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HOWEVER. Y'ALL. Listen. When I tell you that I am blown away by this bag... WOW. I just... WOW.
So, check it out:
I love star gazing. LOVE IT. I also love photography. Back home (Pacific Northwest), there is more country and rural areas than there are cities to clog up the night sky. I bought a telescope a couple of years ago and haven't been able to do ANY stargazing where I live. I wanted to take my telescope and my cameras with me on my trip, but I could not figure out a way that would be efficient AND inexpensive to do so, short of having to ship my telescope and tripods out ahead of me and then just pack a bag and hop the train. I reached out to my Astronomy professor and asked for any ideas he might have on how to take a telescope for traveling across country, and he said he wasn't able to think of anything, offering maybe tubes like you'd use for posters and such. The design of the telescope I have, the tube idea probably would be a bit of a beast to figure out.
After weeks - since pretty much before I booked my tickets four months ago for the summer - I have been SCOURING the interwebs to find a solution that would work. I found this beauty. It only cost me $41.01 after tax, and it got here today.
It is not easy to really blow my mind when it comes to luggage, right, but this? I'm SPEECHLESS. It's sturdy, there's LOTS of room in there, I am LOVING the wheels are smooth to roll across the floor (even on my carpet!), AND the padded handle on the end where the telescope handle is, it's comfortable for my hand.
I was going to just wrap my telescope and tripods up in fleece blankets and stash them in the bottom compartment, but I decided to try to see if the boxes would fit. AND THEY DO. So, I have the boxes that the scope and the tripod for the scope came in stored in the bottom compartment, and between them, there was enough room for my tripod for my cameras. In the main pouch, I have my camera bag that has ALL my camera stuff, including my photography journal, AND I still have enough room to put a week's worth of clothing in there. I'm used to "military rolling" my clothes (this is to fit a lot of clothes in one small space, even thicker stuff like jeans, hoodies, and the like, been doing this for years, HIGHLY recommend!). This should fit on the train pretty well in the luggage compartment, it's about the same length as my old little suitcase was. BUT IT'S SO STURDY. The lower compartment, all zipped up with both boxes inside, the zipper isn't stressed at all. It's not bulging and threatening to rip open. The texture of the bag is sensory-friendly (to me), and I can easily use the side compartments for "wet pouches" to stash toiletries - shower stuff, specifically - into without issue, and without needing to spend extra dollars on travel-sized bottles that I might only use once a year.
Once I get back, the bag will be unpacked, I can just collapse the bag part itself down, store it in my closet or under my bed without having to struggle to find room for it, even though there's rods in there for the telescope handle for pulling the bag across the terminals.
I am going to FOR SURE order another one again when I get ready to move back home. I love the price, I love the sturdiness of the bag, I love, love, LOVE how roomy this thing is!
