Also, please be sure to check the expiration dates on the items in your first aid kits and replace anything used since the last time you checked.
Dimensions: 14.6" W x 13" H x 6.7" D (37 x 33 x 17 cm)
Volume: 884.8 in3 (14.5 L)
Weight: 1 lb 4.5 oz (580 g)
Strap length max: 33.1 in (84 cm)
Strap length min: 19.7 in (50 cm)
This is my fifth security travel bag and third from PacSafe, the other two being the CitySafe 200 shoulder bag and the StashSafe 200 waist pack. I wanted a cross-body bag and for it to be cavernously large for carrying my usual assortment of travel items like my notepad, camera, mini tripod, monocular/binoculars, water bottle, folding umbrella, and pareo plus air travel comfort items such as lumbar and neck pillows in addition to my small travel survival kit that fits into a waist pack like the PacSafe StashSafe 200 or Mountainsmith Nitro waist pack or about half of a gallon zip bag with the top half folded down. Because some museums and stores require large bags to be checked, I also bought a Baggallini Everything Bagg to easily take my wallet items, camera, and cell phone with me. It all fits!
Designed to foil pickpockets, slash-and-run, and slash-to-dump thieves, PacSafe anti-theft travel bags feature security closures as well as cut-proof straps and panels.
This particular hobo bag, which I got with a standard water-repellent jet black exterior and celadon interior (it's supposed to be lemon yellow) that makes it easier to see items inside, has an outside back pocket with a zipper at the bottom edge to allow the extended handle of wheeled luggage to slip through; there is an interior band to stabilize the bag.
The generous pockets at either end of the bag have cord locks to make the openings smaller so contents won't slip out and are more than large enough for a 1 liter bottle. The pocket that would be out of sight at the rear when it's carried as a shoulder bag has a D-ring inside at the top and at the bottom to secure items using my own utility carabiners or other fasteners to thwart pickpockets.
The padded strap, that has wires inside to prevent slash-and-run theft, may be detached at one end to secure the bag temporarily to a fixed object to foil a bag snatcher. The snap hook has a locking collar as an additional deterrent. The other end has a snap hook to secure the zipper pull of the bag's main compartment to stop a pickpocket from opening it.
The strap may be snapped up to make it shorter to convert the bag into a shoulder bag or left long to use the bag as a hip-length cross-body bag.
Because I tend to heavily load my travel bag and because the wires of the unpadded CitySafe 200 strap dug into my shoulder painfully, I went ahead and attached a removable Timbuk2 Gripster strap pad over the CitySafe 400 GII's too thin-looking shoulder pad without even first trying it by itself. YMMV.
Inside the main compartment is a variety of pockets. Along the front wall, that is the inside wall of the front of the bag, there is a zippered pocket, 7" W x 14.5" L, with a press hook fastener to hold anything like a key ring.
Below the zipper of that pocket is a line of:
1. A split key ring to which I attached a mini key ring LED to help me see what's inside the bag.
2. A pocket, 4.5" W x 5.25" L.
3. A pocket, 3.25" W x 5.25" L.
4. A pocket, 4.25" W x 5.25" L, labeled "RFIDsafe" to hold passport and credit cards containing RFID chips to prevent identity theft.
5. A fat pen pocket, 0.75" W x 5.25" L.
6. A fatter pen pocket, 1.25" W x 5.25" L, that will hold a standard highlighter if inserted cap down.
Those preferring the pockets could be closed can put their own self-adhesive Velcro coins or strips available from stores selling sewing notions.
Along the interior rear wall, there is one large pocket, 10" W x 15" L, that the enclosed literature says will hold a 13" laptop and an iPad or similar tablet. I found it holds my 15" laptop snugly. There's a strap that snaps over the top of the opening to ensure it doesn't slip out.
The bag's front, back, side, and bottom panels are all lined with eXomesh to prevent thieves from slashing the bag to let the contents fall out. The included literature has a diagram of the eXomesh rising to just under the top edge of the side pockets. On the front and rear panels, I can feel the top edge of the eXomesh about five inches up from the bottom, about three inches lower than in the side panels. I appreciate this sensible weight-saving design since gravity prevents items from falling up.
