Hello again from Dublin, Ireland! Matt and I are back in Dublin for the second time since August, visiting Sarah and Kelan — I love living in Europe and being able to hop around to different countries so easily. But I’m coming at you today with a review of my brand-new CabinZero backpack, which I bought specifically for trips like this where I’m packing in only a personal item.
As you may know, flying with low-cost carriers in Europe like RyanAir or Transavia means that you typically only get a personal item/underseat bag for free. Beyond that, you’ll need to pay if you want to bring an overhead/cabin bag. While sometimes we’re willing to just suck it up and pay the extra cost — like when we take our 10-day Christmas market tour across Eastern Europe in a few weeks — it’s really not necessary for four days at our friends’ house. And while I’ve generally got the personal item packing list down, I felt like my usual everyday backpack wasn’t the most efficient for this type of trip.
A few days after our destination wedding in Catalonia, we came across a store in Barcelona selling CabinZero bags. I thought they seemed to be a great size, made efficient use of the space, and were cute, too! And after a week of thinking about it, I decided to order my very own CabinZero backpack.
CabinZero Backpack Sizes
CabinZero bags know what they’re doing — on their website, you can shop by “airline” or “bag function” to make sure you buy a backpack that is guaranteed to be approved as a personal item/underseat bag for your trip. They state:
CabinZero backpacks are the perfect bag for under-seat cabin allowances on most airlines, even low-cost ones. The CabinZero Underseat BagsCabinZero fits major airlines’ personal item bag descriptions, including Ryanair, Delta, Spirit, and many more.
However, this statement only applies to backpacks with a capacity of 28L.
I, the other hand, bought a 36L bag. I know it was a little bit of a risk, but I figured as long as I didn’t fill the bag completely to the brim, it could squish enough to fit neatly under the seat in front of me or in the bag testers at the airport. (Thank God it has been about a decade since I actually had to use one of those things.) And truthfully, the bag doesn’t look much bigger than a typical backpack.
CabinZero Backpack Features
CabinZero bags seem to be mostly made up of one big compartment, which zips down about 80% of the way to the bottom. There’s also a zippered section on the front, as well as two zippered pouches inside the front, and a laptop sleeve in the inside back.
Four tightening straps help you make the bag even more compact, and there’s a carrying handle on the top as well of the side, so you can carry it horizontally if you want. And while the bag doesn’t have a hip strap or anything — so it might not be the most ergonomically comfortable if you’re walking long distances — the straps are nice and wide and decently padded, so they shouldn’t cut into your shoulders.
One small downside is that it doesn’t have a water bottle holder, but it’s not a dealbreaker. (Europeans don’t carry water bottles like we Americans do anyway, lol.)
CabinZero Airport/Airline Experience
Of course, flying for the first time with my new backpack, I was just a little bit nervous. I wanted to try putting it in the bag tester just for my own curiosity, just to see if it could fit, but I didn’t want any RyanAir employees to see me and give me a hard time. So I didn’t try.
When it was time to board the plane, nobody looked at me or my bag twice. The only downside of the bag was that it didn’t quite fit under the seat, but I was in the aisle seat — aisle seats, especially on RyanAir, have like half the legroom of a middle or window seat. While sitting in the aisle, I looked at all the other aisle passengers’ bags, and they were also sticking out. Even those who had a lot smaller bags than me.
Looking at the middle and window seats, I feel confident that I could have even rotated my bag 90 degrees and it would have fit perfectly under the seats. And none of the flight attendants cared, anyway. So I don’t really anticipate it being a problem going forward.
What I Could Pack in My CabinZero Bag
After sweating in Spain all summer, winter is here — at least in Ireland! So knowing I was going to be wearing my coat all weekend, and that I could borrow anything I needed from Sarah, I didn’t pack a lot of clothing. You probably can’t fit as much in a CabinZero bag in the winter as you can in the summer, but I didn’t need a lot anyway.
Besides my sweater, jeans, waterproof sneaker boots, long socks, and my long coat — all of which I wore on the plane — here’s what else I packed in my CabinZero bag.
Clothing
- 2 shirts (one long sleeve, one short sleeve)
- 1 green T-shirt (for the Ireland rugby game)
- 1 green hat (also for the game)
- 1 rain jacket
- Long wool socks
- 4 pairs of underwear
Electronics
- Laptop
- Laptop charger
- Mouse & mousepad
- Kindle
- UK/Ireland phone charger & cord
- Portable charger
Personal Care
- Contact lenses and travel contact solution
- Glasses and case
- Toothbrush and toothpaste
- Extra Invisalign
- 3 travel-sized skin care products
- 1 washcloth
- Small makeup bag
- Makeup remover wipes
- Lume deodorant
- Allergy pills, ibuprofen, and prescriptions
Miscellaneous
- Headband
- Claw clip
- Fjallraven cross-body bag
I bought another pair of jeans and a sweater here in Dublin, so I might have to wear my rain jacket on the plane and carry my other coat to make room, but I think it’ll work. 🙂
Overall, I’m really happy with my choice to buy the CabinZero bag! It was so convenient to just one-bag it for this trip, especially since we’re only here for four days, so it was really the perfect size.
Have you ever heard of CabinZero bags, or what do you use when you’re packing in only a personal item? Let me know in the comments!
-Cathy
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