Kimchi jjigae with banchan. The jjigae was wonderful with the exception of the salt, holy cow it was so salty. I couldn’t have the broth without rice. The banchan was great, fish cakes were especially delicious and the kimchi wasn’t too spicy. I got a bulgogi gimbap for the road, which is the cheapest gimbap I’ve seen lately at $10. Overall pleased and would come back to try another soup!
Hi, folks! Longgggg time lurker, first time poster. I've been a carry on + backpack gal for a few years now, and just finished my first one bag trip this month! I learned a ton through this experience and am super excited to share and hear your feedback. This post is long af so apologies in advance.
I went on a girl's trip to New Orleans, flying in late on a Wednesday and leaving late on a Sunday. I stayed in a hostel Wednesday night and moved to my Airbnb on Thursday where I stayed the rest of the weekend and also worked remote that day. I've stayed at hostels before but always in a private room; this was my first dorm experience! So much easier than I thought it would be, except trying to unpack this stuffed-to-the-brim bag at 11:30pm in a pitch black room trying not to wake anyone else up, lol.
I did a TONNN of research on what bag to get for a onebag. I have a ~2020 era 30L North Face Recon that I've hated ever since I got it. The way the bag is constructed does not let you pack it strategically and I feel like I have a ton of wasted space. It also only really lets you pack outwards instead of distributing your items which is another minus. I packed it for a three-day trip to my parents' a couple months ago and it was not great - I hardly pack ANYTHING when I visit home and yet I still barely got my meager items to fit in it. After that experience I knew I needed to upgrade lol, which after almost anxiety-inducing amounts of research led me to three options: the Calpak Terra 26L, Osprey 16+6, and Away Active Convertible 25L. Ultimately it came down to looks and outside pockets. Away didn't have the pockets and their website says it only fits a 13" laptop. I work remote a lot and have a big fatty laptop so that took it out of the running. Osprey, as amazing as the reviews are on here, didn't have the looks I wanted, so I went for the Calpak (their social media presence also had a big part in this decision; I needed to be sure it fit in the personal item bins and I saw a bunch of TikToks of the Calpak fitting in all sorts of personal item bins). The price was hard for me to stomach as it is the most expensive out of the three.
Now, for packing the bag! When I say I stuffed it to the absolute brim, I Stuffed. That. Bag. to the point of pulling the seams lol. There truly was not any more space to fit anything else in it. Even trying to access the front pockets was hard because they were pulled so tight. I was TERRIFIED of not fitting into the personal item bins, but alas!! I can confirm that even stuffed within an inch of its life, the Calpak will work as a Spirit personal item! Even with a water bottle in the side pocket! Reflecting on my items, I think it was the Croc sandals that sent it into overstuffed category. I wanted sandals that would work as shower shoes and were also cute, so I made it work but the platform-ness wasn't my friend when trying to pack. Had I had smaller sandals it wouldn't have been nearly as bad. I always travel with a separate makeup bag and toiletry bag, so I'm happy that I was able to make a makeup/toiletry bag combo situation work! I packed my socks and underwear inside my compression cube which also saved a lot of room, but I packed way too many socks and underwear. I'm a undies overpacker in general and did not realize that our Airbnb had a washing machine. Had I known, I would've cut back on both. I don't think they took up TOO much space but in the one bag game, every centimeter counts lol. This was my first experience with a compression cube and holy cow, that thing COMPRESSED. The brand is BagSmart, from Amazon.
My packing photos are divided by front pockets, main compartment, and laptop pocket. The amount of pockets and organization in the front of this bag is amazing but there's so many options that I legit forgot where I put a lot of my stuff lol. The more I use my bag, the more I'll be able to establish dedicated locations for things. The main compartment had a good use of space in my opinion, but the "secret" pocket location goes directly into the compartment instead of being sewn between sections, so there was no way I could've put something in the secret pocket. The laptop pocket has another pocket inside of it with a strap which I found kind of hard to maneuver.
I'm pretty pleased with my outfit packing, with the exception of the unworn black tee. The pajamas took up a bit of space but I prefer traveling with a matching set. You never know when you'll have to see strangers lol. I wore an underwire bra and brought a bralette, but in hindsight this was a silly decision bc if I wanted to wear the bralette I'd have to pack the underwire bra which definitely wouldn't have fit. I wore everything twice except for the white skirt, which I knew going in and accepted as a frivolous item because the outfit was so cute lol. A note about the Croc sandals - they are cute and SO comfortable (had less knee and foot pain wearing those than the Nikes) but until you break them in, they're really only good for 5k steps until the blisters come. Put bandaids on at 5k, had to change to blister pads at 10k, and by the end of the night I had 15k steps and the blister pads had been rubbed through. Should've worn the sneakers on day 2 lol.
Overall, I'm superrrr happy with the Calpak and feel like I have unlocked an entirely new way to travel. The caveat being I onebagged in warm weather - I have no idea how I'd fare having to pack warm weather items, tbh. I don't I'm there yet haha, but you have to start somewhere!! If you've come this far, thanks for reading!
Image descriptions:
Image 1: Collage of bag, bag in Spirit personal item bin, bag opened to see packing items
Image 2: Collage of main compartment items (straightener, purse, compression cube, sandals, toiletry bag, digi cam, retainers, pill organizer, e-reader, laptop charger, travel hair dryer, insoles), front pocket items (wet wipes, two lip balms, sunglasses, magnet, tissues, pen, hand santizer, AirPods, power bank, wallet, phone charger), and laptop pocket (laptop and planner)
Image 3: Photo and description of toiletries (panty liners, deoderant, dry shampoo, powder, toothpaste, tooth brush, blow dry serum, face serum, ear plugs, face creams, sunscreen, shampoo and conditioner, perfume, brow pen, mascara, lipstick, eyeshadow sticks, lip liner, foundation, floss, tweezers, fingernail clippers, spoolie, face wash, cheek tint, Vaseline)
Image 4: Collage of outfits (clothing items are grey and black tshirts, red striped and black tank tops, cardigan, yoga pants, denim shorts, black skirt, pajamas, purse, sandals, sneakers)