Overall, I'm exceptionally pleased with this bag. Purchased in January for travel to cities known for pickpockets and purse snatchers and slashers such as Barcelona, I've expanded its use to ordinary weekend getaways and other domestic travel.
Highly recommended.
A few of the posts I haven't done are about:
1. An air travel survival kit. Substituting TSA-compliancy for a knife turns this into a small kit ideal for day-hiking.
2. A few states still legalizing marital rape. I thought the U.S. was a leader in women's rights but it turns out wives in those states are not much better off under the law than wives in certain Muslim countries.
3. The direction of my writing. I always thought to write novels in the thriller genre, but I've been reading Hemingway and find my desire turning to more literary prose.
If it's true that one doesn't die until one's life work is done, at the rate I'm going, I'll live forever.
Fortunately as a Christian, it's already guaranteed in writing.
Until next time.
I looked up from scowling at my Kindle Keyboard.
"Oh, I'm sorry," the little old lady said.
I smiled at her. "It's okay. Am I blocking your way?"
"I'm interested in electronics," she said.
"Oh! This is a Kindle, an ereader. Maybe you've seen them advertised on TV. This is an older model. I bought a $0.99 Notepad app to keep my shopping list on it. I have it organized by the aisles, but I put the Chex Mix in the wrong aisle and was moving it because I was several aisles down and had to come back to this one."
She came closer to see my screen.
"See? This list is reusable because I put a couple of dots, periods, in front of the item I want when I think of it, then when I put it in my cart, I delete the dots. It's a lot easier than using paper because if the store's out of something, I don't have to rewrite the item onto my next shopping list."
"How interesting," she said. "Thank you so much for showing me."
"You're welcome. I just wanted to keep those pieces of paper under control."
For example, the Currency Organizer is .5" shorter making it difficult to impossible to store dollar bills flat in it depending on which pocket.
For that reason, the Triple Zip Bagg I first bought had to be set aside since it's too small to easily fit my Kindle Keyboard in it because the actual measurements are .75" shorter than the advertised measurements.
Settling on the Large Wallet Bagg for running errands, I chose the Hobo Tote for when I want to carry more such as a water bottle, camera, and monocular or binoculars. Since it's only a larger purse and not really a tote bag, I also bought an inexpensive, non-descript tote bag as well as a waistpack to complete my scheme of layering bags and kits.
So, this is how it stacks up:
My Large Wallet Bagg contains my micro survival kit.
My Hobo bag can hold my Large Wallet Bagg and my mini survival kit.
My tote bag can hold my Hobo bag and my small survival kit in its own waistpack with a belt pouch for my FAK and Clif bars.
When I go on a day hike, I'll use the small survival kit waistpack with a second belt pouch holding my GPSr, other incidentals, and my compass if it's not hanging from my neck.
My medium survival kit remains in the sustainment pouch ready to grab & go as my mobile survival kit whenever a friend invites me to go on a day or road trip.
I had to reorganize a bit to make each larger kit an expansion of the previous smaller kit to limit redundancy.
I love feeling organized!
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!
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.
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.
Since she already has a car survival kit, she can draw from that while I can borrow items from my mobile survival kit. The challenges are to have what we'll need while not taking up more space than absolutely necessary or weighing ourselves down since we'll be schlepping our bags ourselves and to have quality gear inexpensive enough for affordable replacement should an item accidentally get left out after an inspection.
As a result, I've spent hours searching for and deciding on the best Swiss Army knives for us. Uncomfortable about not having a fixed blade knife, I also searched for a small, skeletal knife so the hinge on the SAK wouldn't get damaged by whatever rough use a survival situation may demand.
Since my travel purse is already full, a larger bag is also warranted.
Preparing to travel is half the fun.
If the aluminum didn't get there by ingesting salt containing aluminum as a free-flowing agent, leaching from aluminum cookware, absorption from antiperspirants, how did it get into the body? It is not a mineral needed by any biological form so had to be introduced artificially.
I say, "Better safe than sorry," which currently leaves me to decide - aluminum or sugar? I'll keep searching for sugar-free iodized table salt, but if worse comes to worse, I'll pick sugar over aluminum.
