Review and Giveaway: Travelon Anti-Theft Urban Tour Bag

So, remember when I said that I love, love, love Travelon and all their awesome products? Yeah, only like every other blog post right? Well, so far we’ve had amazing Travelon giveaways, but they have now asked me to try out and review their new anti-theft line. These bags have a wire mesh in the lining to make them slash-proof and help keep you from getting ripped off on your trip. This is important because people don’t just try to steal your bag, so much as some will try to cut the bottom of your bag and let all your valuable belongings fall out without you even realizing it.

Well, I know you all don’t want to get robbed on vacation, but I also know that most of the bags I have reviewed and suggested on this blog are more attractive to women. This bag is a fabulous unisex bag. In fact, as soon as Eric saw it he threw it on and declared it would be his new commuter bag…then realized he didn’t actually need a commuter bag, but was excited for a useful and attractive bag and started to list all the things he was going to put in it next time we went on a trip. Yeah, I think that speaks volumes. While my husband still likes to wear pink and will hold my bag when I’m in the bathroom (without me even asking), he still wants manly accessories. This bag really complements his geek chic look, don’t you think?

Let me tell you about the awesomeness of this bag. It’s perfect for the gadget-lover, because it has room for all your electronics. In fact, it has a special iPad pocket, room for your camera, mini-camcorder and has a Smart Pocket that can hold your smartphone or mp3 player. The Smart Pocket is accompanied by another pocket that can wrangle your earphones or your sunglasses. It helps you stay connected and keeps your technology within reach.

We tested the Smart Pocket out with our iPod Touch and also with my smartphone that has a case that makes it a little bigger than normal. Both fit perfectly. The Smart Pocket is a stretchy mesh pocket that expands to hold whatever you want to keep in there: keys, ID, phone, camera, loose change. It’s great, because you can toss the bag all over and none of those things will fall out!

When I’m running around, I often like to have a bottle of water on hand. Like my other favorite Travelon bag, this one has a zip-out mesh holder for your favorite bottled beverage. I especially love this for plane rides and sightseeing, because it keeps my hands free to do other things and I’m not trying to juggle my bags and a water and my tickets (be they boarding passes or Disney park-hopper tickets).

Other fancy features include a zipper pocket in front to hold your money, credit cards and pens – or your lip balm, camera and snack. If you happen to be in a dark room (like searching for some money in a darkened bar), you can use the included pocket light. So smart, right? Never lose your keys either. Nope, there’s a great little clip for them or anything else you want to keep close at hand. There’s even a carabiner attached to the bag. I’d use it to carry my reusable grocery tote, but there are a thousand other uses for it, like what it's intended for: to lock your zipper for extra security. Genius, right?

With the Anti-Theft Urban Tour Bag you’ll never walk around complaining that the strap is digging into your shoulder, even if you pack it with bricks, because the strap is wide and padded, making it super comfortable. It’s also adjustable so it can conveniently fit Eric one day and then fit me the next. Not many bags are that versatile, considering our proportional difference. He’s 5′10″ and I’m a shrimp at 5′1″. Obviously, that’s not our only difference.

I love pockets, too, and this bag has plenty of them. From the security pocket in the front, the mesh pocket on the inside of the main compartment and the great pocket in the back. You can use this bag for almost anything. Don’t have an iPad? Put your netbook in that pocket instead. Don’t want to carry around a bottle of water? Zip up that pocket and make the bag a bit smaller. Need to keep your boarding passes and passport safe? Slide them into that front pocket to keep them together and easily accessible, but out of reach of thieves. Want to bring your portable gaming device? It can easily fit into the back pocket or main compartment.

The wire mesh does not add weight to the bag like I thought it might and the bag fits snugly to your body, too. This bag is obviously a winner with the men, but I think women who want an unassuming bag that doesn’t look like a traditional handbag will love this one as well. If Eric didn’t already claim it for himself, this would be a fantastic day bag for me on vacations, too. It’s sporty looking and very handy for everything you need to carry with you.

More information

Where you can buy it: Travelon online

How much it costs: $75.00

Colors it comes in: classic black

Other specs: RFID blocking card slots (so people can’t use an electronic scanner to steal your card numbers), 11″ x 10″ x 3″, slash-proof shoulder strap, nylon fabric that is easily wiped down if you spill on it, handy loop on back to hang bag wherever necessary.

Now you can win your own Travelon Anti-Theft Urban Tour Bag!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

How NOT to Do a Theme Park Vacation 5.19.12

There are giveaways galore happening right now. Enter them all with this round-up and cross your fingers! All the things you’ll need for summer travel. Good luck!

Believe it or not, there are things you can do totally wrong when visiting a theme park, especially in the summer. Since we are coming up on June and the kids will be out of school soon. That means shortly after, you’ll be hearing the chorus of “I’m bored!” starting. Hopefully, you’ve already started planning your summer vacation already, but if you haven’t, you need to get on it in order to save any money at all. I read a crazy stat the other day stating that significant percentage of people who book their trips spend less than 10 minutes planning the entire thing. I’m not sure what that says about me who spends hours a day planning my trip, 6+ months before I actually leave, but if you are in the group that has hatred of planning, summer is NOT the time to just “go with the flow” and see what happens.

