The Lo & Sons Catalina Large Deluxe bag is an excellent bag for travel with kids, thanks to its versatility.

I’ve now used it on three trips, two long haul flights, and one short weekend road trip. On all three occasions, the Catalina Deluxe bag has been extremely useful.

For long haul journeys, I’ve used this bag as my carry-on/diaper bag. When I travel with my small children, my carry-on is basically all for them, meaning it includes everything you’d need in a diaper bag, snacks, extra clothes, and lots of items to entertain them with. My children are currently 3.5 and 1 years old and particularly for the older one, books, coloring books, sticker books are key.

What I love most about the Catalina Deluxe is the separated compartment at the bottom of the bag, which can be used to store additional stuff, depending on the type of trip you’re on. 

When using the bag as a carry-on on a long-haul flight, the separated pocket was used to stuff all of my older child’s books.

For our road trip weekend away, I found the top compartment big enough to store my two children’s clothes and mine. I actually used the bottom compartment to store our dirty laundry.

But I could see that bottom compartment becoming useful if you had nice shirts you wanted to ensure were folded nicely throughout the trip.

The biggest advantages of this bag are its versatility and its size — it’s big, but small enough to be a carry-on.

The downside for came when using it as a carry-on. I wish it had wheels on the bottom. Hanging it over my shoulder did strain my back, and when traveling with small children, our bodies go through a lot. If there had been wheels at the bottom so that I could pull the bag, it would have been absolutely ideal.