Carry-on Approved: Ricardo Beverly Hills Roxbury 2.0

As frequent travelers, we put the miles on our luggage faster than a runner training for the marathon puts the miles on their shoes. And as luxury travel writers, we need luggage that’s durable, mobile and won’t embarrass us with the jet-set crowd we’re often running with. Naturally, we were thrilled when a stylish California-based brand sent us their sleek Ricardo Beverly Hills Roxbury 2.0 21-inch expandable spinner to test drive.

Easily pushing my Roxbury 2.0 through Marrakech Airport

I used to hate to be an outfit repeater, but my packing has become much more efficient over the years. It’s basically a job requirement to be able to pack a week’s worth of clothing that needs to span everything from dinners at Michelin star restaurants to camping in the desert in a carry-on sized suitcase. It’s not that I always carry-on, but as a travel writer I understand that packing light makes life so much easier when we’re often moving locations every 1-2 nights and taking every form of transportation imaginable.

I’ve taken my Ricardo Beverly Hills Roxbury 2.0 on a couple of trips now, though I must admit I was nervous about getting everything I needed for an 8-day winter adventure trip in Montana in the 21-inch carry-on. You might be impressed to learn I managed and didn’t even need to expand it to the additional 2 inches that the bag is expandable.

So what did I manage to pack in to my bag?

• a pair of Keen snow boots
• Salewa winter snow pants
• fleece
• hat and gloves
• 5 sweaters
• 2 thermal shirts
• 2 pairs of pajamas
• 9 pairs of socks and underwear
• sports bra
• leggings
• hairdryer and flatiron
• toiletry bag
• 2 packs of hand warmers
• Osprey daypack
• tripod

My Montana trip was a group press trip and as we’d load and unload the Suburbans that chauffeured us around Western Montana, everyone kept asking if that little hard case was all I had in utter disbelief.

I won’t list all that I managed to again cram in for my trip to Israel, but I needed everything from water shoes to clothing for basically every weather scenario since the temperatures in February span a wide range from 40-85°F. And this trusty little bag is again traveling with me currently in Morocco. So far it’s held up great wheeling it on the old streets of the Medina in Marrakech and has made a trip all the way out to the Erg Chigaga sand dunes in the Sahara.

Packing up for Israel

The dual compartments make it easy to access items in the suitcase without having to unpack everything since the suitcase opens like a book. I’m anal about never, ever unpacking (except for that one time on a Viking River Cruise because staterooms don’t have enough space to keep your suitcase out). I lay out my outfit for the next day and pack up everything I won’t need to get ready the next morning. It’s how I miraculously don’t leave things behind in hotels.

We long ago gave up soft-sided suitcases though, primarily because hard case spinners are much lighter. Sometimes every pound counts, especially when you’re traveling with strict weight restrictions like when we went on safari on a private jet,  flew on a seaplane to our resort in the Maldives or flew via helicopter to a private island in the Seychelles. So I definitely don’t want a bag that weighs 10 pounds before I even put anything in it. The Roxbury is made from super light and high-impact Makrolon polycarbonate, so it protects everything in your bag while still being lightweight at just 8.6 pounds.

It’s actually so lightweight, even packed full of all my stuff, that it rolls on it’s four spinner wheels with ease. I can literally push it through the airport with one finger…and sometimes I do, just because I can.

I also like the TSA compliant built-in lock. I’ve seen far too many zippers break off, either from your bag being tossed around or purposely broken. While you should never pack valuables in a bag you plan to check, I do feel like the built-in combination locks are more secure.

Since the Roxbury 2.0 21-inch spinner is a hard case, it makes jamming those couple extra things you can finagle into a soft-sided suitcase a little tougher. But at $149.99 and with a 10-year warranty, the Ricardo Beverly Hills Roxbury 2.0 21-inch expandable spinner is an excellent choice for a quality carry-on sized bag.

Looking for more cabin bag options to carry-on? This study takes a look at the best cabin bags that fit on most airlines and has rounded up all of the airlines’ carry-on bag dimensions in one convenient spot. Just be sure to verify on the airline website, in case their policies have recently changed.

We received our Ricardo Beverly Hills Roxbury 2.0 21-inch spinner complimentary from Ricardo Beverly Hills for review. However, Luxe Adventure Traveler maintains full editorial control of the content published on this site. We only recommend products we ourselves use and can give our personal stamp of approval on.