So, what should you plan for in order to not go broke and make the most out of the budget and time you have? Here is a list of what you SHOULDN’T do when you travel during the summer to a theme park.

Sleep in – You will end up waiting in 2+ hour-long lines during the hottest part of the day and be crushed by the crowds if you don’t get to the park before it opens.

Have no game plan – Get a copy of the park map online before you leave home and map out what rides you absolutely have to do and then come up with a plan on how and when to do them. Also make sure you pencil in any shows, fireworks or parades you want to see and work around those times, otherwise you will find you miss everything good and spent your time going from one end of the park to the next and not really accomplishing anything.

Have no tickets – Don’t be the sucker who makes his kids stand in line to wait to get tickets. Plan ahead and buy your tickets before you leave home. You will save money and time and not have to waste all that time with the other lame people at the ticket booth who didn’t think to buy ahead. The best ticket deals can be found here.

Pay someone to build your vacation for you and show you were to go to get the best deals. Soon, Shereen Travels Cheap will be offering a new travel planning service that will help you save your valuable time and also money by creating the perfect vacation for you. All you have to do is make reservations, buy tickets, pack your bags and go. Answer a few questions and get a customized itinerary for you trip with links for you to easily click and buy with.

Buy snacks in the park - $4 for a bottle of water and $6 ice cream adds up quickly, especially if you have to buy for more than one of you and multiple times a day. Pack a bag with healthy snacks like tuna and crackers, fruit, nuts and granola bars, and bottles of water. Not only will you save, potentially, hundreds of dollars over the course of your trip, but you won’t end up standing in an hour line for a churro. (Been there, done that.)

Stay from open to close – After two days of this, you will want to kill yourself, because you will have had so little sleep that you would gladly just give your tickets to someone walking by. Go early, take some downtime in the middle of the day when crowds are heaviest and then come back after a refreshing nap or lunch. If you start feeling sluggish, there’s no shame in just going back the hotel and not coming back until the next day.

Start at the front of the park – 95% of park visitors do this and then by the time you get to the big stuff in the back of the park, it is totally crammed. Head toward some of the bigger attractions near the back as soon as the park opens and save yourself hours of time in line later in the day when everyone else has made their way back there.

Go to lunch at noon and dinner at 6pm – Everyone else has this idea, too, because it’s normal dining times. Go to lunch around 11am and then dinner at 5pm or after 7pm and avoid the crush of starving people. It helps if you also have dining reservations. Once the crowds start flocking to the eateries, you’ll have way shorter lines and wait times.

Stay in the theme park resorts – There is almost no situation in which this will save you money (except probably Paris in the Fall). You are paying for a name and all that goes along with it, but really, how long will you even be in your room? Exactly. So, why spend twice as much on a room that you will barely see? But it comes with a dining plan, you say! If you do the math, you would have to eat a lot of food to even break even on most dining plans, so unless you have some teenage boys in tow, I would skip it and pay for each meal as it comes. The big money is in snacks anyway, and they barely cover them.

Stand in line for hours – If FastPASS or a similar program is in place, make sure you USE it. Get a FP on your way into the short line on a popular ride when you get there early (as you’ve already learned is key) and then ride the ride, go ride something else and then come back at your designated time to ride it again and bypass all those folks who figure waiting in line is fine by them. Suckers!

Assume your kids can keep up – Chances are that your kids have a normal routine at home. It probably includes a nap and regular bedtime. If this is true, then try to keep them on as close a schedule as possible. Keeping them up until midnight when they are used to going to sleep at 7:30 is just asking for a meltdown that will make you all hate each other and get dirty looks from all the park-goers around you. You can fudge the time a bit and keep them up a little later – like 9pm – and then go back and sleep it off until the next day. If you have kids of all ages with different bedtimes, switch off nights to go back with the little ones while the other adult(s) hang out longer with the bigger kids in the park.

Buy everything you see – Buy some small souvenirs in the parks if you must, but if you are going with a crowd, stop by the nearest discount store (i.e. Target, Walgreens) and pick up some affordable items for the kids and save big bucks while also attempting to head off any major hissy fits over buying overpriced stuff inside the park gates.

While there are many other things you can do wrong, these are the major ones. Plan well and you will not only have a great time, but also make the most of your visit and money. Don’t forget to also pack your camera, extra batteries and lots of sunscreen!

What are YOUR best tips on what not to do when visiting a theme park?

Super Useful Travel Links 5.18.12

It’s that time again. I’ve been collecting some interesting links while posting and reviewing like mad this week. I hope you’ve been entering some of the contests that are happening in conjunction with REVIEWapalooza. Early next week I’ll be reviewing the new Travelon Anti-theft Urban Tour Bag and also giving one away. I think this bag is going to be very appealing to the male readers and travelers, though it’s also a great bag for the ladies that don’t like a traditional day bag that looks like a purse. Eric will be doing some modeling as well this time, so you can see how well it works for everyone.

