I love travel backpacks, it's such an easy solution these days where bags can cost money to check but "backpacks" are considered personal items. While some that have reviewed stretch those boundaries, I found that Travel Pack sent to me by Aer to be very smartly designed and had a killer feature that makes it perfect for overnight business trips.
That killer feature is something I haven't seen in other travel backpacks and that is a shoe compartment that opens on the outside of the bag.
Think about this ... you just finished that meeting in Chicago and now you are flying home to see your family but those "business shoes" aren't nearly as comfortable as your sneakers or flip flops.
In the past, you might have wrapped your shoes in a plastic bag and shoved them in your suitcase but that means you've got to open the bag and mess stuff up. With Travel Pack, there's an opening on the bottom and you just slide them out and swap! I just wish it was a little big bigger so that things wouldn't be squished like they were with my Gambino Alliance shoes. As such, I would recommend that you still put your shoes in a soft protective pouch so they don't scuff, but at least they are easy to get at.
As you'd expect, the shoe compartment does take up a considerable amount of space here but there's still plenty of space for a change of clothes and toiletries etc.
On the outside of the bag, it has compartments for virtually everything that you'd need. This includes a water bottle holder large enough hold the 32oz Not Vodka water bottle.
In addition to clothes, it also has a variety of quick access pockets to store various items and a laptop section designed to fit a 15.6" laptop. In generally, I found it to be pretty comfortable as well and since it's much smaller than some other travel backpacks that we've reviewed it is much easier to travel with. The one thing it doesn't really do for me is provide a good area to protect my camera gear since it's generally one big compartment. However, our friends over at Sleeklens have some great alternatives that work well.
The Travel Pack from Aer Designs is available on their website for $220.
