your hotel – your bag will be a bit lighter on the return trip!
Can’t say enough about clothing made with high tech fabrics – I brought along a few “Dry Tec” golf shirts. They don’t wrinkle, are lighter than cotton or cotton/poly blends, and wick away moisture.
On a similar note, regular reader Debbie recently mentioned “fast drying” travel socks from Tilley. I’ve been using Polartec socks for much the same reason… in a pinch they can be washed in the hotel sink and will usually dry overnight. Note: they are not inexpensive; the Tilley socks have a 3 year “hole free” guarantee, however (I did bring along a few heavier pair of socks, and they were a waste; next time I’ll know)
I’ve posted a few pictures from the trip @ Flickr – click here to view

Next Steps

Much to my chagrin my younger son showed up at McCarran with a conventional, semi-soft sided suitcase. It was way too large for his needs and I decided on the spot to get him a replacement. He travels by air infrequently, so I am thinking he may be a good candidate for the Rick Steves Classic bag.

I’ll purchase one of the Steves bags and before I send it to my son, will try it out a bit and write a comparison between it and the Air Boss. I’ll need to keep in mind that although the bags are quite similar dimensionally, they vary quite a bit in materials and features.

In the final analysis, though, which is the better value? Which is better for the casual traveler? The dedicated road warrior? Stay tuned…

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Travel

4 Responses to “One Bag trip report: 5d/4n trip to Vegas with the Red Oxx Air Boss”

Michael W.
September 5th, 2008 at 4:14 pm

I’m sure that after I finish my trip to Thailand, my interest in bags and packing will simmer down, but for the mean time the more “practical hacking” you do on travel issues, the better!

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Kevin
September 5th, 2008 at 4:22 pm

Michael -

It occurred to me a little while ago that I’ve never mentioned Tim Ferriss’ post about traveling the world with 10 pounds. Have you seen it? Here’s a link in case you haven’t:

http://url.ie/o8g

It might be of help as you approach your trip!

kc

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Matt M
September 7th, 2008 at 3:26 pm

Glad you enjoyed the trip. You have me wishing I gave the Air Boss another try.

I can’t agree more with you about having just a bit more with the Red Oxx bags to better organize. I’ve tried suggesting it too. I’d be happy with just a ring or loop so I could put a carabiner in there or something. But the quality is so good it makes me happy to use the products. Some of the colors are pretty nice too which you wouldn’t expect from such a rugged build.

I’ve been to Zion park but don’t remember much about how efficent it was run. Guess I just remember driving in, parking, and hiking. It was amazing though. I’d like to get back someday.

Thanks for the tip on the socks. I’ll have to look into them. I’ve heard of other Tilley products being good but I have to be able to try them on if they are shirts or pants. Socks I can gamble on.

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Michael W.
September 9th, 2008 at 12:08 pm

I saw Tim Ferriss’ blog – thanks for the link! He’s got me thinking about getting an MSR Pack Towel now.

I had another run at packing the Timbuk2 small duffel, which has a 1,500 cubic inch capacity, vs. the LLBean medium Adventure duffel, which has a 2,000 cubic inch capacity, and learned a few things in the process, since when I added my shirts and pants AND two pair of bulky kneepads for my jiu jitsu tournament, the Timbuk2 simply wouldn’t work while the LLBean actually still has room left over (the Timbuk2 would have been fine if I didn’t have to lug the jiu jitsu gear AND biz casual clothing).

First, when you are “ultra light” traveling, it pays to choose a bag that is “just right” in size. Not because a larger bag is heavier, but because if a bag is too large, your stuff is prone to flopping and shifting around inside. When I tried packing the LLBean duffel BEFORE adding the kneepads and clothing, my gear was rattling around in it, even after using the helpful compression straps. After adding the rest of my gear, however, the LLBean was “just right.” Mind you, there’s only 500 cubic inches of volume difference between them, but that difference is critical! I can see now why you just use a daypack – the next size down from the Timbuk2 duffle, if you have a typical 1,000 to 1,200 cubic inch daypack – for your overnight business trips.

Second, when you are trying to pack the most efficiently, the features most bag makers try to sell you on, are less important than some some features that aren’t as dramatic but are much more helpful for real travel (for example, organizer panels with i.d. pouches and pen holders, and extra pouches here and there, look neat but have never helped me, but compression straps – at least ones that really do their job – and a good, non-bulky carry system – are invaluable).

Third and finally, it’s true that in terms of “bulk” packing vs. “weight” packing, the “one bag,” soft-sided, unpadded luggage approach is MUCH more efficient than using a wheelie. For example, after upgrading to the LLBean Medium Adventure Duffel for my trip to Thailand, I looked at it next to my 21/22″ Costco wheelie and thought to myself – “now that it’s full, the duffel is as big as the darned wheelie!” but then realized “yeah, but I couldn’t have fit my jiu jitsu gear AND clothing AND shoes in the wheelie, the ‘hardware’ in the wheelie just eats up too much space!” Plus, the duffel is only as big as the CORE of the wheelie and is therefore still LEGAL for carryon – while the wheelie is only “legal” if you disregard the wheels and top and side handles. The duffel will squash into the “testing box” you see gateside, the wheelie won’t.

I weighed the fully packed LLBean Medium Adventure Duffel and it is just 17 pounds – technically slightly over the EVA Air carryon rules (15 pound limit) but I doubt that will be a problem. Had I used (and been able to use) the wheelie, which weighs 8 pounds more than the duffel, I would have been at 25 pounds, which would pretty much give EVA Air (which weighs carry on bags) grounds to ask me to check it.

This LLBean duffel is the one on which I performed my “handle-ectomy,” cutting off the hand straps that center over the opening. That means I have to get accustomed to carrying the bag “pointing towards the ground” by one of its end-handles (or using a shoulder strap, the one that came with the LLBean is nicely padded with a good grip). I’ll let you know how that “feels” on my extended trip – trundling around the apartment, it felt a little weird.

As you asked I am taking some pix as my bag/packing techniques permutate (I did your bundle wrapping for my clothes, but then inserted the bundle into a very small garment pouch – the shirt pouch that came with the Costco wheelie, to keep them bundled together better since the duffel does not have tie-downs). I don’t think I can match your article style – as I write these comments I realize what a great knack for succinct writing you have – but I’ll do my best.

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