Bag A Beach Bag

[trip style = beach]

{Editor’s Note: Check out the contest we’re running in partnership with Expedia right now! Tweet a pic and the hashtags #freedom & #expediafindyours for a chance to win a trip to aruba or $250 Expedia travel voucher.}

The perfect beach bag is like the perfect pair of jeans, hard to find and has to fit your {preferred} trip style{s} and lifestyle.

Six months ago I was on a one-year mission looking for just this: a stylish, beachy-casual, fold-flat beach bag. I found the one in Portland, made by a company aptly named Baggu. Huge bonus: it's cool, well made and inexpensive {I paid $22 for mine}!

Baggus work for the everyday. Baggus work for the beach. Baggus work for the pool. Baggu is a NY-based company that started in 2007 as a sewing project by a mother-daughter duo. Five years later the company has expanded beyond the at-home sewing machine to produce: 1/ reusable do-anything/go-anywhere/fold-into-a-tiny-pouch nylon bags and small backpacks 2/ strong canvas bags {my fave & my beach bag} and small backpacks 3/ leather bags .....plus a bunch of other products to hold life's portables, all at reasonable prices.

Beach season is here, and winter vacation season is six months away. With this, here are four things to consider when trying to bag the right beach bag: 1/ Does it go from plane-to-pool in style? 2/ Does it fold flat? 3/ Is it washable? 4/ Is it casual enough that you don't mind mind getting sand on it?

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[photos of Baggus put together by @tripstyler]