Okay, I hear you ask, why go for paper guidebooks rather than those on a Kindle, iPad, iPhone, Android phone or tablet, laptop, desktop or one of the other electronic book formats?

Because I (and a few others judging by recent comments on Lonely Planet’s Thorn Tree Forum) prefer to use paper guidebooks rather than techno ones. I have a couple of guidebooks on my Kindle and one on my Mac Mini, but there’s at least two book shelves full of paper guidebooks either on the landing or in the office at Wisepacking Towers.

I’ve been using Lonely Planet books for about fifteen years now and still have that first one upstairs – Andalucia. It proved to be useful during a week’s walking holiday as it gave me some background into the area, the customs, the food and a few places to head off too on the day off from walking (apart from The Alhambra).

I’ve also bought a few Rough Guides too and a couple of DK Eyewitness guides for good measure. I’ve doubled up on guides a few times now whilst planning independent or semi-independent trips abroad. The first occasion was after booking a very last minute week in Paphos – the booking was made on a Thursday and the flight out was the following Sunday.

As we were also in need of hot weather clothing (we’d been planning a camping trip to Wales, but the heavens were well and truly open – and the forecast was for even more rain), we headed over to the retail park at Birstall, got some extra white t-shirts, sun hats etc and called in on Borders Books to get a couple of guidebooks.

The haul ended up being Lonely Planet’s guide to Cyprus and the comparable volume from Rough Guides. We both took a look through each guide and came up with a list of where we wanted to go and where we fancied dining out at. As the holiday flights included hold luggage and we had accommodation booked, that’s virtually all we used them for.

We did make discoveries of our own too that added to the nature of the trip and booked a couple of day trips run by a local company. Yeah, the only coffee shop we found in Paphos with air-con was Starbucks, but at the temperatures were hitting 43C, some principles had to be set aside for a week.

Although we’d booked that package at short notice, we’d also tailored it to our own tastes because of some of the recommendations in the guidebooks and also because we’d stumbled upon places ourselves. We’ve used the same idea on other accommodation/travel packages to Prague and Bergen, but as far as the latter goes, most of the places there were a known quantity as I’ve spent so much time across there.

So, I’m hooked on paper guidebooks… Why? Because they’re so much easier to use either at home or whilst away in the country we’re exploring. We headed over to Portugal last year and whilst I did download a sample of the LP Portugal book onto my Kindle, I bought both the LP and Rough Guide to that country, as I’d seen a few user comments about that edition of the LP Portugal guide that weren’t too complimentary (I’m pleased to say that the 2014 edition of Lonely Planet Portugal is much, much better!).

I’ve found it easier to use the index to find the page or section that I’m looking for. I’ve marked pages by adding Post-It Notes in the right place and used a fluorescent yellow highlighter pen to indicate places of interest, places to stay or places to eat. If those places have featured in both the Lonely Planet and the Rough Guides books, then so much the better as two recommendations are better than one.

I’ve become frustrated at the time it takes to find and then pull up the right pages on the Kindle and on the Mac Mini, so much so that when I’m doing any research for a holiday, it’s now predominately done by reading the guidebooks first, marking up the pages or making notes and then either copying the appropriate pages to take with me or shoving the guidebook into my bag as a reference source on the ground that doesn’t rely on a wi-fi or phone signal or a battery charger to work.

Using the book has another advantage. Yes, it still marks you out as a tourist if you’re not looking at it in your hotel room, but it also acts as a bit of deterrent to those thieving toe-rags who like to relieve people of bright, shiny pieces of technology. The book may be heavier, but it’s funny how there are times when the book just falls open in the right place either of its own accord or because you know which one of the Post-It Notes you need to aim for!

Yes, I use tech sources to book accommodation, find out about local events or to find up to date travel times, but that’s all done at home before I head off. I’ll also do a weather check on the BBC website to get an idea of what to pack too. Once on the road though, it’s books, eyes and ears time – with a little bit of asking for help locally thrown in for good measure too!

Can the paper guidebook be improved upon? Only in one respect at the moment. As travel becomes that thing you do, it’s become noticeable that guidebooks have moved to feature more upmarket places to stay, eat or frequent and it’s the establishments at the lower end of the price scale that are disappearing from the pages of the guides.

Personally I’d rather stay, eat or visit affordable places rather than even look at the menu of a place bearing the name of a celebrity chef, try to get into a super club or pay over the odds to go around a theme park!

