170 BAGS OF FUN...

When Carl was arounf the other night I showed him the Sparco bag I'd found, which is both massive and fits in with the rally aesthetic. He agreed that it is precisely the sort of thing we need, and that we should be able to fit all of our clothes and toiletries in, and that it will fit perfectly in the back of our little Abarths. Lisa saw it and said it wasn't girly enough, so it was out.

Back to the drawingboard for us. The difficult search for a large, pink, soft-shell bag with wheels, a handle, and that opens across the middle began again. I was expecting a long, drawn-out search, but it turns out a company called Eastpak had something right up our straza.

Eastpak is an American lifestyle brand that specialises in the design and manufacture of a range of products, including bags, backpacks, travel gear, and accessories. They started out producing bags and packs for the U.S. military before focusing on the consumer market in 1976. They now make the magnificent Transit'r L available in glorious 'monotone pink'.

This beast has a whopping 121 litres of clobber-swallowing space, is made of quick-drying, water-repellent polyester, features a telescopic handle and a carry handle, and has two inside compartments and a front zip pocket. Most importantly, "it looks pretty". <sigh>

It ticks so many boxes that we decided to take a punt on it. We also bought Lisa a matching 24-litre Day Pak'r backpack for toiletries and bits and bobs she needs to access quickly. We hope that everything we are taking away will fit in the daftly named Transit'r and Day Pak'r.

I also picked myself up a Transit'r, but in 'tarp black' - much more manly, looks like something the JSOC special forces guys would use when they are away on special ops - you know the type of thing, matt black, on matt black with matt black accents. Yeah, manly.

So that is the luggage sorted, another thing off the ever-growing list. Now we need to do a test pack to see if we can carry everything we need. If not, we might need another bag too, maybe a Transit'r S (42-litre) or even a Transit'r M (78-litre), in which case we will need to add a trailer to the list of essentials for the trip. <sigh>