confession

Crater Lake, 2026

Hi. My name is Jen and I have a confession to make:

I checked my bag both ways on a recent trip.

If you know me, this is shocking. If you don’t, let me explain.

For more than a decade, I have been a carry-on only traveler. I have tested several bags over the years — some good and some not so much — and have fine-tuned my packing list to the essentials, although I still struggle somewhat with non-clothing odds and ends.

Before this month, I can remember exactly when I last checked a bag: Spring 2019, when my husband and I went to Namibia, Botswana, and Zimbabwe for three weeks. The tour outfitter gave us a packing list that we followed, which pushed us a smidge over carry-on size.

Back to our recent trip: The two of us went to Oregon and northern California for 10 days. We had a family event for a weekend and the rest of the time we were hiking, exploring, and more. The family event was casual, so no need to pack dressy clothing. The hiking was light, so other than packing some trail sneakers and my folding hiking poles, nothing else about my packing list was unusual. Our usual 40-liter backpacks each weighed around 17 pounds fully loaded, which is a little heavier than I prefer but not onerous.

So why did we check our bags? Various reasons, none of them really important:

• This was my first time packing hiking poles and, even though I carefully read both the TSA and airline websites, and learned that my blunt-tip poles should be fine, I knew from talking to other people, that sometimes TSA will still confiscate poles. My poles were not expensive, but I really like them and didn’t want to lose them. Also, the hiking poles were not strictly necessary, but I did like having them.

• We bought our tickets with our airline credit card, so we each could check a bag for free. This has always been the case, but we’ve always preferred to schlep our own stuff.

• We always fly basic economy and the hassle of fighting for space in the overhead bins is real.

• And finally, just a sort of “hey, why not” feeling. I can’t explain this, but I think we wanted to try it and see what happened, plus there was the allure of walking through the airport unfettered.

So, after much discussion — and overthinking on my part — we decided to just do it.

Side note: As we were standing at the baggage carousels waiting for our two bags, we saw sooooo many large roller bags. When our backpacks came out, they looked ridiculously small by comparison.

And … it was easy peasy lemon squeezy. We flew out of our home airport and changed planes in Chicago. When we got to Portland, our bags arrived as promised. On the trip home, our luggage made it back with us.

One thing about checking bags that was enormously helpful is that on our return trip, our first flight arrived late, we had to sprint from one terminal to another in O’Hare, and we were the last two people to board our second flight. I will say that not having our backpacks with us made that part so much easier.

So, will we do this again. I don’t know. We are in the early stages of planning a trip for this summer and I am disinclined to attempt it during the busy travel season. But for a different trip in a non-busy time? Possibly.

Anyway, that’s my confession of the day.

What about you? Do you check your bags or carry-on?