Review of the Bento Bag by Nomad Lane

With my trip coming up I thought I got inspired to do some posts based around travel. If you know me, I have a love for travel and a love for organisation. Put them both together and I get very excited over functional travel gear.

I’m happy to be a proud owner of the "Bento Bag" by Nomad Lane. This was a product which I had backed on Indigogo in August last year. I first came across it from an Instagram ad, as Facebook knows me way too well. After resisting the temptation for an impulse buy after seeing it pop on my feed several times, I kind of figured if I keep going back to look at the page, I must really want it. So I backed the project.

For those who aren't familiar with buying something off a crowd funding platform like Indigogo or Kickstarter, the products that are advertised aren't actually available yet. It's a place for entrepreneurs and innovators to post a campaign and pitch a product idea to the public. They then crowd fund money to assist with production costs to get the idea off the ground. If people like the idea, they put in a pledge to back the project and it's only if it meets its target for production that you actually pay.

The Hubs is quite the fan and has bought severally things off Kickstarter, but it was the first time I got getting something off Indigogo myself.

Since the Bento Bag didn't actually exist yet, it took a few months to actually receive it as I had to wait for the campaign to close, then wait for the production and then delivery from the factory in China.

I was really impressed with the level of communication received by Nomad Lane who kept us updated every step of the way. From adding new colours as they met their stretch goals, to optimising their design for extra features, to their visits to the check quality control of production, to expected delivery dates all over the world.

I managed to receive mine just before Christmas and I was super excited to get it in the mail - just like a Christmas present to myself. I couldn't wait to trial it on a trip for real. Now that my trip is coming up soon, I finally can!

The bag is packed with so many organisational features, it would make Marie Kondo squeal.

Features

The bag opens like a suitcase. This means you can pack everything upright Konmari style making it easier to see everything at a glance.

Fits under the seat in front of you. Measuring 44cm x 25cm x 20cm it is considered as a "personal item". Having it under the seat allows you immediate access to your belongings without needing to get up from your seat and to grab something from the overhead storage.

Carry handles and removable shoulder straps for different carrying methods
Sleeve to slide over suitcase handles. It also has an extra zipper pocket for quick access items like your boarding pass. I previously used a Country Road duffle for my carry-on, but what annoyed me most was that even after slinging the duffle over the suitcase handle, the bag always seemed to swing around and fall off the suitcase when I'm walking. I don't know how many times I've had to stop to fix it up. Hopefully this sleeve on the Bento Bag will mean it will be kept securely in place.

Slides over the suitcase handle. Looks pretty secure.

Outside carabiner. I usually have a travel pillow clipped on my bag so it's great to see there is a designated carabiner just for it, or whatever else you would want to hang.

Designated pocket and pouch for your tech. If you're a modern traveller, you need all your devices at hand and with that comes a whole lot of cables that can get tangled and annoying to manage. This makes it easy to access and tangle free.

Designated pocket and clear pouch for toiletries. With strict security regulations, any liquids must be in containers of 100ml or less and carried together in a transparent, resealable plastic bag. The provided pouch is made just for that and since the pocket is separate to the main compartment, you can take it out in one swoop without having to dig through and fumble around with the rest of your belongings.
Padded internal pocket to fit a 15” laptop. You can easily access it from the top zipper without having to open the whole bag.
Front section has heaps of stretchy pockets for personal items like phone, wallet, passport, pen slots, key leash, secured zipper pocket for cash

More pockets than I know what to do with. In the top right hand corner you can see a USB cable which connects into your portable battery pack.

In built USB charging cable to plug into your battery pack so you can charge your phone on the go.

The external USB slot for you to plug your phone into without having to open up your bag.

Internal elastic to keep objects (drink bottles) in place

Comes with two shoe bags so you won't dirty your clothes with the shoes packed.

What comes in the box: Bento Bag, tech pouch, clear pouch, shoulder strap and two shoe bags.

Design

The design of the bag is sleek, modern and unisex. The exterior is made of a lightweight, water-resistant nylon material. Hopefully this means it will be easy to clean. Unfortunately for me it still gets attracted to dog fur :P. It's got nice brass metal zippers, the handles and straps have microfibre leather accents which they claim is animal-friendly but weighs less and has the same tear-resistance as real leather. It's also got metal feet on the bottom of the bag to protect the base of the bag and keeping it off the ground. The construction feels pretty sturdy but I'm finding that the zippers don't glide as nicely as I hoped. Maybe I need to give it some WD-40.

