Traveling is a very vulnerable activity. It is a premeditated choice to leave comfort zone and enter new worlds, to abandon the new trends and new horizons, to get in the flow. This defeat is the essence of traveling in all its ability to convert, yet it forms a gentle, irritating buzz of (in)security even to the most experienced traveler. We do welcome the willingness to open our minds and our hearts yet we want to guard our physical and digital property. At the center of a busy Moroccan souk, inside a crowded subway car in Rome, or within the crowds of a colorful street festival in Bangkok, there is always some dedicated part of our brain which is not concentrating on anything other than one activity security. It is a ongoing, soft and clear cognitive load , a whispered sound checking, “Is my bag bag zipped. Are my personal money safe? Does somebody stand too close?” Although essential to some degree, this ongoing, low-key alertness tends to kill some of the magic in the moment. It puts a thin layer of cover between us and pure, undifferentiated experience of being present. That is exactly this problem which is to be solved by a modern anti-theft travel backpack. Nevertheless, it is not something that has been conceived in paranoia but a device developed to help make people feel carefree. It will be the investment in the freedom of thought, a gadget aimed to take out of operation those irritating anxiety issues, and make you be able to be immersed in the surrounding world even more beautifully, confidently and happily.
Even the very word the anti-theft can be frightening, with references to fortresses that know no intruders. In practice, it is used to describe a package of targeted, considerate design enhancements that act together to prevent the most typical kinds of travel theft, including random pick pocketing; slash and grab strategies; and hi tech digital skimming. It is important to learn these features in order to understand the real worth of these specialized bags. It is concerned with cutting out the anatomy of security and identifying the contribution of every part in making a whole sense of security. Other most dramatic and fundamental features include the use of slash-resistant materials. The worst example any person wants to experience is when he/she is travelling and a thief appears, cuts the bottom of a bag or the side of the bag with a knife inside the crowd and empties the bag. The major brands respond to this by implementing an invisible grid of heavy-strength stretching stainless steel, or other cut-resistant artificial fabrics such as Ultra-High-Molecular-Weight Polyethylene (UHMWPE), into the primary panels of the bag. As a general rule this invisible exoskeleton which is usually sold under such brands as Pacsafe and eXomesh, is undetectable on the outside, delicately lite, but on the inside poses a deadly defense against a knife, harkening to the security of your bag, and the protection of its cargo.
Although the threat it prevents is a bruteforce attack, the most quantitative attack is the much less obtrusive action of a competent pickpocket. Their main target is the zippers since on a normal-sized backpack, they are an open invitation. The solution to this weakness is a number of ingenious locks on anti-theft backpacks. An interlocking of the zippers maybe the most basic area and the pullers are made so that they loop into each other and can be locked with a small travel padlock. Having installed such a simple measure is usually a good way of even scaring away a probable careless thief who would have been seeking a soft target. More sophisticated ones incorporate lock as part of the bag. A case in point is Pacsafe – their Roobar Sport locking system is a central location available to connect numerous zipper pullers at a time and fasten it with a simple to operate and single lock mechanism. This will ensure that you lock several compartments at once, and this is convenient and secure. It is not a question of making these systems an impenetrable vault, but adding those all-important seconds of delay and difficulty which will make a pick pocket move on to an easier, less tedious target.
In the modern world of deep digitization, theft is not only a material danger. Digital skimming is a new vulnerability in the form of an invisible vulnerability that has been caused by the advanced development of Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) technology in passport and credit cards. A thief with a simple RFID reader that is concealed can acquire the information in the cards and passport that is inside your wallet without any indication to you that it has occurred. To defend against this, anti-theft bags that are of good reputation have an RFID-blocking pocket or compartment. Pockets themselves are coated with some special material, which forms a so-called Faraday cage; that creates a shield that impedes the electromagnetic fields. By putting the passport and the credit cards into this special pocket, you close their RFID chips so that they can not be read externally, and your personal and financial data will be secured against high-tech theft. It is an unobtrusive and undulating product that can offer vital protection against a very contemporary hazard.
The security is also enhanced in the straps that are used to carry the bag to your body. The typical mode of the thieves, especially in their scooter or bike forms is to cut the band of a bag and snatch it off the owner. To avert this, good quality anti-theft backpacks have shoulder straps reinforced with a concealed, flex steel wire that cannot be easily cut out. These straps also have re-engineered buckles which are secured. Many brands do not use conventional removable clips that are easily squeezed open; they instead put on security buckles where a more contorted action must be undertaken to release, possibly involving a two-handed process, e.g. a turn and lock mechanism. Such a minor change of design, will ensure that a thief cannot easily unclip your bag off of your body whilst in a busy cafe, say whilst in a chair beside him to walk off with it easily.
