Wednesday, 27 September 2017

The Perfect Changing Bag for Family Travel

You probably know by now that we are a family that loves to travel. We can't keep our feet on the ground for long. Wanderlust kicks in and we look to chase our next adventure, Eva who is now nearly 5 years old has been travelling with us since a very young age and now we have Ophelia, we have learnt that there are certain things to do and certain items you need in order to make family travel the stress-free, enjoyable experience it should be. 



Whether you're travelling by car, train or plane, one thing that is always an issue is how much luggage to take and what to pack. Luggage can be the stuff of nightmares. We always use to stress over how much we should take and we always used to go quite overboard with what we packed. Over the years we've learnt to narrow it down. You can view my youtube video on what I pack in my changing bag for a weekend break away here:



In August this year we flew to Turkey for a family holiday and I was kindly sent the new Pacapod Croyde Changing Bag to take along. I have been lusting after a Pacapod since I was pregnant with Eva 5 years ago but unfortunately i've never had one until now. It is the ideal changing bag for family travel.

The first thing I noticed about the bag was its size. It's very large and therefore I decided to use it as my hand luggage bag as I knew it would be big enough for both mine and Ophelia's needs.

I also liked the fact that the bag was made out of a canvas material. It was handy for squishing into tight/small spaces easily (such as the overhead locker on the plane or under the seat in-front of you). It also is quite stretchy meaning you can fit more things in it.

My favourite feature about the bag which makes it perfect for family travel is by far the pods. All Pacapods come with handy pods which allow you to separate items and place them in grab and go compartments. The Croyde bag comes with 3 pods, a changing pod, a map print pod (loved the print on this) and a transparent pod.



The pods made the security checks at the airport super easy. I placed all medications such as calpol, creams etc in the transparent pod. 

I used the map print pod as my snacks and drinks pod. Again this was so handy on the plane. I was able to grab exactly what I wanted out of the bag without having to dig around for things.

The changing pod is great. It has labelled sections for nappies, wipes, creams etc. On an aeroplane it was very easy to just grab that pod to take into the toilet. if you've never changed a nappy on an aeroplane then you can't appreciate how horribly difficult it is. The toilets are bad enough when you have to go in them as 1 person but to try and squeeze into them with a baby and then navigate your way around changing their nappy is enough to make you want to cry. It was much easier taking the small pod in with me as opposed to the whole changing bag.


Image from Pacapod

The pods can also be clipped onto a pram or stroller meaning you can also travel around without the whole changing bag if you wanted.

The bag can be easily accessed either by the large main zip compartment or the side zip. The side zip is a very handy feature as it makes accessing the bottom of the bag a breeze. Quite often changing bags feel like that Mary Poppins carpet bag, when she's digging around for ages and pulling out everything but the kitchen sink. This solves all those issues and also helps to keep the bag tidy and organised.

The bag has many pockets and compartments which allows you to be organised and organisation is key in making family travel less chaotic. I would recommend this changing bag to anyone going abroad or for weekends away. The only down side is that sometimes it can feel quite heavy but there is a shoulder strap or handles to switch up how you carry it.



We are travelling on a very long haul flight to Australia in December and I will definitely be taking the Pacapod with me. I have got my eye on a few others from their collection though. I would like a leather one which I can take out during the evenings etc or when we are going out as they are a bit smarter looking than my canvas one. 

I love the look of the Madison. It's very fashionable and the tan colour would mean it would match well with all of my outfits etc.





Image from Pacapod

I also think the Jasper would be perfect as it looks more like a handbag than a changing bag so it would be ideal for meals out etc.




Image from Pacapod


*Thank you to Pacapod for sending us the Croyde bag. All views are my own*


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10 comments

  1. I lusted after these changing bags too and I'm kicking myself that I never got one. We're almost past the stage of needing a change bag and I actually got smaller wash bags and used them as sort of pods on our recent USA trip. One of these bags would have been ideal. If I was ever in the market for another I wouldn't hestiate to get one!

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  2. Oh I love this! It doesn't look like a changing bag at first glance but then has so many fab features to cover everything you could ever want in a changing bag!

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  3. That is a very swish looking changing bag! I don't think such nice looking things existed when mine were still in nappies, lol!

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  4. I love changing bags that don't look like changing bags. I considered a pacapod. I love the idea of the pods.

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  5. That looks like such a good changing bag and the pods are so useful, it must be nice knowing everything is in the right place x

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  6. What a cool changing bag. Love the features. Changing a nappy on a plane is a nightmare. I can relate. The toilets are way too small.

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  7. Wow! I have wanted one of these for years. They look amazing!

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  8. Oh they look great, I love the look of this changing bag x

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  9. This looks amazing! We need something like this for all of our travelling adventures!

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