It's been a rather quiet Saturday for me, which is hardly a bad thing. I mostly hung out with the nephews while reading and over the course of the day I finished The Road Home, by Michael Thomas Ford. We did step out to bring them to an indoor playground because it looked like rain and the boys were going a little stir-crazy. Plus I appreciated getting out of the house a bit.
My last round of Alpaka purchases was around December because I gave some family members different Alpaka gear as gifts. But it has been a while since I've gotten anything for myself...even though it's hardly a requirement. And since then, they've released a crazy number of products and they end up staying top-of-mind when I think about gear to optimize my life.
I have no real complaints about my Flight Sling - it truly has become my primary EDC. My Zip Card Pouch fits inside quite nicely and the sling does manage to fit my Kindle Oasis - although it's a big snug. when I add in my power bank, then the bag is definitely near capacity and not putting things back in the precise order I've mapped out results in difficulty closing the zipper of the main compartment. The bag still totally makes sense for actual traveling as its compact size means that I can stash it in my laptop bag during check-in (to avoid questions about having too many bags) and then bring it out again once in the terminal.
In terms of the rest of my gear, I'm pretty happy. I properly got to test my Ark Passport Sleeve during this trip and it totally fits my needs. It's a convenient passport holder that can just fit my boarding pass and this all slips into my Flight Sling's external pocket for easy access. Their Toiletry Bag has been a godsend for travel and I find I can fit more stuff into it versus our previous travel toiletry kits. Their Packing Cubes have been phased out from the site, which is a shame, but I generally appreciate them. I do wish the smaller bags were in more sensible shapes - as of now they complement our existing packing bags but were not a total replacement. And Tobie seems to be doing okay with his Elements Tech Brief Pro, but I can see it's not the most convenient bag for everyday use for him.
All this has me wondering if I should get a second sling, albeit a slightly bigger one. This way I can more comfortably carry my usual devices around and still have a bit more space for extra bits like things I purchase or something. The Flight Sling would still be my minimalist carry option, but at least I'd have something larger for more complicated load outs. But oh my god, am I really thinking of getting myself another bag? Who am I? Hahaha
The bag I'm considering is something that is on sale in the outlet section of the website - the Bravo Sling Mini v2. As much as it's severely on sale (and thus is probably being phased out), it does seem like a decent fit for my expected use case as it has more than double the volume of my Flight Sling, should fit my Kindle Oasis better than my current bag and is actually made of a stronger material - X-Pac X-42 versus the Axoflux 210D of the Sling. It has the same MOD key tether as my Sling, so it'll be easily to transfer my keys from one bag to the other. I'm already mapping out how I can use the slings for different occasionas in the same way that the Samsonite Biz2go Crossover bag that my family had given the other Christmas still feels like the more "client-friendly" bag to bring to meetings and such.
It feels to get just one item in the store and I'm still trying to figure out what else might be useful. I was briefly considering the Hub Zip Pocket as something to throw into my cart, but it costs almost as much as the Bravo Sling does (I recognize that's comparing to a sale price) so that makes me hesitate. Plus Tobie points out that my use case seems to better fit continuing to use a sling bag more than adding different pouches bits hanging off my existing bag. The rest of their Hub accessories feel rather excessive at this point, but I'll continue to give this more thought. I do have a pending 15% off voucher I can use, but that only applies to full-price items and won't help me with my sling purchase. Maybe I'll just go for the Nano Phone Stand given how ridiculous it is...but it might just come in handy.
In the meantime, the bag is still in my cart awaiting checkout.
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