pack

Recently, I was perusing an article where creative types shared their travel essentials on Hypebeast. One stand out entry was a collapsible shopping bag from BAGGU. While I was a bit skeptical about just how necessary a shopping bag was for travel, it was easy to see why their line of brightly colored bags would catch the eye of an artist. A quick glance at their website and I found an entire line of candy-colored bags for travel. I had the chance to play with a set of their zipper packs and a daypack, and discovered that BAGGU offers much more than a shopping bag for the jetsetter. If you're looking for more ways to pack light, stay organized and fashion conscious when you're on the road, these might be the bags for you.

I'm always on the hunt for the perfect travel shoe. One that's comfy, easily packed and doesn't look like it's sole function in life is orthopedic. Recently, Sanuk contacted me to see if we wanted to test out the travel heartiness of a few pairs of their shoes that are "as much about funk as function." I headed straight over to their website to see a wide range of casual and fun shoes that I was surprised were not already living in my closet.

They arrived just in time for both Austin and I to test them out on two separate trips out of town. I was headed to warm and sunny St. Croix, the perfect weather for testing out their flip flops and sidewalk surfers. Austin, however, was heading to the chillier locales of upstate New York and had just the pair of heartier shoes to bring with him. I'll let Austin share you his thoughts on the guys shoes tomorrow and jump right into my warm weather experiences.

A few months ago I stumbled across yet another entry into the packing aid arena. A series of elastic straps called Grid-It allow you to organize whatever it is you need to organize, however you want to organize it. I quickly became mesmerized by their promotional video of strangers approached in New York City and challenged to organize their bag, so I ordered myself a couple to see how I would fare. I've been using them for a few months now and as I was packing my gear up to head to Hawaii on Friday, I thought it was high time that I shared them with you.

As you can see it's easy to pack them in a variety of ways. Sometimes I toss it in a bag for taking notes

Despite spending a majority of my childhood on the beach, as an adult I'm a bit of a tropical travel novice, opting for cities over sunscreen and museums rather than mai tais. In the past year, however, I've found myself in Aruba, Hawaii (and soon to be in Belize.) I've found, surprisingly, despite my ability to fit an entire winter wardrobe into a backpack for a month, packing for the beach has been a constant struggle. On one shoulder, there's that evil girly-girl jumping at the chance to throw in a second pair of sandals, and on the other there's my carry-on conscience telling me to throw half of it out. Needless to say, I've made some mistakes and I'll risk embarrassment to help you avoid them.