I kicked myself for not jumping on the pre-order, telling myself I didn't need it! Boy, was I wrong. I'm so thankful TB released a few more and I was able to snag one in the beautiful Verde color. At first I was a little skeptical of the seemingly small size when it arrive. That is, until I started packing. This thing has a sneaky capacity and when paired with Packing Cube Shoulder Bags inserted "bookshelf" style, it absolutely devoured everything I needed to bring, and then some. The end pockets even fit a size 13 pair of shoes in each! I was blown away. I fit 4 PCSBs packed to the gills inside the main compartment and the outer most slash pockets worked great for overflow toiletry items and my travel watch case in the mesh pocket.
When packed, the bag beautifully takes its shape and seems to compact its contents into a really tight and maneuverable "box." TB has some kind of wizardry going on because I used to pack the same contents in a North Face Basecamp duffle that is easily almost twice this physical size and much more cumbersome. I'm an absolute believer in all things TB, but the RB36 is an absolute dream to travel with.