Other more innovative designs follow a different line of thought and rather than aim towards adding locks they attempt to have any access point into the bag become physically inaccessible to any one other than the wearer. This lies in the fundament of such type of brands as RiutBag where design is literally turned around. All the zippers and a ways to main compartments are against the back of yours. With the backpack on it, no one would see or access the zippers in front of you. This is just a bright, straightforward idea how it is physically impossible to pick pockets in a crowd of people in the public transport or a line. The calmness of security you derive when you realize that no one can access his bag when wearing it is enormous. There are other designs which have a wide selection of imaginative hidden pockets, that are tucked away at the lumbar panel against that lower back or tied deepest behind the internal clothing, giving you a safe and emergency location to sneak an emergency credit card, a spare few currencies or a duplicate of your passport.
Most importantly however, a great anti-theft bag takes into consideration that you are not going to spend every minute of the day with it on your back. You may be at the restaurant table, caf to work, or you can be spending the long time train ride. This is when your bag is exposed to an easy ripped off, snatch and run. The solution to this is that most bags now have an anchor strap or a locking system to enable you to lock the actual bag to a solid object. It might be something such as Pacsafe TurnNLock security hook on the shoulder strap which enables you to remove the strap and wrap around a table leg or a luggage rack and recapsulate on. Other brands such as Loctote have drawn string reinforced with steel so that it can be used to sew the whole bag and lock it with a heavy-duty brass padlock to an object that can not be possibly moved. This aspect will allow you to be free, to look away a moment and leave your bag at the restaurant table without having a low-level anxiety that some person will reach your bag and run.
Having understood these features well now we may look into those brands that became the giants of the travel security industry with their unique philosophy and approach to this market. Pacsafe is the undisputed industry leader, pioneer and market leader. And this decision was based upon the experience of two Australian travelers who founded the brand and managed to combine their own negative experience with theft and develop a whole system of multi-layered safety within the brand identity. They have a line of technologies that are the best in the industry such as the eXomesh slashguard, Roobar locking systems, as well as RFIDsafe pockets. Their product range is extremely wide; however, two of their main lines are specifically applicable to the traveling members. Venturesafe series will cater to a more adventurous individual that tends to get out into the elements more so than on the posh side of travel. They are resistant to wear and tear, are ergonomic and fitted with all the major security characteristics of a Pacsafe bag, which makes them suitable to a long-term backpacking trip or similar activities that involve blending what the streets have to offer with outdoor adventures. Metrosafe line, in its turn, targets the urban passenger. The same formidable security DNA may be found in these bags which tend to be sleek, discreet but all about organization and everyday use. When you buy a Pacsafe bag, you are getting something made by a business that spent more than twenty years thinking of every possible security issue upon traveling.
Travelon is also one of the key competitors to Pacsafe, and the companies can easily provide the same feature set at a lower cost. This American brand is simply amazing with its new and easily comprehensible 5-Point Anti-Theft Security System that allows slash-resistant manufacturing, locking compartments, slash-guard straps, and RFID-blocking pockets. The designs of Travelon tend to meet many tastes, such as functional travel packs and more fashionable crossbody bags and totes that does not heavily resemble security equipment. Their products and locking mechanism can be a bit less solid than Pacsafe installed by people with respect to par excellence so they give a great degree of security and comfort to most of the travel conditions. To the traveler who wants a sturdy and trusted piece of anti-theft equipment and baggage that is not made of the high-end same brand as others, Travelon is an excellent and well-known alternative.
To the commuter, whose top priority is security at whatever cost, including enhanced mass and a more functional design, we present Loctote Industrial Bag Co. They have products that are comparable to soft, portable safes as opposed to backpacks. The Flak Sack as is their flagship product is constructed by using a proprietary fabric which has high slash resistance creating one of the highest cut resistance ratings in the industry. The bag as a whole, and not only some of its panels, is expected to resist the serious knife attack. The lock itself is also fierce, comprising of a tough heavy duty locking strap of steel and a heavy brass padlock. This will enable you to buckle the bag hard and chain it to a stationary material with a lot of power than a travel backpack has. Loctote bag is a no compromising option. It is not as lightweight as its rivals and it is a lot more sturdy, yet a capacity to withstand any form of damage is unequaled. The case is the perfect option to people traveling with valuable camera equipment, a digital nomad, or any other traveler who travels to areas where they need to be as secure as possible.
RiutBag is a refreshing, swoony, design obsessed approach to this problem in direct contrast to the hardware centric approach of the above brands. Riut, or Revolution in User Thinking is built with a very basic, but brilliant idea behind it: what happens when all the zippers are on your back? The founder Sarah Giblin was annoyed by stressing out over looking in her bag because the trains were filled with people so she created a bag in which each and every opening would be covered by the body of the wearer. This type of design will make it physically impossible that a pickpocket will be able to gain access to your belongings and you will not know. The form is clean and minimalist, bright and professional, so it is a preference of people who have to travel or spend a lot of time in the urban environment and want their bag to provide certain level of security without any of those external locks or obvious branding one might associate with a typical anti-theft bag. A RiutBag simply but proudly says nothing, it is a security bag in its intelligent and user oriented design. It is an option of someone who wants to live minimalist and appreciate the peace of mind through subtle crafty engineering.
