On the "panniers" topic: Since I never wanted to give up my suspended compartment in the front, I had to find some sufficient space in the back. My choice fell on the "Ortlieb Backroller Pro Plus". They give you 35 litres of volume each instead of 20 litres with the "Classic". So now we have "Captains bag" and "Stokers bag". No further discussions and more than sufficient space on all of our credit card tours. We don't need what's not fitting in there. When you drop your first article into one of those "caves" you can wait for the echo sounding back. So better to organize the stuff in there with some extra plastic bags or so. And -can you believe it- stokers bag is always looking better and more thoughtfully packed than captains. I'm such a diva ;-)
One might find it disturbing that the hags look somewhat bulky, but hey, it's a packed tandem ;-)
See pictures...
Additionally to that we always wanted something better accessible during the tours: For bike locks, rain gear, etc. Instead of taylormade frame bags I always wanted to use the free space below stokers bar. And since a few years ago the panniers industry came out with the new "bike packing" trend to fire up their tired business again (by trying to triple the coolness factor of front- and back rollers ;-) they came up with some more or less useful new stuff. My eye fell on Ortliebs "Handlebar bag" and after some tours with it I can say, that we don't want to miss this thing anymore. Even with the little misuse by fastening on captains seatpost it does perfectly what it's made for: Providing some extra and good accessible space (can be loaded and unloaded from both sides). Plus it's not hindering pedalling of neither captain nor stoker. Installing on- and taking off the bike is a little downside (takes more than two seconds) and the price is -of course- ridiculous for a textile tube, but, hey, it's a hobby (they counted on that and naturally they finally got me :-)