It’s been interesting to see or hear different people’s views about travel insurance.

I’ve always taken it out for trips outside of the UK. I have had annual cover on a couple of occasions and cover via one of my then bank’s current account deals, but any insurance is now taken out on a trip by trip basis.

Some providers offer travel insurance that is available to all, whilst others have definite no-nos if you’ve had certain medical problems. As I’ve survived a stroke, I always declare the fact and give the provider a full account of what happened, when it happened, what the current state of play is and a full list of medications that are being taken. Once that’s been undertaken, then there’s usually an additional fee to pay to cover the additional risk factors and then it’s time to pack and go.

There have been times though when that hasn’t been the case. Back in 2007, we changed our holiday plans at two days notice as the weather in the UK had been so atrocious – rain, floods and more rain & floods – so we ditched the idea of camping in Wales and headed down to our local travel agent.

And booked a week in Cyprus instead – guaranteed sun, no rain and a self catering apartment in Paphos instead of a small tent on a hillside in Snowdonia. As it was such short notice, we took the agency’s insurance out for the trip, but it took a great deal of insistence on my part to get the fact that I’d had a stroke over to the travel agent and then the person she spoke to over the phone. One referral call later and the extra cover was in place, but boy, did it take some doing!

Fast forward a year and we booked a late deal for a walking holiday in Austria. The insurance was taken out separately from the holiday this time and whilst everything was declared, there was a height limit on the policy – that I wasn’t to go above 2000 metres.

It was only when we were out on one particular day that we realised at the last minute that our intended lunch hut was above that height. So a decision had to be made. Yes, I took on that risk and got away with it, but given that the decision was taken in the middle of a fine day and there was a very good track up to the hut, it was a risk that was worth taking. Yes, I had quite a few years of hillwalking under my boot soles and a few years as an instructor too, so the risk factor was very, very, calculated!

More recent trips haven’t had that edge to them as I would now class myself as a traveller rather than an adventurer, so the insurance questions haven’t been as probing – just the basics about the stroke etc, but I still get the additional charges.

Others I know however have had to have risk factors almost drummed into them though. One acquaintance decided to head off to the U.S of A to do some sky diving. They had insurance cover through their bank, but hadn’t specific cover for dangerous sports. Once the message got through (which involved doing some research into basic US medical costs), and additional premium was paid to provide additional cover, but boy, it took some convincing to get to that stage.

When I have been skiing, or climbing or on walking holidays, I’ve always taken out that extra cover, just in case. I’ve been hospitalised on three occasions now – spontaneous pneumothorax (a.k.a a collapsed lung), food poisoning and that stroke – and there was little or no warning on any of those occasions (I’d had a medical three days before the stroke and had had a lot of treatment on an infected leg wound for a few months before that). I also know people who have been knocked off bikes or motorbikes too.

Fortunately, all of the events mentioned in the last paragraph happened here in the U.K. where we have good emergency services and the medical treatment is usually free to the end user. Had these happened in the U.S. then who knows what the costs would be?

So, what’s it to be?

The cost of insurance?

Or a good night out instead?

My money is always on the cost of insurance every time – good nights out can cost a lot less!

It’s been a while since I’ve travelled anywhere and had to use a launderette.

The first time was in Ambleside back in the 1970’s and the last time was on Orkney about six years ago. It’s not that I’m averse to sitting in launderettes waiting for my clothes to wash and dry, because it was something that I had to do once a week when I was a student in the mid-1990’s.

Yes, one of the joys of travelling light is the prospect of having to wash and dry your clothes on the hoof. All you need is a sink, some washing stuff and some hot water and Bob’s your uncle, Charley’s your aunt and it all comes out in the wash. Or does it?

Well yes and no…

On the yes side, I’ve been washing and wearing clothes over and over again on travel trips for more years than I care to remember as I see it as one of the trade-offs for travelling with hand luggage only.

T-shirts, trousers, socks, shreddies and travel towels have been washed and worn on walking holidays, sightseeing visits and business trips too. It’s rare that it’s taken longer than overnight for anything to fully dry thanks to the judicious purchases of travel specific clothing, but if there has been a little bit of dampness left in anything, it’s usually disappeared shortly after wearing said item once more.

On the no side, it’s been heavier items such as jeans and other cotton based items that have presented problems. Whilst jeans can be worn and worn again if you’re not fussed about getting into clubs or the kind of bars that have a dress code and meatheads to enforce it, cotton t-shirts can honk something rotten after a day and take ages to dry too.