I’ve not see a ton of amazing things out there in the last few weeks. Mostly, the same story from AAA saying that Memorial Weekend trips are up and Summer vacationing is iffy, because of the economy and travelers worried about personal finances and job security. Obviously, more travelers will be road-tripping it over Memorial Weekend, myself included, which makes it a little more affordable, so while the stats are interesting, they are totally surprising and I definitely didn’t need 400 links to the study. In between deleting another email telling me of this revelation, I found some stuff that isn’t common knowledge to share with you.

You all know I love travel gadgets. Travel gadgets that make your life easier are always the best, especially when it can help you get through airport security faster and with less hassle. If you are a frequent traveler, then CLEAR might be something you want to check out. Right now it’s only available in Orlando (MCO) and Denver (DEN) airports – which is great if either of those are your home airport – but can speed you through the security process, so you don’t have to wait in long lines.  For $179/year (or $50 more to upgrade to the family plan, children under 18 are free with your subscription), you get a special CLEARcard, that has all your information on it and you are verified by fingerprint and iris at the fancy CLEARcube kiosk at participating airports.

Other airports will be joining the program, so you can sign up to be notified of new ones when they are available. Know someone who travels and uses MCO or DEN as their home airport? You can buy them 6 months of CLEAR for just $79. Of course, you could probably by yourself 6 months at that price and if you like it, then buy an annual subscription. It only saves you $11, but that’s still a savings!

Do you love travel so much you want to take it home with you? I’m not talking about turning your house into Fiji, though that would be super cool, but having an airline seat as a chair in your guest bedroom, or a drink cart for parties. Travel + Leisure has discovered that you can buy parts of retired commercial airplanes from a company that sells on eBay. Father’s Day is coming up and maybe your dad is a plane fanatic. Buy him something truly unique, like his own airplane lavatory! (Loving that idea for a tiny guest house in your backyard. Not sure how the plumbing would work, but it’s a great space saver.)

So, you all know by now that I am a guest contributor on FareCompare. Rick Seaney, CEO of FareCompare and airfare expert, has some fantastic travel tips, especially regarding summer travel and when you should book your flights and what prices you can expect to pay. I love that he gives actual numbers for you to work from when trying to find a deal on summer airfare. Not only that, he gives some practical tips for those that need a dose of reality when it comes to finding low prices. The long and short of it is that you probably will find very few deals from now on, but if you’re lucky enough to spot one, you’ll know to jump on it.

For those of you in the majority that are taking a long weekend away for Memorial Day, Techlicious gives you some tips on saving money on gas. While most has been covered before – speeding will burn more fuel, try the most direct route, keep your car up-to-date on maintenance like oil changes – there are still some new ones, like using apps to find the best deals on your way and to avoid crap traffic getting to your destination.  

I’ve covered frequent flyer miles several times before, but even for me it can still be a mystery. Conde Nast Traveler’s Daily Traveler covers 6 Starter Tips for Stockpiling Frequent Flyer Miles and Points for those that are still clueless and need help just figuring out where to start. There are many things you can do to accrue miles and earning them can really help you save on your trips, especially when you have enough to trade in for a free ticket, as airfare is one of the most expensive parts of almost any trip.

In case you missed it, Ebates is celebrating their 13th birthday and, as a gift to everyone else, over 130 online merchants are offering 13% cash back. If you need any travel gear – clothing, carry-on bags, toiletries – make sure you head over and make some purchases. If you aren’t yet an Ebates member, it’s super easy to join and totally free. Actually, they pay YOU to sign up. Get $5 or a $10 gift card of your choice of three available. They have hundreds of online merchants to choose from and you can earn up to 25% cash back, more if a merchant is a daily double.

Want to earn points you can trade in for gift cards you can use to buy travel items or use on vacation? Sign up for Swagbucks. It’s free and easy and you can earn points by just doing an internet search each day from their site. I earn enough for a gift card each month and hardly do anything. Who can’t use a $5 credit for Amazon? You can also turn in your points for Paypal cash, prizes and restaurant gift cards. Get extra Swagbucks points for finding secret codes, too! Here’s a special celebration to entice you more into signing up:

The Swagbucks Carnival has started, and it gives you an opportunity to earn bonus Swag Bucks each day just for earning the way you normally would. Check the meter on your homepage and you'll see you daily goal and how close you are to hitting it. Every day you hit the goal, you add to your bonus! As if that wasn't enough, you'll get additional bonuses based on how many days of the Carnival you're able to hit your goal! To top it all, Swagbucks is having a Swag Code extravaganza on Monday - that means lots of codes, lots of Swag Bucks and lots of fun! Don't miss it!

Got any good travel links you want to hook us up with? Post 'em in a comment!