The Luggage Combo for Trips That Mix Business With Leisure

The best work trips are the ones that eventually stop feeling like work trips.

You’re already there, after all. The flight is paid for. Your out-of-office is on. And whatever you were supposed to accomplish between 9 and 5 has, presumably, been accomplished. It seems almost irresponsible not to stick around for a couple of days.

That was my thinking on a recent trip to Sonoma. What began as work gradually became something much better. The Ferrari Challenge at Sonoma Raceway, an afternoon at Bricoleur Vineyards, and a stay at Appellation Healdsburg, recently named Travel + Leisure’s No. 1 hotel in North America for 2026.

Business and leisure. “Bleisure,” if I may.

Trips like this do present one logistical problem. You have to pack for several different versions of yourself. There’s work you. Dinner you. Wine-country you. Guy-standing-next-to-a-Ferrari you. And ideally, you’d like to fit all of them into something that still qualifies as a carry-on.

For this trip, I brought ROAM’s Large Carry-On and Duffel.

ROAM was founded by Charlie Clifford and Larry Lein, two former TUMI executives who believed luggage could be a little more personal. Instead of choosing between black and slightly different black, ROAM lets you customize everything from the shell to the handles, wheels, stitching, and other details.

The bags are assembled in Vidalia, Georgia, and beneath all that personalization is some legitimately serious luggage.

The Large Carry-On did most of the heavy lifting. It swallowed a week’s worth of clothes without looking like I was attempting to relocate to Northern California. The interior compression system made it easier to separate outfits and squeeze in a few more options, while the spinner wheels earned their keep during the less glamorous parts of the trip: airports, hotel lobbies, parking lots, repeat.

The Duffel handled everything else. Shoes. Extra layers. The things I wanted accessible without cracking open my suitcase. And, importantly, the inevitable purchases that somehow materialize during several days in wine country.

Together, the two bags made particularly good companions for a trip that refused to stick to one dress code.

That may be the strongest argument for ROAM. I increasingly travel this way. And I suspect I’m not alone in this in the Work From Anywhere Era. You add a day here, tack on a night there, and suddenly the work trip on your calendar has become an actual trip.

Your luggage should be able to keep up with this rhythm. Not hinder it.

ROAM’s Large Carry-On and Duffel did. They’re handsome, customizable, thoughtfully organized, and built to handle the transitions that make modern travel interesting.

Because sometimes you’re packing for the itinerary. And sometimes you’re also packing for what happens after it.