Ever arrive in a city way before your hotel check in time? Or been out in a city all day for meetings with a bunch of bags you only need for part of the day? If so, then you may find yourself unnecessarily lugging around bags from place to place. What you need is a good option for luggage storage.

Have some bags but nowhere to put them? Not only can that be a pain (literally on your back if you pack heavily) but it can also be a security risk as a bag may accidentally be left behind or may be targeted for theft. If you have your eyes on 5 different bags, its easy to overlook if one goes “missing”.

Last year, I wrote a blog post about finding BAGBNB in San Francisco based on a friend’s recommendation. I had a great experience and it made my day exploring San Francisco much easier. I shared that post with the kind folks at BAGBNB and they offered to let me try another of their locations.

So while my first post was written independently, this post is sponsored by BAGBNB. But as always, my opinions are completely my own.

Wouldn’t you know that with all the traveling I do, I ended up needing the services of BAGBNB the most here in my own home town of Los Angeles? I live about 10 miles from Downtown LA … which can mean sitting in an hour’s worth of traffic if I don’t time things perfectly. While 3:00 AM seems to be the best hour to beat traffic, clearly it’s not ideal for a day of meetings.

I had scheduled a couple of meetings on the same day downtown and to avoid traffic, parking fees and of course to ease my carbon footprint, I decided to take the Metro Line. One of my meetings required me to bring my luggage which I knew I didn’t want to drag around the city all day. This gave me the perfect opportunity to test out BAGBNB luggage storage in my own home city.

Remind Me What BAGBNB is Again

For those of you who are not familiar with BAGBNB or who did not read my last blog post about them (shame on you!), they are a company that organizes luggage storage options in cities around the world. For just a few dollars (or Euros or Bhat or Shekels) a day you can leave your belongings in a secure location while you explore a city.

Their luggage storage locations, called “Angels”, can be any place from a hostel to a restaurant to a convenience store. Really any centrally located business with a secure area and staff on hand during business hours can be a potential BAGBNB Angel. Currently there are over 1000 locations in over 45 countries. Arrive in Denver early morning and have time to kill before you head off to the mountains for camping trip? Your Bangkok Airbnb simply cannot extend your checkout time and your flight out isn’t until 3:00 AM? Two great reasons to check out the BAGBNB Angels in those cities.

How Did Things Go in LA?

Once I knew the location of my meetings, I checked the BAGBNB website to see what Angel worked best. As my plans kept me in the Arts District, I checked to see what they had in that neighborhood. Luckily I found two listings close by.

I chose the one that seemed most convenient and booked my reservation. For $6.00 per bag, I could easily justify the cost in order to avoid dragging around luggage all day.

After I booked my reservation, I received a confirmation email giving me the exact address of the BAGBNB location. In San Francisco, my BAGBNB Angel was a cafe and my bags were placed in a closet behind the counter. Here in LA, my location was a slightly more traditional hostel/co-living space and my bags were locked in an out of the way closet. In addition, I had to enter through a locked gate and then past a security desk, so I felt that my bags were quite safe.

When I arrived at the location, I found myself in line behind another woman checking in bags with BAGBNB. The man at the desk had me fill out a form and then wheeled my bag into a back closet. When he returned he, he confirmed my approximate pick uptime and and gave me a claim receipt. Easy peasy!

It wasn’t until after I left that I realized he never asked to see my online confirmation email. You need that to prove that you have a paid reservation. Odd, but the truth is you can only get the BAGBNB Angel address after you’ve made the reservation. The chances of showing up there with a bag and without a paid reservation are pretty slim. That slight oversight did not make me feel any less secure about leaving my bag there.

So here I was, on a sunny day in the colorful Arts District of LA without any bags to weight me down as I went about my meetings and meet ups. Dropping my bag off at a BAGBNB location made the day so much easier to navigate. Yet again I was reminded of the benefit of a luggage storage service like this.

Late that afternoon I wandered back over to my drop off location. I got buzzed in and within moments my bag was waiting for me. This time it was a woman at the front desk who I had not seen earlier. Luckily there was no issue with the reservation or retrieving my bags since I had my claim check. On the way out I ask if it was odd that the previous person had not asked for my reservation. She agreed it was, so to be safe, always make sure you bring your reservation confirmation with you.

So Do You Still Recommend the Service?

I have to say a resounding yes! BAGBNB makes life so much easier if you find yourself having to carry around your luggage for a day. It’s also affordable. Even on a fairly tight budget you can afford the approximately $6.00 / bag / day (depending on currency conversion). The piece of mind of having your belongings locked in one place rather than worrying about them always being in your line of sight, makes the day less stressful.

As you plan your next trip, think about your schedule and if there’s a time you may need to use BAGBNB’s luggage storage service. You can find a list of all their locations here. Happy luggage-free exploring!

Enjoyed this post? Use the Image below to Pin it on Pinterest!