This post is not sponsored. I held off writing a review until I had throughly tested out Away suitcases. All expressed opinions are my own.
With all the Away buzz on Instagram, I wasn’t quite sure if their luggage would live up to the hype. However, I had just given my sister my old check bag (she was moving to LA), my carry on was starting to fall apart and Kimo and I had a 5-week European trip planned. Admittedly, I was madly in love with Away’s sleek exterior but I still wasn’t ready to take the plunge.
After we had finally booked all of our flights for hopping around Europe, next came the tricky part: Making a spreadsheet of all the airlines’ maximum luggage dimensions. European luggage requirements are famously strict compared to the US. Once we had that sorted, I went to Away’s website and checked to see if their bags would work for our trip.
The Medium check bag would work for all airlines. The Large was too big for a few of the smaller European carriers. The Carry On (Away’s smallest bag) would be the perfect check bag except for Ryanair. I started looking elsewhere online for a rolling carry on small enough for Ryanair and came to realize that only their rolling bag was carry-on friendly. It was about 40€ to check an extra bag and I decided I wasn’t going to fuss about finding a rolling bag for Ryanair. On a separate note, Ryanair was the absolute worst and we’ll likely never fly them again.
By the time I had decided that I wanted to give Away a try, they had launched a collaboration with Pop & Suki in light pink. I took it as a sign and ordered The Carry on and The Medium for myself in Blush and Asphalt for Kimo.
The suitcases come beautifully shipped in a box made for each suitcase size. Upon opening the boxes you’ll find your luggage encased in canvas drawstring bags. I thought the canvas bags were brilliant. For the longest time, I would put my carry on in a plastic garbage bag and then put it in my suitcase to keep the inside clean and save space. That always worried me because humidity is high in Hawaii and I didn’t want mold and mildew to grow.
You should also know that The Carry On fits perfectly inside The Medium.
The true test for me was seeing how well these suitcases would stand up to being dragged from Hawaii to New York to Europe and back home again for a total of 5 weeks.. Because we were staying in different cities, traveling via plane and train I knew these bags would truly be tested.
The short review is this: GO UPGRADE YOUR SUITCASES NOW.
The longer review is as follows:
Pros:
- Incredibly light bags
- Very spacious inside
- The wheels did very well — even on the cobblestones
- The USB charger on The Carry On is a winner. Can’t tell you how many times I used that waiting to board, waiting in the baggage claim, etc. At one point I plugged my phone in and popped it in my purse while we walked through the airport for 10 minutes.
- Wonderful to store: they stack inside each other
- Loved that one side zippered shut to hold heavy objects in place and the other side allowed me to be a little loosey-goosey with my clothes. There is a divider with a zipper compartment that buckles over the opposite size. Nothing explodes out at you when you unzip your luggage.
- Easy to clean
Cons:
- The pink showed dirt easily. That being said, I did expect this to happen when I picked a light color. However I wiped both of my bags down with a magic eraser when I got home and they look almost good as new.
These bags might look small in the photos, but keep in mind for a 5-week trip, I could have fit everything I packed into one side of my suitcase, minus my toiletry bag. Packing cubes were my friend and I planned on doing laundry. This left me with plenty of room to bring home wine, a couple of purses, shoes and more.