Sometimes though, even travel specific clothing can throw up a cleaning problem. I was away earlier in the year and cooked up a chilli for an evening meal. Nothing fancy you understand as it was a simple matter to open up a couple of cans and warm them through on the camping stove.

Problem was that the heating up and eating of the chilli had a significant side effect. No, I wasn’t looking for ‘Hughie!’, but small spots of chilli sauce on a white t-shirt do tend to be noticeable… That took a couple of washes at home with a spot of Vanish to remove!

Moral of the story – I’ll wear a red t-shirt the next time I’m cooking chilli.

But I digress. Washing, drying and wearing on the go isn’t hard. I’ve just finished off one tube of Dr. Beckmann travel wash that I picked up in a local supermarket at home last year, but I usually favour Lifeventure Fabric Wash to do the deed. It’s available in airport security friendly 100ml bottles, lathers up well for the most part and works.

Fill the sink with water, add the Fabric Wash and then do the washing before rinsing well in clean water. Once done, it’s time to wring the items out, do an air-wrap (basically it’s grab hold of a shirt or whatever and then swing it above your head or in front of you for a few minutes). After that, roll the item up in a travel towel a few times and then hang it up to dry.

Although I have dried clothing in a bathroom in the past, I now stick the shirt, trousers or whatever on a hanger and dry it in a well-ventilated part of the room. If the room has a balcony and it’s a warm day, then it’s hung over the balcony, a chair or a door handle until it’s near enough dry to wear once more.

Now there are some places that I’ve stayed in over the last year that have a specific policy against washing clothes in the bathroom, but I have to admit to ignoring any notices and discretely doing the washing anyway, especially if I’m staying there for one night only.

Caroline and I recently stayed in an apartment in the Lakes that didn’t have a washing machine – there was a shared use one on the site – so all we did was our usual wash and wear thing in the bathroom and dry things outside on the backs of the patio chairs and keep an eye on the ducks and squirrels that were wandering around the back of the apartment.

For us, it’s second nature to go down the wash and wear route, but as I’ve mentioned elsewhere, there are those who don’t want to do it for a variety of reasons.

Some don’t think that they can fit the time to do it into their daily schedule while others simply don’t want to do it. Some would rather pack more clothes into their bags and get someone else to do it for them (and pay the going rates and then go on to moan about what the going rate was online afterwards…).

Me? I’ll stick with what I do at the moment thank you very much as I’d rather use any money charged for laundry services on food, drink or travel costs! I’d also ensure that anything that I’m likely to wash and wear is colour fast too by using the washing and wearing processes at home before heading off into the wide blue yonder….

Turning the page over on the calendar this morning set me thinking about some of the experiences that I’d had over the years…

Such as;

Seeing the Northern Lights

Not once, but three times. The first two occasions were right here in the UK – the first was whilst walking back to my digs in Aviemore after a gig at the Aviemore Centre and the second was whilst driving down the A!M near Washington Services after  another gig in Newcastle by the same artist (former Marillion frontman Fish) a few months later.

The third time was the killer one though – over a stave church in Lillehammer in the middle of winter. Sublime…

Looking down over Bergen after dark

Caroline and I were in Bergen for a few days and as we’d bought a 24 hour Bergen Card, we went up the Floibanen funicular railway after dark. The view over the city was fantastic and if we were minded to get hitched, that would have been the place for me to get down on bended knee…

An early morning dip at Geysir

Had been staying in a bunk room at Geysir in Iceland and it had a geothermal swimming pool. Plan was to get up at first light, do a few lengths and then have breakfast before venturing out to get our shots of Strokkur firing up into the air before the tour buses arrived.

Plan was fully implemented, but as the air temperature was below freezing, the run back indoors after the swim was a rather rapid one.

The shots of Stokkur the geyser going off were stunning – the lighting was perfect and the colours were stunning. Just a shame that I don’t have the pics any more. Time for a return journey in the next couple of years methinks…

Having a whole Lake District valley to myself

Imagine a sunny day in the middle of May. The route was to walk from Ambleside to Scandale Pass and then over to Brotherswater Inn then back up Kirkstone Pass and then drop back down to Ambleside. When I got to the col and started to head towards Brotherswater, I realised that I’d left the crowds behind. Nobody behind me, nobody in front of me and I had the whole valley to myself.

