Blog Archives
Gift Guide: 12 Stylish Duffle Bags For Travelers
With the holiday shopping season among us I’ll be posting a set of gift ideas at least once a week for the rest of this month and in December with the topics of travel, grooming, tech, winter style and more! The gift guide series will hopefully help inspire you if you are stuck on what to get for friends, family, and significant others, and you might even want to pickup something for yourself. This week is all about travelers and stylish duffle bags to use a carry-on with selects from the likes of Johnston & Murphy, Ben Minkoff, Ernest Alexander (pictured above), Herschel Supply, Coach and more: Read the rest of this entry
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12 Stylish Backpacks For Every Traveler
Bags are obviously one of my favorite accessories, and the backpack is a style perfect for all types of travel. Whether you’re headed to a tropical destination, getting ready for an outdoors adventure or visiting a luxe hotel in London, there’s a backpack out there that’s perfect for you this spring:
Luxury & City Travel
Kenneth Cole Leather Convertible Backpack ($325, Kenneth Cole)
Tumi Alpha Bravo Lejeune Backpack Tote ($445, Tumi)
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Must Have For The Smart Traveler, Tumi’s Alpha 2
Kicking off our new Must Have series, Tumi welcomes an upgraded collection to the luxury travel brand. The Alpha 2 line is a collection of 19 products smartly designed for a lighter and spacious journey with each trip taken, and if you’ve owned a piece from the previous Alpha line, you’re in for over 30 upgrades to the design—depending on the style selected. Noticeable upgrades include:
- Tumi’s lightest ballistic nylon, which they introduced 30 years ago are known for.
- Reinforced frames with heavy duty, lightweight stitching and impact resistant corners.
- Newly designed 360° wheels that are recessed into the body of suitcases to provide more stable navigation and a little extra room in the interior.
- Three height options for the lightweight, aircraft-grade aluminum handle.
- A durable and stealthy Lever Lock Expansion System, which can securely provide two-stages of expansion—with up to two and a half extra inches of packing space. #winning!
Pictured above is the Extended Trip Expandable 4 Wheeled Packing Case, selected for its two toned color option (to make an extra statement while traveling) and as it is one of the luggages with all the upgrades. Though if the color choice becomes available for the International Expandable 4 Wheeled Carry-On option, that would be my pick a the must have from the collection. See more of Extended Trip option below:
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In The Bag: Accessories For London Travel
In this edition of Vee Travels’ In The Bag series, essential accessories for travel in London. Shot in one of the luxury personality suites of The Savoy, these accessories are based on a blue color scheme, that also mix winter accessories with unique tech designs. Just in time if you’re headed to London early next week for the spring/summer 2014 menswear collections at London Collections: Men.
Backpack – Tumi
The Tumi Lejeune Backpack Tote ($445) is very versatile, and the camo pattern option got me several compliments during my time in London last month. Wear as a backpack or use as a tote with the backpack hide-a-way straps and its military-inspired, cord top handles Offering four pockets on the outside (three zips and two open), inside you’ll find several pockets (a large zip, large open and small open pockets) with an orange color scheme.
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Outfit: Fall To Winter Styling & Shopping In London’s Covent Garden
Visiting London on a press trip this month, I took the opportunity to indulge in some shopping sightseeing. Exploring one of Covent Garden‘s best streets for men’s fashion and grooming, King Street (above) is filled with London brands such as Burberry Brit and Hackett London, and others you may not be too familar with such as Oliver Sweeney (luxury footwear, accessories and outerwear), Murdock London (a barbershop and grooming line, located in Hackett) and Jo Malone (fragrances and skincare).
International brands continue to set up shop here, and now include the first Opening Ceremony in Europe, 7 for All Mankind, Sandro (Parisian luxury), Lyle & Scott (Scottish knitwear) and Aesop (Melbourne grooming and skincare).
Styling myself for the fall to pre-winter weather, I went with a reversible varsity coat from Kenneth Cole that offers a wool side and a quilted one (see both below). For an extra pop of color to the look, I wore my Gap garment-dyed skinnies in forest green.
UGG‘s lightweight, black leather Westly style desert boots with blown-rubber outsoles, I was comfortable with all the exploring I did in Covent Garden and the rest of London, and I geared up with a camo Tumi Lejeune Backpack Tote to stow any goodies I found while wandering. Next shopping stop, Floral Street:
A street up from King, on Floral Street you’ll find a mix heritage and modern brands. On the west end of the street you’ll find the Paul Smith flagship, which is also Sir Paul Smith’s first one he opened and the first in fashion shop to open in Covent Garden. Also on the west, Ted Baker and Dune London (footwear and accessories). Heading east, you’ll find Spanish shoe brand Camper, British luxury accessory brand Mulberry, and Yohji Yamamoto and addias’ edgy Y-3, which just opened this year.
