Monday, February 27, 2012

Layering


Since my last post, a few things happened.

The first was I started wondering why I'm carrying a mini survival kit in my purse while running errands when I have a complete kit in my car. If I can't get back out to my car from a one- or two-story building, I'll be coping with worse problems than a mini kit would be able to help me with, considering I'll still have my micro kit on me.

The second thing was that the purse I was using, that contained my mini kit until I went back to a micro kit, broke. It didn't upset me as much as it could have since I didn't really like it because it forced me to wear the strap on my right shoulder when I'm more comfortable hanging a cross-body bag on my left shoulder, but I used it to run errands only about once a week for less than six months and think it should have lasted longer.

The third thing is that I popped the weight of my air travel survival kit up to three pounds by adding a first aid kit and some Clif bars. After all, if there's a forced landing or a crash, the likelihood of needing a FAK and something to eat will be greater. I'm not concerned with forced landings or crashes near airfields or populated areas because emergency response will be within minutes, but for those large expanses of wilderness or ocean that airplanes habitually fly over that may not receive aid for several hours or even days.

As a result, I really put my back into the thinking process and came up with a layering system of component bags.

The first is to replace my broken purse with another only large enough for my micro survival kit and my Kindle, cell phone, and wallet items. This mini purse will serve for running errands.

The mini purse for errands will tuck into a larger purse for day trips or road trips. In friends' vehicles, I'll have my mini kit in the larger purse with my mobile survival kit along as well.

For air travel, I plan to use a large tote as my personal bag. Inside the tote will be a waist pack containing a small survival kit and my day trip purse with my errands purse inside.

I think having a mini purse for errands that fits into a larger purse will make changing purses a lot easier since all I'll have to do will be to transfer the errands purse to whichever larger bag I'll need.

Also, for museums, galleries, and some stores that prohibit large purses, making you check them or leave them with the store's cashier, being able to pull out a smaller purse containing ID, cash, credit/debit cards, and other valuables such as a cell phone and Kindle would give me more peace of mind than leaving them with a stranger.

Besides, this way, I get to shop for two purses to replace the one that broke. With our being on the threshold of spring, it translates to my shopping for four purses: two sizes in a dark color for the rest of winter plus two sizes in a light color for summer.

Whee!


Friday, February 17, 2012

Work in Progress


I'm still working on my air travel survival kit having pared it down to the minimum essentials, which now weigh 1 lb. and fit in half of a gallon zip bag which fits in the bottom of my travel purse, to further reduce the bulk and weight of what I would carry on in my personal bag.

I'm considering putting them and my energy bars in a waist pack, so if things look dicey during a flight, such as a storm since lightning has knocked planes out of the sky, I could take the waist pack out of my travel purse and put it on, ready to evacuate should I survive the crash. If it's an unanticipated event, hopefully I can grab and strap it on before exiting the plane.

Either way, wearing a waist pack would leave my arms and hands free to help me work my way out and won't block other passengers like a purse or carry-on bag I probably won't be allowed to carry out with me, anyway. ID and In Case of Emergency cards should probably go in the waist pack, too, in case something happens to me outside. And cell phone since a text message may be able to get through when a voice call can't. I'm planning for the rest of my survival kit to go in my carry-on and checked bags while enroute.

Right now, while at my destination, I want to leave almost everything in my room while sightseeing or shopping taking along only a lighter, Swiss Army knife, key ring LED, and luminous key ring compass, but have to think about it more because I might not be able to get back to my room to get the rest of my survival kit if an unforeseen disaster or act of terrorism hits. It would be best to keep the minimal essentials in my travel purse like on the plane or to wear the waist pack since getting to them won't be like having them as close as the parking lot as when I'm on a road trip.


Wednesday, February 1, 2012

Happy 4th Blogversary!


Thank you to all who have visited my blog! It's gratifying to know that I've provoked your thinking and provided information along with a bit of entertainment for four years.

Again, I've managed to average a fraction over a post per week. The past two months, however, have shown me how difficult it is to maintain that regularity when I'm focused on other goals.

As a result, I'm freeing myself from the regimen and guilt from not meeting my self-imposed deadline of providing something new for you to read each weekend.

This doesn't mean I'll stop posting because I have a lot more I want to write about. It only means that my posts may continue to be as irregular as they have recently become.