Tag Archives: Around-The-World

Review of the Red Oxx Sky Train — A Bag Built For An Around-the World Trip!

The Aeronaut and The Sky Train -- Chilling Out At The Sofitel Papeete

In Part One, Lauren and I were trying to find luggage that met both of our requirements for the round-the-world trip. Somewhere along the way, we also had developed our own concept of “one bag travel” — one that was a little different from the way we saw other people doing it.

Unlike some One Bag Only purists, we decided that everything we brought along should be able to fit into one bag — but we didn’t necessarily need to be dogmatic about it. If it made things more convenient for each of us to supplement our main suitcase with a couple of small bags as well, that was fine by us… so long as we could fit everything back into our main bags should that become necessary. We also both wanted something that we could carry onboard airplanes, fit into the overhead racks of trains and ferry boats, and also be sturdy enough to check if we wanted to.

But Lauren wanted a backpack and I wanted something a little less…. granola.

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By unpacking my travel attitudes a bit before planning our trip, I had to face up to the fact that I had a kind of aesthetic allergy to backpacks. For me, I felt like I’d look more like an invading soldier than a respectful guest if I hoisted around some enormous, oversized pack that fellow pedestrians would have to dodge.

Was there a way to split the difference so that we could keep a low profile while moving around easily and quietly? Was there such a thing as a “carry on / backpack hybrid” that was also sturdy enough to survive as checked luggage, but didn’t make me look like I was about to climb K2?  Perhaps a bag elegant and simple enough to not be out-of-place in either a nice hotel or in a hostel?

After some research, I discovered two bags that I thought fit the description and were enthusiastically recommended by other world travelers: The Red Oxx Sky Train and the Tom Bihn Aeronaut.

Would either of these bags be able to meet all of our needs? I bought one of each to find out.
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An Introduction to a Series of Posts About An Around The World Trip.

Forget what T.S. Eliot says about April being the cruelest month — it’s February. In New York City, it’s the time after all the fun holidays have passed and the novelty of the first snowfalls has worn off.

It’s just cold — unremittingly, depressingly cold.

But frozen soil is good for growing at least one thing: my escapist daydreams. During one such February a couple of years ago, my girlfriend Lauren and I started talking about weddings while having dinner at our favorite neighborhood Thai restaurant. It was a time before we were actually engaged, but after it was clear that we were going to be. And it was one of those light — almost incidental — conversations that you have as a couple that throw off some longer-lasting insights which help you figure out how you both think and feel about things.

But I’m making it sound heavier and more portentous than it was. It was really as much a way to pass the time on a cold winter night as anything else.

A Journey Of A Thousand Miles Begins With Me Shooting My Mouth Off

Probably primed by both the warm surroundings and the Chicken Curry Puffs, I asked Lauren if she had ever heard of an Around-the-World airline ticket.

“Wait…They sell those?”

“Yeah. They do.”

Without giving it much forethought, I think I then said something like this:
“What if — instead of spending a ton of money on a wedding — we just spent it all on a honeymoon trip traveling around the world?”

Lauren just looked at me blankly. Crickets.
Then she said “We totally have to do that!”

And so we have.

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