New Gear — The Dunkleys | Travel Lifestyle

Over the last 6 months, we have acquired/updated our gear. We decided to do this as a way to travel lighter, buy the cheapest flights, and not need to replace items for a long time. I have mentioned some of the new items in previous posts but I thought it would be fun to break down our top items.

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Luggage

SAMSONITE

Jordan and I visited a Samsonite outlet to just look and found these carry-on and underseater bags. Jordan loved them, went home and did a bunch more research. We bought them late last year during the sale season.

These are Mary Poppins bags! Jordan can pack so much into them! The idea is one goes in the overhead bin and the other is the perfect size to fit under the seat. Jordan has yet to fly with them but when we’ve road tripped he has put me to shame with his mad packing skills!

AWAY

I’ve already spoken about this carry-on here but, man, do I love it! It’s been to Denver, Vegas, Boston, & Los Angeles with me already and I’m just mad impressed. I was really worried about buying the bigger carry on but I have had zero issues on a variety of plane sizes. It fits everything I need and am testing it (and all our gear) majorly for our 11 day trip to the British Isles next week.

LO & SONS

I have been on the hunt for the perfect personal item! Here were some of my criteria:

over luggage strap
Mary Poppins bag (i.e. looks small but holds many things)
structured but not rigid
dark color, preferably black
if a tote, straps must be long enough where I can fit the length from my palm to elbow through (if you know, you know)
quality, I want something to last many years
be able to fit under the seat (obviously)
double as a solid 3-4 day weekender (yes, I know they are meant for two days but 🤫🤫🤫)

This may not seem like a lot to ask for but it has been crazy hard to find something to match these criteria! I purchased (and returned) multiple bags to get to this one!

The Catalina Deluxe Tote is great! Let’s look at the criteria: has luggage strap, structured but not rigid, comes in Midnight Ash (a dark grey), straps are long, fits under an airplane seat, and is quality! I did loads of research and was happy to hear that it could fit a ton since it looks small. My British trip will be sure to test that since we are carry on (hand luggage) only for 11 days!

Tech gear

A huge part of my childhood was spent in front of some sort of a camera. My family has loads and loads of home videos that I cherish! Videos from when my mom & uncles were kids to now. Anytime, we get together I try to remember to take videos to not only keep the tradition alive but to keep those memories for posterity. This carries over to Jordan & my adventures.

STABILIZER

After we went to England two years ago I made a video and was a little sad that some of the videos were super shaky and almost nauseating.

But, I still loved our visit and the video I made to remember our first time in England together! In preparation for all the adventures that lie ahead this year I bought a camera stabilizer or gimbal.

I love that it can hold both our GoPro and phone! While in Los Angeles a few weeks ago, I played with it a bit and absolutely loved it. I bought the cheapest one I could find and it shows a bit, but I can live through the quirks to enjoy the smoothness.

This was taken while riding a bike down Santa Monica, in heavy winds. Don’t mind the blur that was user error. A stronger stabilizer video is viewable here.

DRONE

I saved the best new gear for last! Jordan has seriously been talking about purchasing a drone for like 4 years! We have had many friends and family have them over the years and the number one thing they share is that though they don’t use it every day when they do it is well worth it.

After a lot of research, we decided to buy the Mavic Air. With all the adventures we have coming along this year, we wanted something compact but wanted a high-quality video. Had to have a good video quality to go in all of our home videos. Yes, I am a tech gadget nerd and realize no one but me cares about good footage of our trip!

I checked with the areas we are visiting and confirmed where we could fly our drone. It came a few weeks ago and we have been messing around downtown with it.

Update: The stabilizer I bought kind of sucked so I returned it (thanks to my warranty) and bought a better brand. Highly recommend the DJI brand over others. Also added related content below.