Lastly, the third type of bags is the securely designed ones although they do not get expressly advertised as anti-theft. Firms such as Nomatic, Aer and Tortuga construct travel packs that satisfy the contemporary businessperson and minimalist tourist. Their bags are made of exceptionally strong materials such as ballistic nylon and sail cloth that are hard to cut in nature. They are nearly always of good quality, lockable YKK zippers. Their design nature is urban and discreet; it is also clean (which has the effect of helping the traveler fit in, rather than stand out as a sightseer). The bags generally include an abundance of careful organization pockets, however, are not filled with things like anchor straps or the like ( SCURRIFF ). Some are even beginning to include RFID-blocking, though. The business traveler or the minimalist who desires a very practical, strong and attractive piece at a reasonable price and a high degree of intrinsic protection without the stereotypical anti-theft aspect to the appearance are also quite pleased with these brands.
When you have grasped the geography of features and brands the art of selecting the exact bag is a very personal process of seeking the right tool to the job at hand. The initial thing is to take a personal threat model on the chin. What are the realistic risks and where are you going? A South American, multi-month backpacking trip is not a case to be compared to a quality trip to a non-busy city in Japan over the weekend. A trip with night markets of all sorts, busses, and hostels may be one where a theme of the Pacsafe or Loctote feature-rich bag is a suitable choice. On the other hand, a visit to a nearby Asian country like Singapore or a cross country ride in Canada could be well suited to the less ostentatious, aesthetically simpler protection of a Nomatic or RiutBag. Investing too much in the security that you do not require may result in unnecessarily excess weight and complexity and investing less than you could end up with unnecessary loss, anxiety.
After that, functional and capacity should be taken into account. So what do you need to take around daily? A photographer should have an adjustable padded insert bag to place lenses and camera bodies. A digital nomad should have a laptop compartment that is full of safety and easy access. A hiker requires artificial external water bottles carriers and trekking poles hook to attach this equipment. Consider how much volume has to be heated, in litres. A typical small day pack could be in that 18-22 liter range and a full-sized carry on style travel backpack is usually in the 35-45 liters range. Take out all the paraphernalia you are planning to carry on a trip and visualize how this would work. Packing a bag of amazing organization potential: lots of pockets, dividers and compartments can make such a difference in your daily commute and won t make you keep opening and rummaging through a giant, bottom-less main section.
It is king when it comes to comfort. There is no overstatement of this. A backpack filled with most secure pieces on earth is completely valueless in case it is painful to carry. The ergonomic feature to look out to, in the case of backpacks is a comfortable, adjusted and adjustable harness. Search driving shoulder to be cushioned, sternum strapping to counteract moving of shoulder straps and a cushioned hip belt as a way of transferring the weight from your shoulders. High-quality travel packs have the feature of making adjustments such that the harness perfectly fits your individual torso length. See how a bag feels by clothing a bag in a shop with a little weight. Keep in mind that you will later be carrying this bag on your back and this will be through several hours a day after day. Comfortable carry is an investment into your personal health.
Lastly, think about aesthetics of your bag and the grey man theory of traveling. According to this theory, the best thing to do is to be unnoticeable as such the real key is to blend in, in fact you do not want attention at all. In some cases, a bag with lots of locks on it, and with obvious security logos printed on it; conveys the message to potential thieves, “I have something worth stealing in here!” In some situations, less obvious, modest, not looking like a standard tourist pack, bag could be a security-enabler by itself. This is on discretion. Some people are comforted by having something visible such as a lock. To some, their confidence comes in a different, less obtrusive form: being able to blend in with an inconspicuous, minimalist design like that of Aer.
It is important to note that the bag, no how sophisticated, is only a part of the complete solution to travel safety. Your behavior and situational awareness is the most critical level of any security. An anti-theft bag is a weapon, not a magic ward that can help you absolve the lack of being clever and alert. Do not hang your bag on the back of a chair in a restaurant or leave it on the beach alone whilst you go swimming. Pay attention to your surroundings when in places of crowds and follow your gut feelings. When it seems to be unsafe, it most likely is. Diversification of assets is also a prudent thing to do. Although you should keep money, cards and other documents in some safe bag, never keep it all in the same place. When you want to tuck away your passport, spare credit cards and those extra bills, think about a money belt or a neck simulated wallet, which you wear under your clothes. You can then store your day to day necessities and a lesser appropriate sum of money in a convenient wallet in your backpack. Having all of these in layers means that even in a worst case scenario where you lose or your bag gets stolen, you still have the most important things that you need with you.
Finally, the quest of an optimal anti-theft travel backpack is the quest of confidence. It is an investment in peace of mind, and action you can take because to where risk is concerned responsible actions can be taken to minimize its impact and release some of your brain capacity to think. With an intelligent security conscious bag, you will be asking someone to handle much of that bit of low level anxiety so that you can raise your head, open your eyes and live more fully in the amazing world you could be seeing in front of you. You are able to stand there in that packed market, but you are not ready to concentrate on the colorful spices than the image of the person behind you. You will be able to sleep a little more peacefully in that long train trip. You may sit that cafe and pay the full attention to the discussion with the new friend of yours. This is the real nicety potential of an outstanding anti-theft bag not to ensure full safety but to grant the person a more silent mind and more present, cheerful, and liberating travel.
