How big is your laptop? I am a big fan of my Sherpani Dispatch. It has a padded laptop sleeve, Im travelling with it right now, it’s got a surface go, ipad mini and a kindle in the padded sleeve plus my wallet, raincoat, sunglasses, water bottle, etc. It’s a great personal item size. .

Depending on how far you ar going to walk with it fully loaded, do look for features like a sternum strap and a hip belt. The Dispatch, I recommended has neither, it’s more of a purse/laptop backpack. I do use it as my personal item. My heavier, bigger, carryon, is either a wheelie, or my Osprey Porter 46. The Osprey also has a padded laptop pocket and is very ergonomic.

Of the two I mentioned, the Tucano Tugo weighs 1.5 lbs. The Noamtic comes in at 4 lbs. When I travel, I’m all about weight, which is why I carry the Tucano and DD carries the Nomatic.

Check the airlines you will be flying on your trip. Some have weight limits for carry-ons.

Below is a chart that is neither exhaustive nor necessarily accurate, but will give you some idea of the limitations some airlines impose. I would check the website of the airline I’m flying for the most current and accurate information.

Source

Thank you for the additional suggestions. The Osprey Fairview is too big, but a trip to REI (there's one not too far from me) would allow me to try out other models.

Thanks for the reminder, Bbstx. I usually don't worry about weight domestically, but I'll be packing carefully for this trip to use only a carry-on. Weight may come into play.

@3katz4me as a child(age 10) I was severely burned visiting a relative that had their water heater set high. I would urge you and others to lower the temp. In my case, the scalding water startled me, I slipped and fell, thankfully I rolled onto my stomach so the burned part of my body was my back. I was not able to escape the beating water because I was in shock. I was not rescued until they could get through the locked bathroom door. I was hospitalized, and though the scars are mostly faded I still struggle occasionally with showering in unfamiliar places.

Faron and 3katz, we also like our hot water HOT. When we replaced our WH a few years ago, I reset the temp myself a few degrees, which I had done on the previous WH. It isn’t hard to do. That little bit of temp difference is huge when it comes to clean dishes, our comfort and the once in a great while load of wash on hot. Although I think our washer has a ’steam’ setting which is basically a water heater within the washer. Our electric bills are pretty low with just the 2 of us and we really do not see a big difference.

Thanks for the info on the tankless. We have thought about having one installed in our re-built condo when the time comes, but i don’t know if i could be onboard.

in addition to being dangerous, it seems wasteful. Ours is set at 115°, which is way too hot for my bare hands.

Yup!