The combination of our first-half 2026 travel break and my rebuilding closet has caused me to rethink and reprovision my travel gear. Kim replaced her old suitcase set with Away luggage (our go-to brand these days), and while I had replace my carry-on, it was time after fifteen years to replace my larger checked bag before our Rhine cruise departure in late August. While doing that, I decided that I needed a different knapsack. To be honest, I have way too many such travel carry bags and have yet to find the perfect bag for my new mostly leisure travel but some business travel lifestyle these days. I had recently seen something on Instagram (my latest shopping mall since their personalization system seems to have my number pretty accurately) from a brand called VERIA that purports to be the perfect travel system for the modern traveler. There is nothing about the VERIA products that would astound you, but the combination of size and color offerings and the well-thought-out array of zippers and pockets seemed to be a bit more “perfect” than others I had seen. Once I chose the size (I went smaller rather than larger since hiking the Appalachian Trail was not on my menu), the color choice was a distraction for a nanosecond until I opted for the basic black on the theory that I might not find it as exciting, but I also would not regret my choice as color fads shift.
Like all design-intensive products these days, there is a balancing act between vast functionality and ease and practicality of use. This is not iPhone versus Android nonsense, but there is the same basic balancing act going on. There are about 25 external and internal zippers on my smallish VERIA knapsack and I will guess that there are an added 5 that I have yet to discover (like the small one on the shoulder strap that is presumably to hide an extra $20 bill in or some such thing. I have figured out how I want to use most of the pockets and zippers and I transferred all my stuff from several of my other alternative bags (that now go into hiding under my desk until I get wise and just give them to Rosario to resell at a yard sale). This also gave me the opportunity to rethink and eliminate things I tend to carry around and never use. An example of a keeper is the little plastic case sewing kit…you never know. An example of a didn’t-make-the-cut item is a small monocular that I bought for our Drake Passage trip to look at penguins and wildlife. Maybe some people actually use binoculars and monoculars, but I don’t, so why kid myself and lug around this piece of unnecessary hardware just to show off to someone that I have shopped the LL Bean catalogue accessories section? Overall, I find the VERIA configuration pretty darn good for my needs and I will be anxious to reassess that after this week-long trip as I put it all into use on planes, trains and automobiles.
As they say on the Ginzu knife ads…”But wait! There’s more!” In addition to my luggage retrofit, I have also finally bought something I have been eyeing for years. I bought a Scott-e-Vest (the “best travel vest in the world”). I’ve always been a vest guy since sleeves always seem to get in the way, but I’ve also always been a polartech vest guy because my girth demanded the flexibility and stretchiness. Whenever I’ve tried to buy a best with less give, I’ve found that its either too taught when I sit or too blousy when I stand. My new slimmer physique has changed that and there is less of me bunching up when I sit and so I decided to try out a 2XL Scott-e-Vest. The same basic issues apply as I reviewed with the VERIA bag. There were color choices and a full spectrum of “size” choices, defined as garment weight and multitude of pockets. Who knew that there were enough people buying travel vests and that they all had different opinions on the balancing act of enough pockets and too many pockets (I would say you can never have too many pockets, but I think the cargo pants phenomenon has preempted that comment). The Scott-e-Vest people seemed to have picked up on this issue and have designated one of their vests as the ultimate travel vest. There are lighter and less pocketed ones and heavier and more pocketed one. I needed a sweet spot, so I went with their ultimate version and I did so in military green (I can’t help myself but be drawn to that olive drab look) with a very provocative-sounding “jam” colored contrasting collar. I done well. The fit is perfect and the color works great for me. And then there are the pockets… If I thought VERIA was about pockets, I gotta say that Scott-e-Vest is way out ahead in that department. One of the fun things about these purchases is to use the map they give you to find all the pockets and features. But knowing that we will be unlikely to carry around that map while we road-test our vests, they have also printed little icons next to the inside pockets (they wisely decided that such icons on the outside pockets would cross the line into goofy). I’m not sure they help much, but its still fun to see them there to remind me of the things I could loads up into my vest if I wanted to.
Like the VERIA bag, I can’t be bothered trying to add up the exact number of pockets that my Scott-e-Vest ultimate gives me, but I estimate that its seven zipped exterior pockets with at least five added pockets inside the pockets, some with an added zip and some with Velcro closures. Inside the vest there are another seven or eight zipped pockets that accommodate everything from a full-sized iPad Pro (positioned to be at the small of my back) to sunglasses (works very cool lanyard with a microfiber cleaning cloth attached), pens, charging bricks, ear-pods, RFID-protected passports, wallet, hidden cash horde, chapstick, pillboxes, and even a keychain with a bungie cord. There are other pockets that I have forgotten or haven’t discovered yet for stuff that I never thought to carry on my person while traveling, but I rest assured that these well-hidden and not so obvious pockets might one day come in handy when someone turns to me and says something like “do you happen to have a toothpick on you?” or some such thing (note to self: buy a pack of plastic toothpicks and find a good pocket to carry them in…and then try not to forget exactly where you have hidden them).
At this very moment I am sitting on Air Alaska #332 winging my way to the east coast. My VERIA knapsack is overhead next to my Away carryon (I love the space Air Alaska give its first class passengers…so no need to use the ample under-seat space and cramp myself). I’m wearing my Scott-e-Vest ultimate travel vest and have handy access to everything I need. I just took it off and put it through the scanner at TSA-Pre and Bob’s Your Uncle. And just to really blow my traveling mind this morning, I burned that my Apple Watch allows me to keep my iPhone copies into my vest and it puts the QR-code up on its screen when its time to board and once again, Bob Was My Uncle. The Travel Life can be good when you’re all geared and gadgeted to the max.