Whether you travel often for business or only once a year to visit family on the holidays, you’re probably familiar with the usual airport hassles. The lines, the bag check, and the part where you find yourself digging in your carry-on for an important document or scrap of paper with your flight information on it. In fact, even if you meticulously pack everything you’ll need at your destination, it always seems like you’re missing something when it comes time to actually navigate the airport.
One of the major issues is the whole idea of your one carry-on. There are all sorts of things you might want to bring ranging from your laptop and music collection to a snack and an emergency change of clothes. In all the jumble, it’s easy to let something important like a pen or your passport slip to the bottom. But what if there were a way to keep all your most important items in a separate and easy to access bag without breaking the ‘one carry-on’ rule?
Introducing the Drop Leg Bag
Unlike a normal satchel, drop leg bags are carrying bags that secure a handy pouch to your hip, is a great alternative to the fanny pack, only much cooler and usually more rectangular. Drop-leg bags are primarily used by workmen who have to keep their tools and work devices at-hand without getting in the way. They are usually big enough for a tablet, your wallet and phone, a handful of paperwork, and a few small personal items. However, unlike a purse or your larger carry-on, a drop-leg bag is usually small and tidy enough that it doesn’t become a pen-eating black hole. Instead, everything you need can be carefully sorted into pouches and loops, then fastened securely to your hip.
How to Wear the Drop-Leg Style
There are two styles of drop-leg bags based on the length of the larger strap and your personal preferences. Longer straps are usually meant to be slung across the body like a satchel, then the lower strap is secured around your thigh to hold the bag in place. If the upper strap isn’t long enough for this, it’s most likely meant to be looped around your waist while the lower strap is secured around your thigh. Both styles should leave the bag hanging comfortably from the top of your hip to about halfway down the outside of one thigh.
Drop-Leg Bags Do Not Count as Luggage
While the ultimate useful purpose of a drop-leg travel bag is to hold important personal items you’d like to have on-hand, the best part about packing this way is that your bag doesn’t count by airport standards. Just as they wouldn’t try to make you take off a money belt, fanny pack, or wallet bracelet, a drop-leg bag holds onto your body and doesn’t have to be stowed so it isn’t counted against your airport bag count. On top of this, when you wear it to your seat and buckle in, a drop-leg bag is also a lot easier to access and retrieve entertainment supplies from than your pockets, which are scrunched under the seat belt, or your carry-on which is either above your head or under your seat.
At this point, you’re probably wondering where an average person with travel plans can even get a bag that is normally used by industry professionals on the job. If you’re planning on taking a flight anytime soon and are looking for the ideal way to pack, we’ve got everything you need to pack your tech and important documents on-the-go.