A handy map is available here for your next visit to Covent Garden, and more of my look below:
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Gift Guide: Business Accessories You’ll Want For Yourself
Continuing Vee Travels’ gift guide series, while you are shopping for last minute gifts for a friend, family member or partner to be used in and out of the office, you’ll want to pick these up for yourself:
Coach – Legacy Utility Flap Colorblock Commuter
Available in three different colorblocking styles, this glove-tanned leather commuter bag with suede sides can be used both as a brief or a crossbody with its detachable strap. It’s zipper top is covered by a flap with golden turnlocks, and you can fit 15″ laptop inside. ($648, Coach)
Tumi – Alpha Tri-Fold Carry-On Garment Bag
For the man who needs to bring an extra outfit for an after-work event or to change into right away on a business trip, Tumi’s Alpha garment bag can easily be carried by handle or removable shoulhder strap, and feautres extra pockets on both side of the foldedable bag for socks, ties and any tech or travel documents needed. ($395, Tumi)
Trask – Jackson Tech Sleeve
Made of Italian wool and Norwegian elk leather, Trask’s slim portfolio fits tablets of all sizes, and features a flap cover with an exterior pocket. Available in a classic heather grey and a trendy teal. ($85, Trask)
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Gift Guide: 12 Luxury Carry-on Travel Bags You’ll Want For Yourself
Continuing Vee Travels’ gift guide series, this week features luxury carry-on bags that’ll make anyone very happy to receive as a present this holiday, but you’ll probably want to pick one or more of these up for yourself to bring along on your next flight or train ride.
Tumi – Alpha All In One Duffel
Bold use of white and orange are paired with the trendy camo, Tumi’s Alpha All In One Duffel lives up to its name with the functionality to split into four smaller bags. The three exterior compartments each detach from the main duffel and convert to a messenger/brief, a crossbody bag and a tote (which opens up from the section on the right below), leaving a slimmer and sleek carry-all to use on its own as desired. ($495, Tumi)
Mulberry – Small Clipper Leather-Trimmed Canvas Holdall
A small holdall, it makes up for size with its eye-catching blue canvas body. Trimmed with a brown resilient leather and two handles, the shoulder strap is of course detachable. ($950, MR PORTER)
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Contest: Win Tumi Travel Gear
While you shop gifts this holiday season for friends, loved ones or yourself (no judgement, I do it each year too), take a break and visit the Facebook page of luxury travel brand Tumi for to enter its holiday giveaway for a chance to win stylish gear for your next trip.
Eye candy men’s gear prizes the past couple of days have included the Drexel Envelope Brief in Earl Gray and the trendy Lejeune Backpack Tote in the new white and black colorblock scheme (both pictured above). Win other and similar Tumi gear by entering each day here until Christmas.
Stayed tuned for more contests to enter!
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Gift Guide: Passport Covers & Cases For International Travelers
The holiday shopping season is among us, which means it’s time to start thinking gifts. Each week I’ll be posting a set of gift ideas with the topics of travel, grooming, tech and winter fashion that’ll work for friends, family or even to pickup for yourself (or to add to your wish list). This week is all about international travelers and their passports.
A passport cover adds a stylish personality to the basic passport, while also adding extra sleeves for cash or credit cards. For multi country journeys and big shoppers, a case is the perfect organizer for several tickets, receipts for tax refunds (if the city you’re visiting offers it when you leave) and to hold all your euros, pounds or pesos. See our top five this season below:
Kenneth Cole – Paglietta Leather Travel Case
The textured midnight blue leather travel case from Kenneth Cole can hold 10 cards in their own slots, includes a zipper pocket on its left side and bill compartment on the other, and has a pen loop so the user always have a pen or pencil handy ($90, Kenneth Cole).
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In The Bag: Traveler’s Global Style Accessories For The Weekend
Photographed at the Tcherassi Hotel in Cartagena, Colombia
Accessories that can work anywhere in the world are essential for a traveler to showcase a global style, especially for the weekend when you are packing light and need an easy transition back to your day-to-day routine. Once you’ve picked your travel companion—for this trip to Cartagena, Coach’s Bleecker Legacy Weekend Tote ($658) for its modern heritage design and spacious body—its time to pack the necessities for your journey. So what do you bring in the bag?
The Bleecker Legacy Weekend Tote has a fabric lined interior with a large zip-pocket on one side and two open smaller pockets on the other (each fit a iPad Mini), a zip-top closure, and a small exterior pocket for your smartphone
If you’re only going to be traveling for a short time, no need to bring that laptop of yours obviously, but if you need to get some sort of work done or you need to catch up on your shows while in transit, a tablet is the way to go. However for any international trip, the first thing you need before that is to style up your passport:
Passport Cover – Men In Cities
From Yuvi Alpert’s Men In Cities (an edited, limited collection of accessories each month with each item costing the same price), this beige Global Nomad Passport Cover ($40) has a vintage inspired charm to it. With two large pockets on each inside flap—one for a passport end and the other for your ticket—and a smaller pocket on the right flap (not pictured).
With the mini earth imprint on the cover, it’s a testament to Alpert’s simple and stylish designs
Vee Travels 