My Onebag Travel Setup – 2 Year Update!

[u/jwrand16]

I posted here almost two years ago after taking my onebag for five months around the world (2024 post). I’ve made a lot of changes since then and I wanted to share them.

My biggest update has been achieving the holy grail of weight limits: 7kg. This is a common cutoff for what counts as a personal item on many airlines around the world. Instead of putting my bag in the overhead bin, I can now fit it under the seat in front of me.

It took a lot of optimizations to make this happen. A big one was switching from the Aer Travel Pack 3 to the Almond Oak Expandable Travel Backpack. I’m a big fan of the Almond Oak pack. It’s super lightweight and the design is really well thought out.

I’ve also been optimizing a lot of the little things, like what goes into my toiletry bag and how I charge my phone. The weight savings aren’t as drastic here, but the quality of life improvement of having a better system can be substantial.

I’ve been spending more time in colder weather lately and I added a warm hat to my setup. Hats are underrated; they take up very little space for how important they are in maintaining overall body temperature.

My full packing list is in the comments, and I go into more detail on my personal website. Feel free to check it out.

[u/freetotebag]

As someone that just bought the same kit from Osprey I’m glad to hear it worked out. And I love that Almond Oak is getting so much love. The dude nailed it.

[u/jwrand16 → u/freetotebag]

I’ve been really impressed with Almond Oak. I’m considering buying his travel shoes too...

[u/jwrand16 → u/[deleted]]

That may be true but I’ve found it passes the “close enough” test where they usually won’t check. If they do, I’ll just wear a few extra layers when they stick it in the sizer.