A day on a tall ship

The current calendar in the kitchen at Wisepacking Towers is the 2014 RNLI Tall Ships calendar. The October plate highlights a ship that was spotted in the harbour at Kirkwall when Caroline and I were on the Orkneys about six years ago. As I drove down towards the campsite, I spotted the tall ship in the harbour and thought ‘No, it can’t be…”

It was. Statsraad Lehmkhul – a tall ship that once had a starring role in The Onedin Line television series and a ship that I was more used to seeing moored in Bergen harbour.  And it was £15 a head to go out on her the following day!

Caroline and I got the last two tickets for the trip and whilst she didn’t get out under full sail, it was a very fine and totally unexpected experience.

Okay, you need some new outdoor or travel boots, sandals or shoes…

What’s best for you? The ones that match your needs and any aspirations you may have…

It’s a common sense approach that’s been thought about after years of walking, travelling and selling both town shoes and activity footwear of all different kinds.

I’ve had people ask me about materials used in the making of footwear. Some wanted a Vegan product whilst others didn’t want items made of leather or pigskin because of their respective religious beliefs. Some wanted a waterproof lining, others didn’t.

One thing that’s always worth doing – use a bricks and mortar retailer rather than an internet outlet. You can try on as many pairs as you like, you can pick the brains of the sales staff and even take your purchase home and try them before using in anger.

You can also try the ones you like on, then go for a coffee and try them on again later as a means of ensuring that you have the right pair for you and that you’re a happy bunny!

There five rules to bear in mind when you’re buying new footwear for outdoor or travel use

Don’t leave it until the last minute.

I’ve had people coming into the shop I used to manage who were wanting boots to wear on the Yorkshire Three Peaks challenge – the following day…

They were kitted out, but only after trying on several different pairs and a recommendation to buy appropriate socks and a couple of packs of Compeed blister plasters to use as preventative maintenance on their heels and little toes.

Go shopping in the afternoon (unless you’ve just done a night shift!).

Your feet can spread between a half and a full size between morning and afternoon, so it makes sense to go shopping in the afternoon when your feet are at their broadest.

Buy the best footwear that you can afford rather than going for the cheapest. 

It’s also worth mugging up on how long a particular footwear model has been around for. If it’s been around for years and is virtually unchanged, then that’s good as it would indicate that the brand got that model right first time or has made subtle changes to get it right.

Give yourself at least an hour to do the deed and try on as many pairs as possible in order to get the one that is suitable for purpose which also fits you well.

Let the assistant know what your plans are as they should know what each model they sell is suitable for.

Different brands can have different size and width fittings in their products. I know from my own experience that I may take a size 8/42 in one brand’s footwear and a size 9/43 in a rival’s footwear. The assistant should know about any sizing traits in models sold.

Walk around the shop and take advantage of any slope or step simulators the store may have.

Or indeed walk around the shop and then up and down any stairs they may have. Are there any pressure points? Is your heel being cupped nicely or is it moving up and down as you wander around the shop?

If you’re happy with the size and the fit of the footwear, ask a very important question –

“Can I take them home and try them indoors for a longer period of time and if they’re not right, can I bring them back and get a full refund?”

Any retailer that’s worth their salt should say yes to this and give you a specific time period in which to return that item of footwear. The main proviso is that the item can be resold as it is and it hasn’t been worn outside of the house, flat or bedsit or been given any kind of use, proofing or treatment that has changed the outward appearance of the footwear.

If the answer is yes, then it’s almost time to get the card out and pay for them. If the answer is no, then it’s time to take a long walk out of that shop’s door and go elsewhere.

I’d also ask about the best ways to look after the footwear in terms of cleaning and proofing the product and whether there are any specific cleaners or proofers that should be used to do those deeds.

I’d also get a spare pair of laces, and think about investing in a boot bag to carry the footwear in both before and after use. The latter’s the most important here as it’s always easier to clean the boots and boot bag after a muddy walk than it is to clean damp or dried on mud, grit or animal dung off the car’s carpets or boot lining…

And the last pointer? Find out what the guarantee is on the item and always, but always keep the receipt and the box the item came in for the duration of the guarantee. If the receipt is printed on thermal paper (most are nowadays), keep it in an envelope and file and use the box for storage in your office or whatever…

Yes, I confess! After years of being a bookworm, I succumbed two years ago and bought a Kindle…

The decision wasn’t a hard one to make as Caroline’s two sons had Kindles and her youngest bought her the then top end model as a present on International Gift Giving Day. The version I bought though was at the other end of the scale – the one with a four-way controller, no lighting system and wi-fi for the buying or downloading of book buys.

