I am a firm believer in safety. In this day and age one can’t be too safe. Some things you have control over, other things not so much.  Safety for me starts with my personal belongings and the one thing that would put a heavy damper on my vacation would be having my identity stolen by loss of credit cards, etc, or having my purse stolen containing personal items near and dear to me. Yes, things can be replaced, but who wants to deal with all that on vacation? Better to be as safe as possible, rather than say, “I wish I would have been more cautious.”

I am much more in tune to paying attention to my surroundings than I have ever been in our twenty years of traveling. I no longer take anything for granted. The motto, “if you see something, say something,” certainly rings true to me. I think as a general rule I pay attention to things from my experience as a Registered Nurse. I have been trained to quickly make assessments of people and situations. 

Anyway, back to keeping safe on vacation…….. This year I have bought four different bags for travel, focusing on safety. Safety against theft and safety against getting my credit card information and passport identification stolen. All of my travel bags are RFID blocked and Anti-Theft. So What is RFID?

RFID stands for Radio-Frequency Identification. It uses electromagnetic fields to automatically identify and track tags embedded in credit cards, ATM cards, ID cards, passports and more.

Companies embed a small chip in products that allows information about you and your accounts to be transmitted to a reader, wirelessly, decreasing transaction time. The bad guys can have card readers that can scan your cards without them ever leaving your pocket or wallet from as far as ten feet away or more. So to prevent this I carry RFID blocked bags to keep my information secure. 

Now what is an Anti-Theft bag? They are bags with anti-theft technology including, slash resistant straps, slash resistant body panels, and locking compartments with RFID blocking slots and pockets within the bag.

I am going to show you my bags and tell you how and why I use each bag.

The first one, that I love and use daily, is the RFID  protected Running Buddy XL. However, I do not run, but I do go places and most of the time I hate taking a big purse. It has the RFID protection and very strong magnets on the backside flap. It allows me to carry my credit cards, identification, money, keys and IPhone all next to my body with the back flap over my slacks, the pockets in front of my slacks, but under my shirt. It is so light you can not even tell you are wearing it and no one else could tell either.  Believe me, when I say, it is not going to fall off either! Those magnets are strong! Now you could just wear it on your waistband, if you were out running or just want it to show. I don’t want it to show! I tuck it under my shirt!

The Running Buddy will also be perfect on my cruise. I can keep my credit cards, money, iPhone, Passport and cabin pass on me at all times. IF my purse does get stolen the thief will have a water bottle, maybe my camera and some souvenir post cards, but not my important stuff! This has also been recommended for use when going to the casino onboard ship, your important stuff is always on you. This way you won’t have a purse to drop anywhere, while you are having a good time spending, gambling and drinking!

For the fancy dinner nights or days on board the ship, when I need to carry a more stylish bag, I have the Travelon Double Zip Clutch. This can be used as a wallet or wristlet. It is also RFID protected and has two compartments for organization, one with seven card slots, ID window, and two currency slots. The back compartment has two pockets for receipts, coupons or tickets, a passport, an IPhone and my Lipsense! I will use this small clutch when I am wearing a dress and only while I am on the ship.

The next bag I will be using on the cruise vacation is a step-up bag for excursions that are four hours or less. It is the Classic Mini Shoulder Bag that is anti-theft and has RFID protection. It also features locks on all the big zippers and a lock on the strap as well. The lock on the strap allows you to lock it to the back of a chair if you want to take it off when sitting down. I saw firsthand in Italy, (not me, an Italian woman) what it is like to have your handbag stolen. The bag was looped over the back of a chair while she and her family were dining in a restaurant. She was livid and never got her handbag back. Another word of caution, do not lay your cellphone on the table while you are eating! Crafty thieves will find a way to distract you and before you realize it, your cellphone will be gone! I leave my Mini Shoulder Bag cross bodied on me at all times. I have my important stuff in my Running Buddy on me. The Mini Shoulder Bag is for anything I buy or for my camera which I may or may not take, I have not decided. I am taking a photography course to learn how to use the IPhone camera at a much higher level than I use it now, so my camera may be left on the ship during excursions! More about that in tomorrow’s post!

For excursions that are over four hours and when my hubby is going with me, I will be taking the  Travelon Classic Crossbody Bucket Bag. It is also anti-theft, with RFID protection  and with locking zippers.  Did I mention both this bag and the Classic Mini Shoulder Bag have small keychain-sized bright-light flashlights in them also? They do! And this bag will also hold two bottles of water without opening the bag!  I will use this bag when I want to shop, since it is the biggest and will hold the most without being overpowering or heavy.

So there you have it! When I leave on vacation I will wear the  Running Buddy and the other bags will all fit inside the biggest bag (The Crossbody Bucket) and will be  packed in my suitcase until I need them on the cruise. All of these bags are just the right size for me when I travel.

You can purchase the Running Buddy from the Running Buddy Website. It is a privately owned company with excellent service. I have given the Running Buddy as gifts and they have been well received!

The Clutch, Classic Mini Shoulder Bag and Classic Crossbody Bucket Bag are all made by Travelon and come in an assortment of colors. I buy them from EBags, which has very good service. Next Friday………..how to pack for a cruise!