These days many airlines, especially the low cost ones, charge for checked baggage. Ryanair, the most popular low cost carrier in Europe charges a minimum of €15 per 15kg of checked in baggage on selected flights. On other flights however, this cost can more than double. Thus it comes to no wonder why many people go on vacation with only one piece of hand luggage.

The problem with carrying hand luggage is the limitations on the baggage size and weight. Ryanair only permits one hand luggage per passenger having a maximum size of 55cm x 40cm x 20cm and a maximum weight of 10kg (about 22 pounds). Recently Ryanair is allowing passengers a second cabin bag having a maximum size of 35cm x 20cm x 20cm.

Many passengers automatically think that wheel-less luggage is a thing of the past. One cannot dispute the fact that wheeled bags have certain advantages, especially in the case of heavy luggage. Having said this, wheeled bags have certain disadvantages as well. The main disadvantage is the waste of space due to the structure that holds the wheels and handle in place. In certain small wheeled luggage, there is up to 30% of space wastage.

Another disadvantage is the weight of wheeled luggage – a Ryanair compliant luggage bag on wheels can weigh up to 3kg (about 6.6 pounds) or more when empty, mostly due to the weight of the wheels and handle structure. Taking into consideration the fact that one cannot carry more than 10kg of hand luggage, it means that one cannot carry more than 7kg (about 15.4 pounds) of belongings in the luggage.

Apart from the disadvantages mentioned above, one must not forget that it is not practical to carry wheeled baggage through staircases (not all train stations have escalators and lifts), through cobbled streets and in bad weather conditions. One must also take into consideration that the handle or perhaps one of the wheels may break which would entitle having to carry the luggage by hand all through the journey.

One the other hand, travelling with an appropriate backpack cabin bag brings several advantages. For a start, having an appropriate cabin bag with padded shoulder straps should not be too much of a strain for anyone who is in a good state of health. After all, the maximum weigh one can carry is 10kg. Secondly, a luggage with straps normally weighs less than 1kg (2.2 pounds), which would permit one to carry about 9kg (about 19.8 pounds) of belongings. This means gaining at least 2kg over any cabin bag with wheels.

Carrying the luggage over the back should enable one to travel faster without having to look for lifts to avoid carrying wheeled luggage over stairs or getting stuck in pebbled roads or in some puddle of mud and water. Last but not least, there is no fear of having some wheel broken or jammed or the handle broken. To be honest, a wheel-less luggage can still suffer from a tear of a shoulder strap, however this is unlikely to happen if the luggage in question is a good quality one.

Cabin Zero, Cabin Max or eBags Mother Lode

At the time of writing there are three popular backpack luggage bags available on the market: Cabin Zero, Cabin Max and eBags Mother Lode. All three models are doing very well on the Amazon internet retailer. Cabin Max has a wider range of models than the others and from the number of reviews it seems the Cabin Max Metz is a particular popular model. Having said this there are a significant number of negative reviews on Amazon.co.uk from people suggesting that the Cabin Max Metz is of poor built quality.

This is a different story for the eBags Mother Lode and Cabin Zero. I have read most of the reviews on Amazon.com and Amazon.co.uk and did not come across a single comment indicating that either of these bags is of poor built quality. In the case of the eBags Mother Lode, there was actually a reviewer who gave a 1 star rating on Amazon.com, but this was due to the fact that the bag comes with an orange interior, irrespective of the external colour. I would not buy myself an orange coloured bag, however I would only mind if the interior’s colour is pink. The fact that the interior colour is orange would not bother me much.

The bag that I got for myself is the Cabin Zero. I was immediately impressed with the number of positive reviews for the bag on Amazon.co.uk and did not take long to decide to buy one. Apart from this, there is also the fact that the Cabin Zero is cheaper that the Mother Lode. I eventually bought my black coloured Cabin Zero from Equipatrip.com due to the cheaper price. Apart from Amazon.co.uk, it was also possible to buy it from Ebay or directly from the Cabin Zero website. Cabin Zero is not available from Amazon.com, however it is worth noting that the price indicated on the Cabin Zero website includes free delivery service to anywhere in the world.

Although I have only used my Cabin Zero once, I immediately got the impression that the bag is of high quality build and will probably last for years to come. Worth noting is the fact that the bag comes with a 10 year manufacturer warranty, which can be upgraded for free to a 25 year warranty. Upgrading the warranty is very simple as one just needs to go to like their FaceBook page (https://www.facebook.com/CabinZero) within 30 days of purchase. For further information, please visit http://www.cabinzero.com/pages/warranty.

A nice feature that is provided free of charge with all Cabin Zero bags is the inclusion of a lost and found tag. This tag needs to be registered with Okoban but for further information please read this post: Okoban – A Service for Lost Luggage and Other Lost Items.