❇ ... M ... is 1/ 4 Irish ....

 ❇ ... doesn't drink Guinness but ' green ' wine

' boro. the rollercoaster is in overdrive
big sun and
white covered roads
and cold 

in two days the temperature will be over 32 F and staying there - long range

I still had to bring in a downpipe elbow that was clogged w / ice. One day .... ?

yesterday. was a practice day for the older traditional laptop travel backpack. The Targus Voyager has been to England and elsewhere. But years ago. The Voyager is approx ten yrs old.

By comparison, the recently purchased air travel backpack is about a pound lighter.
However, quality is not the same . Heavier fabric, water repellent and solid zippers. Some zippers have locking positions for the zipper pulls. Padded, and pocketed.
Plus the whole can be covered by a rain shroud.
Downside is the flap opening and not clamshell.
Supposedly much easier access to clothes

I'm typing this out to see what I am mulling over in my head vis a vis buying another travel backpack like M ... s recent one

Originally, bought to carry a 17 in laptop [ can't believe that I wanted a 17 in laptop overseas ]
the Voyageur always felt heavy and bulky but that 17 in laptop is triple the weight of a Chromebook [ this one ]

Last year I took a lighter backpack and it was crammed to the point of useless.

Thus. buy or not to buy. In notes, the Voyageur is a $ 110 item and M ....s was 40.

In reality, a lighter pack is good if you move around a lot abroad. We will be stationary mostly.

Thus, what it will carry and will it fit under seat [ yes] seem vital 

As well, in the UK we might get  by w / one smaller suitcase and two backpacks [ always can be crammed in somewhere ]

Still time to trial run the Voyager.

All right in typical fashion I decided to take the problem into my own hands. you see the Voyager backpack was meant for a very large laptop which is long gone

 I worked it out that I can actually use the front pocket which is handy and foil lined to hold an 11 in. Chromebook. This pocket is for hot / cold item storage 

 we don't need a divided compartment padded with foam to separate out the main compartment from the laptop compartment so I cut out the covered foam divider. This action creates one large main compartment. I did opt to leave the side foam strips perhaps giving a bit of structure to that compartment or it takes up space. We shall see.