Yeah, considering when we bought said Esprit bag, our requirements was for something not too big to avoid dumping too many things inside until it was rather heavy on the shoulders. So long as we could fit in an iPad, a bag of charging cables and power plug, our wallet and keys, we were good.
Carrying a small messenger bag meant we ended up carrying a few bags on occasion: the messenger bag; a gym bag and shoe bag; a laptop bag; and possibly a paper bag of other miscellaneous things. And so it's got us thinking how, asides from a small messenger bag for casual use, we could get one for our usual work week that can carry our usual stuff, our Traveller's Notebook, our laptop (or bluetooth keyboard) if necessary, and our gym togs. Then we can cut down the number of bags to just the work bag and a shoe bag if we've packed for the gym.
We just had a few requirements.
Backpacks were out. We weren't keen on carrying a backpack or knapsack. We like the messenger bag look.
There has to be good handles. Bag needs handles in addition to the shoulder strap. And if we plan to stuff in a lot of things and carry it by hand rather than strap it across our shoulders, we don't want something that looks like it can't bear a heavy load, nor something that would be painful to hold for long periods.
A good balance for laptop safety. Not too padded such that the bag is too heavy without even carrying a laptop. Yet feels padded enough that we don't worry over every bump the bag makes.
Aesthetics. Much as we like Crumpler, most of their bags are quite colourful and we wanted something slightly more subtle. True, they do have some colour combinations that wouldn't draw attention in the office but we thought we'd leave visiting the Crumpler store until we've tried looking around elsewhere first.
So we were looking around MidValley and Gardens and then came across Timbuk2 in Robinsons!
We only saw the Timbuk2 Classic Messenger Bag at first, and while it didn't really meet our requirements we decided to check out the rest of the range. Then we came across the Command TSA-Friendly Messenger Bag. And it checks everything off our list!
We were slightly hesitant as it was the M size and felt a bit too big for us (comparing with a S size Classic), but since Robinsons only had the one size for the Command...we thought. Hell with it, we're taking it. So far, it's been good. Although we haven't really finalised certain things like which compartments do we really want to keep our keys and wallets etc., we've tried carrying our laptop and gym togs (in a small Muji garment case) and so far it's been comfortable enough.
Now to balance use between this and our Esprit bag so we don't get achy shoulders all the time, nor leave the Esprit bag unused too long that it falls apart!
