Family Travel Luggage Review: Arlo Skye Trunk vs. Monos Hybrid — Our Honest Take

Mama Bird

May 6

5 min read

3 young kids pulling suitcases in a hotel hallway

Photo Disclaimer: All photos shared here are real images taken by our family. To protect our children’s privacy, some photos have been transformed into an anime-style illustration while still being based on the original images.

Transparency Note: This post is not sponsored. None of the brands mentioned have partnered with or compensated us for this content. All opinions are our own, based on personal experience and independent research.

Welcome back to Episode 3 of my Suitcase Series. In Episode 1 I documented everything we currently own and what wasn't going to cut it for Alaska. In Episode 2 I narrowed down the contenders. This is our honest family travel luggage review — two premium suitcases, one trial run, and results I didn't see coming.

I'll warn you now: this one doesn't have a tidy ending. But I think that's exactly why it's worth sharing.

Our Family Travel Luggage Review: Arlo Skye and Monos Hybrid

After all that research, I landed on two suitcases: the Arlo Skye Top-Load Expandable Trunk and the Monos Hybrid Check-In Large and Medium. Here's what drew me to each one.

Arlo Skye Top-Load Expandable Trunk

The Arlo stood out from the start. At just 10.5 lbs with the ability to expand up to 125 liters, it was hitting a combination of lightweight and spacious that I couldn't find anywhere else on my list.

What really sold me was the top-load trunk design. The idea of propping the lid open and loading straight down — especially for bulky Alaska gear like puffy coats, sweaters, and blankets — felt so much more practical than fighting with a clamshell that takes over the entire floor. On paper, this suitcase made a lot of sense.

(You'll notice I said "on paper." We'll get there.)

👉 Arlo Skye Top-Load Expandable Trunk: https://arloskye.com/products/the-topload-expandable-trunk-large

Monos Hybrid Check-In Large & Medium

The Monos choice came down to one thing: zippers. After researching for Episode 2, I came away with a much deeper appreciation for zipperless designs. Our family has broken more zippers than I care to count, and once I understood how easily a traditional zipper can be compromised — not just from wear and tear — it genuinely changed how I was thinking about luggage.

The Monos Hybrid uses a frame-lock closure instead, and at 11 inches deep it should clear a Disney cruise ship bed — those generally run about 12 inches off the ground, though I know from experience that varies ship to ship. The Medium should also stack inside the Large, which is a non-negotiable for us. Honestly, I didn’t think to test it before I started packing — and once everything was loaded and we were heading out the door, there was no going back. So that answer was going to have to wait until we were on the ship.

👉 Monos Hybrid Check-In: https://monos.com

The Ordering Process (Very On-Brand for Me 😅)

I had been tab-hopping on the Arlo Skye website for weeks. Right before I placed my order, I clicked over to their medium suitcase to double-check my stacking plan — confirmed it wouldn’t double stack, decided the large was definitely the right call — and then promptly ordered the medium instead of the large. Not my finest moment.

There's no quick cancel option on their website, so I immediately emailed them and sent a chat message — because of course I did both. The help desk wasn't open for another two hours, but about 30 minutes before they opened I got confirmation that they had already canceled the order. Even better: they sent me the correct link to reorder and I ended up getting a 10% discount I had completely missed the first time around. They shipped it out the same day. Considering how the rest of this episode goes, that customer service win felt important to document. ✅

The Monos ordering experience was its own small surprise. The website was showing only 6–7 units left and warning of a 3–4 week delivery window. Ours arrived in 2 days. I also noticed Monos has a 10-minute cancellation window built into the ordering process — something I really could have used with the Arlo situation.

These Are Investment Pieces — No Rose-Colored Glasses

I want to be upfront: I have never spent this much on luggage before. That meant from the moment these arrived, I was going to be paying close attention. I wasn't looking for reasons to love them. I was looking for whether they could actually do the job.

The job, specifically, was this: we had a trial run coming up — Legoland and Universal followed by a shorter Disney cruise on the Wish. Ten nights total. And I set myself a challenge: three suitcases only. No backup bag. No "just this one tote." If these new suitcases were going to earn their place for an 18-night Alaska and Vancouver trip, they needed to prove themselves here first.

Reader, I did not make it.

What Actually Happened When I Started Packing

The Monos Medium was the first one I loaded up, and honestly it was the bright spot. It felt small when I first opened it — but it is the medium, so that's on me. Once I packed our weekend cruise clothes into it, it held what it needed to. The frame-lock closure was intuitive right away. No learning curve, no second-guessing how it worked. So far, so good.

The Arlo was a different experience. And after spending two episodes building it up, I feel like I owe you an honest account. It's not that it misrepresented itself — everything it claimed to be is accurate. But in person, the proportions felt off in a way I hadn't anticipated from the specs. It's very deep and not very wide, which gives it an awkward shape that made me uneasy almost immediately. Looking at it, I genuinely couldn't picture it sliding under a cruise ship bed. It started raising questions I didn't have answers to yet.

And then I tried to pack it.

I could not fit all of the clothes for Legoland and Universal into the Arlo. The Monos Large wasn't big enough to cover the rest — accessories, toiletries, shoes, and Papa Bird's clothes pushed it past its limit. I problem-solved, I reorganized, I tried again. And eventually I did what I said I wouldn't do: I pulled out a fourth suitcase.

Samonsite, Arlo, and Monos suitcases lined up for a vacation

Which means I came close to four bags for a 10-night trip.

Alaska and Vancouver is 18 nights.

That number has been sitting with me ever since. If the new suitcases couldn't carry a 10-night trip without backup, I have real decisions to make before we fly to Vancouver. The Arlo's shape, the Monos stacking question, how many bags five people can actually manage through airports and cruise ports — all of it just got higher stakes.

Where I'm Landing Going Into Episode 4

Right now the Arlo is sitting in the 'I would not order another one' bucket — which is genuinely hard to say after how hopeful I was about it. But I'm not done with it yet. I'm bringing it on the cruise portion of the trip just to finally test the bed question — though I'll be honest, even if it slides under the Wish's bed, I know from experience that clearance varies ship to ship. So it might answer one question while leaving the Alaska version of that question still open. I hope it surprises me.

I'm going in with realistic expectations and an open mind. Episode 4 will have the real answers — how they move, how they stack, whether the Arlo earns its place on the Alaska packing list or gets reassigned to hotel-only duty. And yes, I'll be addressing what four bags instead of three means for our Alaska plan.

More to come. 🐦✨