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ABOVE: This view of the Crew5 22" Expandable
Rollaboard Suiter shows the bag fully expanded after a shopping spree in Venice.
Field reports
Stockholm, Sweden
In September, 2004, I packed the Crew5 22" Expandable Rollaboard
Suiter for a week-long trip to
Stockholm, Sweden. The
interior compartments and dividers were a great convenience--especially on the
return trip, when I could store press kits, magazines, etc. in a zippered
compartment inside the lid and separate my clean clothes from dirty
laundry.
The Crew5 was unscathed after two multi-leg transatlantic flights, and
the bag's contents stayed dry on my rainy-day walk from the Hotel Diplomat to the
Tunnelbana in Stockholm. Just as important, the 22" bag's modest external dimensions
made it easy to use on public transportation (subway, light rail, and buses) at
both ends of my journey.
My favorite feature was the snap-out toilet kit/suitcase
divider, which has multiple compartments and a hanger hook for the bathroom
door.
The suitcase's slight inward tilt when parked took a little
getting used to, but I quickly grasped the benefits of the design: better
balance with a fully packed suitcase, and no lurch or sudden weight shift when
moving forward from the parked position.
New York City
A couple of weeks later, I took the Crew5 along on a three-day
trip to New York. It handled well on the escalators at Newark Airport and Penn
Station, it was compact enough to fit on the narrow luggage racks of New
Jersey Transit trains between the airport and Manhattan, and it was easy to lug
on and off two city buses when I got home.
Memo to myself: Memorize the locations of all internal
compartments! (I thought I'd left a necktie at Manhattan's Hotel Pennsylvania
until I thought to check the zippered pocket in the bottom of the suitcase two weeks after my trip.)
Venice, Italy
At the end of October, I took the Crew5 to
Venice for a cruise
aboard Peter Deilmann's riverboat Casanova. Normally I'd take a 24" bag
on a cruise, but the 22" Crew5 had room for a heavy tweed sports jacket, several
pairs of trousers, and all the other clothing that I needed, as long as I washed
my drip-dry items on board.
I packed a folding bag to hold the anniversary, birthday, and
Christmas gifts that I planned to buy in Venice, but in the end I didn't need
it. Instead, I unzipped the Crew5's expansion compartment and was able to pack
everything in the bag after removing my bulky Harris Tweed jacket.
The 22" Crew5's relatively compact size (even when expanded)
made it convenient for hauling over bridges, riding on the vaporetto, and
lifting onto on the Alilaguna airport boat and the Marco Polo airport shuttle
bus at the end of my journey. The bag also handled well on paving stones, and I
had to wrestle with it only once: when the overstuffed (and heavy) bag began
wobbling from side to side after I bounced it too energetically down the ramp of
a vaporetto platform.
And more trips..
October, 2005: The Crew5 has now survived more than a year of
multi-leg international and domestic flights. I haven't babied it, either: I
always check the bag, so it's received its share of abuse from airport baggage
handlers and carousels--and on trips home, it's usually expanded and packed with
books, press kits, tourist literature, chocolate bars, Scottish oatcakes, and
other dead weight.
Web link
Travelpro
Click "Crew5" for information on the 22" rollaboard and other products in the
latest generation of Travelpro's original luggage line for flight crews and other
demanding travelers. In Britain, visit
travelpro.co.uk.
Related articles at Europe for Visitors
Packing for Europe
Happiness lies somewhere between a travel tote
and a steamer trunk. My article has luggage tips with links to packing lists and
other resources.
Packing Accessories
Organize your packables and protect your belongings with nylon-and-mesh cubes,
security devices, luggage tags, and my own favorite item: a lightweight
collapsible suitcase.
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