from rscottjones

A quick review after two long weekend trips with these Cotopaxi Allpa 35L travel packs.

We primarily bought these for use on weekend trips to cities, especially when we use public transportation instead of renting a car, or when we’re bouncing around several destinations using short flights or public transit.

Our first trip was a simple long weekend to visit Jen’s parents, which involved flying, renting a car, and staying at the family home—so the bag offered few benefits over a normal roller bag. Still, it worked fine enough, even though our long walk through O’Hare and to the rental car facility might have been marginally more comfortable rolling a bag instead of carrying one. The second trip was a weekender to San Francisco, which involved ubering and staying at a friend’s house. So again, not a lot of advantages over using a normal roller bag.

That said, we’re both pretty satisfied so far.

The packs are generally laid out well and work for how we pack. The first trip I stuck to my usual packing cube strategy, which mostly worked; I could probably dial it in a bit better with different shaped/sized packing cubes than the ones I currently use. The second time I just packed directly into the zippered compartments, which worked much better, though feels a bit “naked.” I pack all of my clothes into the larger compartment that takes up the one entire side.

The smaller compartment on the other side is where I put my toiletries, including liquids (since I usedTSA pre-check, we don’t have to have remove them or else I’d keep them in a more accessible spot), plus other items, like a sweatshirt, pajamas, charging pack, rental car kit, and so forth. In a smart design move, this section also extends behind the small, flat zippered pouch above it, which provides a bit of extra space, depending on how full the other pockets are.

The opposite side of this area is a large compartment on the front of the bag, which is where I keep my airplane bag (I currently use this small 3L Patagonia Black Hole Cube, but though a 2L version would be more ideal). This bag holds a whole slew of things that I might want access to during a flight—snacks, airpods, kindle, phone holder, battery pack, notebook and pen, tissues, wet wipes, masks, some meds…basically anything I might possibly want. I take this entire airplane bag out when I get to my seat on the plane, attach it to my water bottle, and put my carry-on in the overhead bin. The airplane bag then lives under the seat in front of me, though it’s small enough that it doesn’t impede my legs from stretching out at all (I also have an attached carabiner so I can hang it from the seat back pocket if I prefer). This plane bag strategy works great for me, and it’s incredibly easy to use with that large compartment on the front of this pack—much easier, in fact, than with my roller bag or my usual “personal item” backpack I’d use with my roller.

There’s a padded laptop area up against the shoulder straps whose sleeve perfectly encases my 13" MacBook Air. With the added padding from the shoulder straps, I think it’s well protected when the bag is full, though I’m a bit more nervous about it when the bag is open, especially if the bag could get torked and twisted in an awkward way that compromises the screen (yeah, I’m probably overly paranoid about such things) which seems possible if you try to move the bag while it’s unzipped and half packed. But that’d only happen after I was at my destination, so I should be able to remove and safeguard the laptop when I arrive. Finally, there’s a stretchy water bottle sleeve that’s deep enough to hold my 20oz bottle without fear that it’ll always fall out, though I wish there a loop nearby to attach it with a carabiner.

Beyond that, the remaining pockets to mention are all fine. There’s a smaller one above the large plane bag compartment where I keep my sunglasses and other small items. When you fully close the bag, the two halves zip together in the middle, and I’ve used the space in between to pack an empty flat daypack to use at our destination that wouldn’t have quite fit inside a compartment.

There are a number of other minor bag features I won’t get into, as we haven’t really utilized them yet. Ok, I will point out the handles—there are several of them positioned around the bag that are easy to grab, which I’ve found well…handy 😉. And while I haven’t made much use of the waist belt, Jen has gone so far as to stash the straps behind the hip pad—a nice feature if you won’t be using them.

The only concern thus far is that I’m surprised at how scuffed up the exterior has gotten after just two trips, especially since we’ve only hand carried these. It took just one flight in an overhead compartment to receive a number of blemishes on both of our bags. These appear to be cosmetic, but it’s something to keep an eye on. Just a few trips in and your pack will paint you as a well seasoned traveler who must bounce around the world constantly.

All in all, the packs have been a good purchase. I’m interested in seeing how they hold up over time and if we start “onebagging” it over our usual roller + small backpack routine as a result of having them.