We tested the entire lineup of No Reception Club bags, including the newest Rollaway Carry-On Roller, these are our thoughts…
As a family who travels throughout the year, we are always on the search for the optimal travel bags & roller luggage. We have dozens of videos teaching our viewers how to optimize packing, which companies we use and the latest design upgrades in the luggage industry. I also recently spoke at an event in Las Vegas featuring luggage brands from around the world showcasing the latest design upgrades in the industry. Safe to say we are experts when it comes to packing and what luggage works vs what doesn’t.
Overall, all luggage basically has the same concept: keeps your items safe and accessible while adhering to airline regulations. Where bag companies differ is in who they are designing for? No Reception Club designs bags for families with children, perfect for our family as we have an 8-year-old daughter who’s been to over 20 countries. How we pack as parents is different from how we packed when we were solo or traveling as a couple.
We have a closet full of different luggage brands, styles and sizes. Picking the right one depends entirely on our itinerary and where in the world we are going. Are we going somewhere cold or warm? Are we hiking? Are there water activities? Will it rain? Is this a beach trip or are we heading to the jungle? As videographers and photographers, it also matters how many cameras are we bringing. On top of all that, we aim to only use carry-on bags to avoid lost luggage and airport carousel wait times.
In our early days of travel, Kristen and I exclusively used 80L backpacks strapped to our bodies. Later on, we switched to carry-on suitcases and camera bags. When we first became parents, we kept using those same carry-ons and camera bags, but they weren’t optimized for what we needed as a family traveling. We added a diaper bag to the collection which was a step in the right direction, but still unorganized and chaotic. Then a few years ago, we heard of No Reception Club that designed bags for families, and we immediately started looking into them. We quickly became sold and were excited to put their travel gear to the test. After that first trip with our new gear, we were sold. So, when we heard they were coming out with a new roller carry-on, we knew we wanted to give it a try.
We recently took the entire lineup of No Reception Club travel bags, including the new Rollaway Carry-on, on a 8-day family trip to Belize. We went from the jungle to the beach and purposely were not easy on these bags as we wanted to test them before writing this article.
So, how did the No Reception Club Rollaaway Carry-on and other travel luggage hold up?
The entire No Reception Club lineup is incredibly well built, which is needed for lugging around all the essentials a family needs. Each carry-on and personal item bags have strong zippers that don’t fail, even when you need to go in and out of your bag every 2 minutes for more snacks. Each item is made from durable materials to handle drops, spills, and air travel and held together using metal clasps, not cheap plastic, which are both functional and aesthetic. We took these bags on 4 flights, in and out of many vehicles, on beaches, in jungles, on boats and on many active daily activities. Aside from some dirt scruff (which are badges of honour) they were in perfect condition when we returned home.
How did the luggage make our airport experience easier?
Let’s just look at the Rollaway Carry-on Roller for this one…
The design of this carry-on is second-to-none! Having the wheels on the long edge, allowing you to stack up to 20lbs of luggage on top, is a game changer for family travellers! While strolling through a busy airport, moving excess luggage can be extremely annoying, especially when you have kids in tow. No one wants luggage that spins out of control, is unstable when no in hand and easily falls over. But with the Rollaway Carry-on, I was able to attach both another No Reception Carry-on bag and personal item bag, and pull it all with one hand. In my other hand, I was holding my daughter’s hand. I’ve never been able to do that in an airport with 2 carry-ons. Once on the flight, getting down the aisle was no longer a game of bumper cars with elbows and armrests getting banged up on the way to our seats. If you’ve moved two typical carry-ons down an airplane aisle before, you know what I’m talking about. Our airport experience this time around got a major upgrade thanks to the new No Reception Club Rollaway luggage.
How did the No Reception Club luggage make our travel days easier?
Pockets, storage, organization, oh my! The No Reception Club travel bags are meticulously designed for parents to have easy access to everything. There’s a specific insulated temperature-retaining compartment in their duffle bag for hot and cold snacks, waterproof area for wet and soiled clothes and removable organization cubby for easy packing and unpacking at your destination. We loved having everything neatly organized and accessible at all times. For the first time, we didn’t need to empty ten things just to get the one item we were looking for. Everything had a place.
What would we improve?
I wouldn’t change anything about the design. It’s perfect. If I’m being picky, I’d say having more colour options would be a good edition…although I do love the khaki and taupe colour theme they already have going.
The Verdict
After eight days bouncing between jungle humidity and beach sand, four flights, and enough snacks to feed a family of ten, the No Reception Club lineup didn’t just survive our trip, it made it better. That’s the real test for us. It’s not whether gear can just withstand travel; it’s whether it makes traveling with kids feel less like logistics and more like the adventure it’s supposed to be. The Rollaway Carry-on alone changed how we move through airports as a family, and that’s not a small thing when you’re the one holding a child’s hand through a crowded terminal.
Is it an investment? All quality luggage is. But, so is your sanity on travel days, and this is the first luggage system we’ve used that is actually designed by people who travel with kids themselves. We’ve cycled through a lot of bags over the years, and this is the first time we’ve finished a trip without a single complaint about our gear. That alone tells you where we landed.
If you’re a family who travels often, or even just often enough to feel the chaos every time, the No Reception Club lineup, Rollaway Carry-on included, gets our full recommendation and right now, you can get $86 off (that’s a 22% saving) on the new Rollaway Carry-on using our link here.
Be sure to check out our full review and photos of the No Reception Club luggage in action, including the Rollaway Carry-on in this video:
Full Disclosure: No Reception Club sent us these bags to review. Our opinions and experiences are our own. We have promoted their bags for years at no cost, as we want to support other family travel businesses. So when this new Rollaway Kickstarter launched, they wanted us to be one of the first to give it a test drive.
