I'm Not Afraid to Say It — I'm an Away Luggage Convert
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Full disclosure: I was skeptical of Away luggage.
As the first direct-to-consumer luggage company, I didn’t quite understand how or why it developed such a cult following. I’ve even been quoted saying that I’d never buy a hard suitcase. But when the zipper on my trusty TravelPro carry-on broke, I faced a dilemma. Do I get another TravelPro, or do I buy into the millennial marketing of Away and purchase The Bigger Carry-On?
I wasn’t prepared to make a snap decision, so I set out to do some research. I work in search engine optimization, so naturally I was curious about how many people roughly search for “away luggage.” The answer? Almost 300,000 per month. Clearly I wasn’t the only one doing some research.
I scoured the web for other reviews, too. From The Points Guy to Travel + Leisure to Buzzfeed, all reviewers claim it’s the best carry-on suitcase they’ve ever used, for reasons like:
> Wheels so smooth “it feels like the bag is floating alongside you.”
> “Durable as hell”
> “You can stuff your suitcase to the brim” and it will still fit in the overhead bins
I even talked to some of my colleagues who have Away luggage to see why they love it so much:
My research yielded overwhelmingly positive remarks, so after scrolling through the brand on Instagram to help me determine what color I wanted, I bit the bullet and purchased The Bigger Carry-On in Navy. I was in a little bit of denial about how excited I was — I checked the tracking several times a day and kept looking back at the website to confirm I went with the right color selection. By the time it finally arrived, I was buzzing.
Outside of maybe furniture, the carry-on made one of the best first impressions of anything I’ve ever opened. It looked so perfect, it had so many extra things inside that I didn’t even know I was getting (laundry bag, outlet converter, screwdriver), it even smelled good. I couldn’t wait to use it on my next trip.
Pretty much everything that I read was true. You can literally stuff it to the brim and it will still close up into its normal shape; the wheels are truly life-changing (my previous carry-on didn’t have 360-degree wheels and I had no idea what I was missing); it really is worth the $245. Also like reviewers said, it does get scuffed pretty easily, but they include a sponge that’s like a magic eraser for your luggage. Cleans those scuffs right on up.
I know that I’ve been converted, because I also now own several other products, and I have my eye on another:
Now that you’re convinced you need an Away suitcase, the next (and hardest) decision you have to make is which color to get! And you’re in luck because the brand just launched a fun collaboration with Flour Shop to bring you a rainbow assortment of options. Check them out, plus a few of our favorite classics, below:
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