Are you vaxxed, packed, and ready-to-roll? Then you’ll need our list of the Best Travel Bags around. Each item on our list has been tested by our WIRED Gear Team and is TSA-approved.
If you buy something using our links, we may earn a commission. wired.trib.al/G908kSk 1/
Best Soft Shell Bag:
The Travelpro Versapack system consists of modules that zip into the lidded half of the main compartment. It comes with a single compartment module that's good for separating dirty laundry, which is ever so handy: wired.trib.al/POV0YtK
📷: Amazon 2/
Best Hard Shell Bag:
The Paravel Aviator International Carry-On has an anti-scuff exterior, can be stuffed to the gills & still skate effortlessly across the polished tiles of airport floors. It manages to be both compact & roomy: wired.trib.al/cTBX7tq
📷: Paravel 3/
Best Budget Bag:
The Travelpro Maxlite 5 is good but not perfect, but it’s very light for a rolling suitcase. The exterior toiletry pocket is a nice touch and the zippers are also quite strong and don't tend to get stuck: wired.trib.al/pn6U9f9
📷: Amazon 4/
Most Luxurious Soft Shell Bag:
A @BriggsandRiley carry-on bag will almost certainly outlive you. B & R is one of the few companies with a lifetime unlimited warranty. Its components are top of the line. wired.trib.al/90JWJIu
📷: Amazon 5/
Most Luxurious Hard Shell Bag:
The metal is thick, and the fixtures are solid. @away’s “The Bigger Carry-On Edition” has two organizer panels inside to keep your stuff from shifting around, and there's an interior laundry bag: wired.trib.al/rGvHP6z
📷: Away 6/
Most Rugged Bag:
Everything about @RedOxxAffairs is overbuilt. The zippers are huge, its thick pieces of nylon webbing are robustly sewn, and chunky metal rings hang the detachable carrying strap. Yet it weighs in at less than 4lbs. wired.trib.al/pa1hlPf
📷: Red Oxx 7/
Still not quite what you're looking for? Check out the rest of our WIRED best list: wired.trib.al/G908kSk 8/
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Last week, we reported that Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) have carried out a secret campaign to expand ICE’s physical presence across the US. wired.com/story/ice-expa…
Documents show that more than 150 leases and office expansions have or would place new facilities in nearly every state.
This gives us a clear picture of where ICE is going next in the US: Everywhere.
NEW: Workers at the Social Security Administration have been told to share information about in-person appointments with ICE agents, in a move that goes against decades of precedent and puts noncitizens at further risk of immigration enforcement actions. wired.com/story/social-s…
“If ICE comes in and asks if someone has an upcoming appointment, we will let them know the date and time,” an employee with direct knowledge of the directive says. wired.com/story/social-s…
SSA has been sharing data with ICE for much of president Donald Trump’s second term, but this order to share information marks a new era of collaboration between SSA and the DHS, ICE’s parent agency. wired.com/story/social-s…
Two agents involved in the shooting deaths of US citizens in Minneapolis are reportedly part of highly militarized DHS units whose extreme tactics are generally reserved for war zones. wired.com/story/ice-cbp-…
The units include ICE’s two Special Response Teams (SRT), CBP’s one SRT, and the Border Patrol Tactical Unit (BORTAC). wired.com/story/ice-cbp-…
The tactics used by SRT and BORTAC vastly differ from those of local police or sheriffs. They use explosives to breach the doors of homes, and team members are equipped with full tactical gear, assault rifles, and heavy-duty crowd-control weapons. wired.com/story/ice-cbp-…
Since last year, we’ve been reporting on ICE extensively. But every week brings new information, and it’s getting harder to keep track of what’s happening, let alone remember what’s already happened.
So here’s a quick thread to help.
Back in June (we know, it honestly feels like a lifetime ago), WIRED obtained hundreds of emergency calls from ICE detention centers. wired.com/story/ice-dete…
The data showed that at least 60 percent of the centers analyzed had reported serious pregnancy complications, suicide attempts, or sexual assault allegations. wired.com/story/ice-dete…
Criminals posing as US immigration officers have carried out robberies, kidnappings and sexual assaults in several states, warns an FBI bulletin to law enforcement agencies issued last month. wired.com/story/fbi-warn…
Citing five 2025 incidents involving fake immigration officers, the bulletin says criminals are using ICE’s heightened profile to target vulnerable communities, making it harder to distinguish between lawful officers and imposters. wired.com/story/fbi-warn…
Federal rules require immigration officers to identify themselves and state the reason for an arrest “as soon as it is practical and safe to do so.” The standard has not changed since it was codified, yet advocates say it is increasingly ignored. wired.com/story/fbi-warn…
Thirty years ago, an Austrian theologian spoke to Peter Thiel about the theories of Carl Schmitt, the theorist tapped by the Nazis to justify Germany's slip from democracy to dictatorship. Those theories have been a roadmap for the billionaire ever since. wired.com/story/the-real…
Schmitt is remembered for two theories: his incisive Weimar-era critique of liberalism and his decision to join the Nazi party in the run-up to the Second World War.
In 1996, theologian Wolfgang Palaver introduced Thiel to these ideas at a conference. wired.com/story/the-real…
Also, some terms we gotta break down:
Mimetic Rivalry: Violence that results from humans’ fundamental tendency to imitate each other—specifically to mimic each other’s desires. A key concept for Rene Girard, Thiel’s biggest intellectual influence. wired.com/story/the-real…