Taking dental advice from a podiatrist is about as wise as listening to a city slicker tell you about the latest camping gear. From that perspective, when planning a family trip, why should you buy a piece of luggage from a brand that doesn’t specialize in making gear for families? This line of thought led me to try The Hideaway Duffel from No Reception Club, an upstart luggage maker that makes this duffel/backpack crossover and a couple small accessories to accompany it, specifically for traveling with kids. Over seven years of testing gear for Matador Network I’ve become jaded about “new” backpacks and similar contraptions, and to tell you the truth, I was reluctant to try this one – but boy, am I glad I did. My wife and I travel frequently with our now three-year-old, and after one trip this pack replaced the setup we’d been using for family trips for the past two years.
This Duffel and Backpack Combo Instantly Became Our Preferred Luggage for Family Travel
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No Reception Club’s The Hideaway Duffel specs
Photo courtesy No Reception Club
Before getting into the full review of The Hideaway Duffel from No Reception Club, it’s important to grasp its metrics.
- The Hideaway Duffel is 22” by 13” by 9” – meeting carry-on requirements for all major airlines.
- Capacity: 42 liters (about the same as an overnight backcountry backpack)
- Weight: 3.3 pounds, up to five pounds with straps and accessories. When we fully packed it, the duffel weighed about 12 pounds.
- Made largely of recycled polyester with an odor-resistant lining and a 100 percent aluminum foil insulated pocket.
- I particularly appreciated that the pack shipped in a biodegradable wrapper.
- Black and Olive color schemes are available. We chose Olive, to match our daughter’s name (Olivia).
What stood out about The Hideaway Duffel from No Reception Club
Plenty of clothes, plenty of space. Photo: Alisha Wenger
As a travel editor, I can firmly attest to the fact that “family-friendly gear” generally doesn’t align with my “carry-on only” ethos. My family recently road tripped around central Mexico for two weeks with a large suitcase, and while it got the job done, we had to check it for the flights on either end of the trip. Not a huge deal – but another step to an airport process that’s already stressful enough with a tantrumming toddler in tow. This experience is what led me to give The Hideaway Duffel a try. No Reception Club promises their duffel meets carry-on requirements, even when it’s fully stuffed.
For a recent trip to take our daughter on the Polar Express train in Durango, Colorado, stuff The Hideaway Duffel we did. We needed multiple days’ worth of clothing – including swimwear, because a stop at the local hot springs was on the itinerary – for three people. Plus, toiletries and accessories for the family and a slew of small but important gadgets to keep a three-year-old engaged and entertained during a multi-day trip.
A few things stood out to us during our first use of the duffel. First, its internal liner and the laundry sack that comes included feature cute cartoon-ish prints of family travel, which all three of us appreciated. Next, the removable packing organizer – The Cubby, as the brand calls it – split the duffel’s main compartment into one large and four small compartments. These were perfect for organizing our daughter’s clothes separate from ours, with ample room for accessories like beanies, gloves, hair ties, and more. The liner itself can be tossed in the laundry machine.
Before becoming parents, packing for a trip was a relatively stress-free – dare I say, inspiring and occasionally even enjoyable – endeavor. It’s become trickier with a kiddo, largely because the states are much higher if we forget something. Among the noblest features of The Hideaway Duffel is how easy it is to see everything when the bag is open. We nearly forgot Olivia’s toiletries, had we not noticed during our final check, and having that eagle-eye view is what helped us notice.
Another nice feature about The Hideaway Duffel is that it converts into a backpack via straps zipped up in the external compartment on its underside. This was incredibly useful at times when I needed to carry both the duffel and my daughter. It’s not a pack I’d take into the backcountry on a rugged expedition, but for the purposes of general family travel, it excels.
We paired The Hideaway Duffel with The Sidekick, a combo hip pack/fanny pack that my wife, Alisha, immediately adopted as her new travel purse. It has room for purse-y things, as well as a couple diapers, wipes, and emergency supplies. For $5, it’s possible to add on hanging straps and carabiners so the duffel can hang in the closet for easy, chest-level access.
Our daughter recently dropped diapers (hallelujah!) but we brought a few just in case. Beyond keeping one in The Sidekick we put a few in the duffel’s front pouch. My wife appreciated the extra room to bring a hairdryer (because hotel room hairdryers are rarely trustworthy) and her work notebook. We found the duffel to have plenty of room to fit clothes for three and extras for one or two.
Put together, we found the offerings from No Reception Club to be the most complete package for family travel that we’ve discovered in three years of searching, and to boot, it doesn’t even take up that much space.
What could be improved about The Hideaway Duffel
Ready to go. Photo: Alisha Wenger
As a vagabond remote worker, I always travel with a laptop-friendly backpack with work accessories (a laptop and charger, headphones, and a notebook, at the very least). The Hideaway Duffel didn’t remove the need to do that, as it doesn’t have a laptop pouch. That said, this being my primary gripe after a weekend trip is a compliment in itself. Overall, The Hideaway Duffel is a dependable and very efficient bag. Initially, we were a bit confused by all the straps. It takes a couple times of packing and unpacking the duffel to really learn the ins and outs of what each pouch, pocket, strap, and zipper does or conceals. But once you figure all that out, it’s an incredibly productive pack. By the end of the weekend, it felt quite homey.
I found the sternum strap functional but awkward at first. It took a moment to get used to having a pack of this dimension (and packed so tightly) strapped closely to both my back and chest. Though, I often find sternum straps annoying and generally don’t use them unless I’m hiking uphill and want to more evenly distribute weight across my body. I don’t know that I’ll need this feature to get through airports or road trips, but it’s there in case I do. I feel that we didn’t fully optimize the pack for the first trip, and that it’s one of those things where the more we use it, the more we’ll take advantage of everything it offers.
Guess it’s time to plan another trip and get back on the road. 
Price: The Hideaway Duffel ($295) and The Sidekick ($85)