I had been looking at the then new Paperwhite Kindle, but it had just been announced and as the demand for it was so high, Amazon had sold out and were awaiting another delivery of what was an already successful product. So I went for that four-way model, bought a cover for it and a separate charger that could be plugged into the mains whenever I needed to top-up the battery.

Setting up the Kindle was quite easy once I’d got the gist of how to do it. It’s logged onto our home wi-fi system and once the wi-fi reception mode is activated on my Kindle, books are downloaded and ready for reading in a matter of seconds.

Once the download’s done, then the Kindle is put back into Aeroplane Mode to optimise the battery life of the unit. If I’m heading off for a week or two then the Kindle is fully charged before I go, but I usually find that a full charge usually lasts around four weeks on the amount of reading that I do on a daily basis.

Apart from switching the Kindle onto Aircraft mode to save the battery, I also avoid using the screensaver mode on the unit. When I’m finished reading, I keep my finger down on the on/off/sleep button until the screen goes completely white – this indicates that the unit has been switched off and that the battery is going to last that little bit longer.

Although I have what was until quite recently the most basic Kindle model, I have over 200 books or booklets available to me for perusal on the Kindle or on our Mac Mini as I’ve downloaded the appropriate reader program from Amazon’s Kindle site.

My Kindle currently has around sixty volumes in its memory, but there’s another 149 books or booklets stored in the Cloud that can be rebooted at a moment’s notice when the wi-fi is switched on. The mix of works available for reading at any one time is an eclectic one.

The first book purchase was Empire of the Clouds by James Hamilton (it’s about aircraft development) and there’s also works by H.G. Wells, Dickens, the Brontes, David Niven, Andrew Marr, Guy Martin, Tom Peters, Rick Stein, The Hairy Dieters, Stuart Maconie and Karen Darke.

On the whole, I find that the biographies, novels and business primers work well on the Kindle, unlike travel guidebooks or cook books. If I’m travelling, then the paper version (or parts of it as photocopies or cannibalised guide) of the appropriate guidebook goes with me.

This is largely as a result of not getting on with eBook guides in either Kindle or PDF formats. I’d rather carry the book and refer to it than try to find the appropriate page(s) on a Kindle or a computer. I do have eBook guides on the Kindle and the Mac Mini, but I’ll refer to the paper version when I’m at home or away rather than the electronic version.

Apparently I’m not alone in this either as similar comments were made on Lonely Planet’s Thorn Tree Forums recently.

Cook books weren’t mentioned, but it’s easier to use paper ones in the kitchen! So, I like my Kindle. And I use Amazon, a company that has its fair share of critics in the big wide world. All of my Amazon purchases do help a very good cause though as I use a link from the RNLI website that ensures that Amazon donates a minimum of 5% of the value of all orders to the RNLI. That link? http://rnli.org/howtosupportus/otherwaystohelp/Pages/Amazon.aspx

In the day or so leading up to my writing and posting this piece, an updated range of Kindles has been announced. Full details about the new range are on Amazon’s website along with details of chargers and covers for your Kindle. The new range is due to made available in early October.

If you would prefer to take a look at a Kindle, then it’s worth checking out the Kindle line-up in bricks and mortar branches of Waterstones as they sell Kindles and a range of accessories too. Staff are also on hand to answer questions about the various models and as to the ways and means of purchasing books for your Kindle.

Other eBook readers are available, but the one I chose just happened to be a bog standard Kindle rather than a superior model, a Kindle Fire or a Nook, iPad, iPad Mini or an eBook program on an Android tablet or any of the many variations of smartphone systems…

My Kindle doesn’t have a lighting function and neither does the case, so I use either the tent light if camping or a head torch when trying to read the screen in a hostel with below-par lighting in their communal areas. I may look like a berk, but I’m still reading my book, sorry, my Kindle!

Few posts on here this week as there’s been an outpouring of words for another outlet this week – it’s a long time since I wrote 10,000 words in less than a week! Taking a week off from computer matters to go searching for the Northern Lights this weekend and sort out a few things too. There will be three updates a week on wisepacking from week commencing Monday 29th September 2014 and these will include clothing, equipment and footwear reviews plus ‘how to’ pieces and comment posts too. The weather forecast for the weekend is good, so boots are going to be donned and used – have a good one whatever you’re up to!

