My itinerary in Thailand has changed. I will not be able to leave my checked bag at the arrival hotel during our trip to Koh Samed, because we will be staying at a different hotel once we return to Bangkok.

I don’t want to haul around 3 different bags (personal bag – small day pack; carryon; checked) to Samed and back, and I don’t want to leave a bag with relatives that I will have to retrieve later – Bangkok taxis are best appreciated from a distance, not from inside.

So this small change means I have to ditch my favored carryon bag, a now-discontinued Timbuk2 gym duffel, for the Paty Duffel – why – because I want to be able to pack my carryon into the checked bag to reduce my bag count to a more manageable 2 bags to Samed and back. And the T2 duffel is just too bulky and heavy to stick into the checked bag.

BTW I am reducing some of my redundant clothing – I was going to take enough so I wouldn’t have to sink wash or do laundry, but since I am going to 1.25 bag it to Samed, I need room in the checked bag for my carryon bag and its contents.

So I removed half the underwear and socks from my carryon.

Then I tried trial packing a Paty Lightweight Courier. Whoops, too small, although it would pack down to nothing to fit into the checked bag later.

Next, the new Paty Lightweight Duffel.

Yep, room to spare.

Rick Steves packing cube in sideways (to push out the sides, pushed down to the “bottom”, the end away from the haul strap. Perfect fit!

Next, a very bulk Under Armour smooth-face fleece hoody, rolled up and stuffed into an old sleeping bag stuff sack. This fit on the other end of the duffel, on the floor.

Toiletries kit on top of that.

Light in-flight pullover on top of the Steves cube.

Room left over, yeah! (TSA pouch in convenient, exterior accessible end pouch. Perfect size. Yeah!)

Now I see why they have the compression buckles, they take any stress of the zipper on a moderately full packing.

I only made two modifications, to my personal taste:

1. I cut down an old camping foam pad to fit the bottom, to cushion and add a little extra structure.

2. I am going to be carrying vertically by the end haul strap, and it cuts into my hand, so I used a Bucky “handle wrapper” to add some bulk and cushion to that strap – it has an i.d. holder on the inside of the wrapper, which is a nice touch.

Resulting weight? 7 pounds.

Ability to repack the contents into the half-empty Steves Classic “Europe through the back door” bag, and then put the empty, light, non-bulky Paty Duffel into it, so I’m just “one bagging” it?

Priceless.