How I pack it

In my very first test run packing for an overseas trip, I will be using the Bento bag as a personal item bag to supplement my bigger suitcase. Of course, if you’re going on a quicker trip it could easily be a carry-on only bag or weekender bag.

Though it opens in the middle like a suitcase, since one side has the pockets for the two pouches, it leaves really just one and a half bag space of internal room. On the bigger side I’ve placed my drink bottle to be held in with the side elastic, a hoodie for the plane ride in case I get cold, sunnies and my med kit pouch.

I’ll probably end up wearing the hoodie to the airport which means I will have so much space…to be replaced with snacks :P

The other side is mesh which would be good to put shoes or items that need ventilation. I decided to pack a back up outfit for just in case in the unlikelihood that something happens to my luggage during transit, I’ll at least have a change of clothes.

In generally don’t carry a laptop when I travel so in the internal pocket sleeves I’ve stored my Bose noise cancelling headphones, kindle and iPad for entertainment on the plane ride.

Gotta keep yourself entertained somehow on a 10 hour flight.

Note that, though you pack it flat like a suitcase, the way that the zips are configured, your items actually stand up and all items can be easily accessed without having to open the whole bag. So you can technically stack your items when you're packing, and still have it standing up right and see everything when you open the bag when its standing up.

Easy access to all sections of the bag without having to open it flat.

In the clear pouch I have only packed my liquids that I may want access to in flight including lip balm, hand sanitisers and moisturisers and a face mist to counter the dry air conditioned air in planes.

I have a separate tech accessories pouch that I’m packing in my suitcase so for this smaller carry-on accessories pouch I’ve included:

one cable to charge my phone
an airplane headphone jack in case I wanted to use my own headphones to plug into when watching the onboard entertainment units
some earplugs
sleeping mask
socks in case my feet get cold during the flight
a portable scale
a little adapter that I had used to previously keep my Country Road duffle affixed to my suitcase during transit. Hopefully this won't be needed anymore.

In the front section there are pockets that fit your passport perfectly, as well as slots for your phone and portable battery pack. I've also packed a packet of tissues and a pen to fill in any arrival cards. I've also packed my travel wallet with all my travel documentation, cards etc in this pocket.

I’m very keen to see how this set up handles in action so I’ll be sure to give an update on how it performs.

Update 13/7/19

My holiday has come and gone so I thought I'd give an update on how the Bento Bag fared.

Overall, the bag travelled pretty well over my 3 weeks overseas trip. It was mainly used for the purposes of transit at airports. Once I got to my hotels, the bag was relatively unused as most things were packed away in my larger suitcase and then anything I needed on a daily basis was transferred to a smaller day backpack.

The bag fit snuggly underneath the seat in front of me with some space for my shoes. This does obviously limit your leg room and ability to stretch though, but I prefer easy access to my belongings rather than having to get up and get things out from the overhead storage. As I had packed all my essential items that I wanted access to on the plane, the compartmentalised design made it super easy to find my things without needing to fumble around through its entire contents. This was generally:

Access to travel wallet for passport and ticket information to fill out those arrival and departure forms
Access to mini toiletries bag for when I needed a pick me up when my lips and face were feeling dehydrated
Access to my electronics for entertainment

All of these had their designated pockets so very quick to find.

The compartmentalisation also made it easy getting through security since all I needed to take out was my see-through pouch and my iPad. My water bottle of course needed to be empty prior to going into security which I then would fill up at water stations once I got through.

I had two main issues with using the bag however. The contents of my bag ended up weighing just over 5 kgs and with me being pregnant, this was quite a lot of weight to be carrying over one shoulder. In the end, I ended swapping with The Hubs so that he would carry my bag and I carried his travel bag which converted into a backpack. He got The Voyage Bag from Kickstarter which is also a great travel bag. Let me know if you would like me to do a review of that bag. The Hubs does not like shoulder bags so did not enjoy carrying my bag.

Another gripe I had was with the zippers. Zippers are a bit stiff to open and close especially around the curved edges of the bag. The materials used keeps a nice looking structured design, however it does not stretch so does not give much in terms of leeway for bulkier packing. If you slightly over pack, you will have issues closing it up. Also, living with 2 dogs, there is a lot of fur about which seems to like to stick to the bag.

I had packed my travel wallet in the front pocket with a pen slotted in the little pen holders. Although it fits, it was again difficult to close up. The zippers haven't broken on me yet, but I'm definitely weary of it. Hopefully in future they could look at upgrading to YKK zippers to see it that improves it.

Overall it's a travel bag with a great design, however the materials used could get reviewed for improvement in future iterations.