Hello there!

Yes, I can confirm that the comments facility is alive and kicking!

Constructive comments are more than welcome on wisepacking, but the only trolls that are welcome here are those cute-ish critters from Norway that were all the rage in the 1960’s or the not so cute ones as personified by the fridge magnet that was picked up in Bergen three years ago!

Hasta la vista… whatever that means (I can’t do an Austrian accent!).

When I was in retail, it was always interesting to see and hear what people wanted in the way of bags for short or long haul trips. 

Some wanted big packs, some wanted small packs. Some wanted big packs with wheels whilst others wanted bigger packs with wheels. Some even wanted packs that they probably couldn’t carry anyway if they were filled to the brim.

Many wanted big packs to take with them to South East Asia, a destination where the common consensus amongst travellers using Lonely Planet’s Thorn Tree Forums is to take a 30-35 litre pack. Some wanted to take everything they would need with them – even when it was pointed out that you could get toiletries, contact lens solutions and, yes, any extra clothes to replace those that had been damaged or lost along the way.

There’s a lot of different bags out there. Some are fabric based whilst others are hard shell. Some have carrying handles whilst others have rucksack harnesses hidden behind a zipped flap. Others have extending handles and wheels so they can be pulled along behind the traveller that’s bought them.

My personal preference after years of using packs as an outdoor instructor is for a fabric bag with a rucksack harness that can be hidden away. It should also have grab handles, one or more pockets to take the stuff that needs to be shown at an airport’s security desk and it should also have zip pullers that can be locked together to deter thieving toe-rags…

After using Karrimor and Lowe Alpine travel bags over the last twenty years, I think that I may have found the bag that ticks all of the boxes that I needed to be ticked when it comes to picking a bag to use for hand luggage only trips – the Osprey Farpoint 40.

Now I stress that this is my personal choice here, but it’s one that appears to have been made by a few people in Thorn Tree’s online community. I’ll be posting my thoughts on this bag on wisepacking in the next week or so, but as I say, this is my choice and it may not be yours.

Fabric bags have many advantages. They’re space efficient, lighter in weight and have external pockets so you can stash items where you want to. Some bags are available in different sizes too which is great if you’re Ronnie Corbett rather than John Cleese…

They can usually be cinched in so you can adjust your bag to suit the cabin size limits of any airline you’re flying with.

They can also be picked up and run with if you’re late for a bus, plane or train. Or carried onto a bus or into a taxi to avoid any bags in the boot charges. They’re also easily placed into left luggage lockers if you don’t want to cart them around during the day (Caroline bought her own Farpoint 40 after trying mine out and we managed to get both packed bags into one locker at Rossio station in Lisbon last year).

Now some may want to get hold of a wheelie bag for their travels, but my advice would be to think long and hard about going down this route. A hard shell wheelie bag has a lot of dead weight to think about, a factor that can eat into any cabin baggage weight allowance.

It’s also worth doing a spot of people watching in the rush hour on a railway station and then doing the same in the middle of a busy town or city centre. 

You’ll probably see a whole load of commuters and ‘suits’ using wheelie bags of all sizes and whilst there probably won’t be any problems in the railway station or in a shopping mall, when it gets to the streets, it’s where the fun starts!. Especially if there’s cobbles around, kerbs or areas with mixed surfaces for decorative purposes or to give people with visual difficulties an idea where crossings are. 

One scenario that ticked me off recently was a couple towing wheelie bags behind them in the centre of Ambleside. It was obvious that they weren’t local, but they weren’t aware that their bags were taking up a fair amount of a narrow pavement. Or that their bags were moving trip hazards… 

Fortunately nothing happened, but one thought did cross my mind. How cool would one or both members of this couple look if they inadvertently rolled their wheelie bags through a pile of dog poo or any other organic matter of a similar nature? I’ll let you decide that one!

As a measure of the various criteria that airlines have when it comes to hand luggage and hold luggage too, it’s worth taking a look at www.antler.co.uk/baggage-allowance-guide for more guidance. 

Antler have a range of different bags to cover most eventualities – but remember, other brands are also available (and I’d recommend that you see and try a selection of bags in a shop before you buy rather than making choices online.