Over the past few years, bags, especially the small sling-type bags, have become an essential part of my everyday use. Is it the same for you?

Pockets in trousers / pants / jeans pockets, never seem to have enough space to put all our “carry with us” everywhere we go things like, wallets, keys, smartphones, coins, tissue, snacks… and the list goes on. The pockets seem to be made smaller and smaller. Or are we carrying more things?

Wait a minute. Isn’t our lives supposed to be easier with the most modern of technology? Aren’t we supposed to be less complicated?

Or is it just an illusion?

I think we may have forgotten how to travel light whenever we leave our house each day. The smartphones have gotten bigger…I mean they are a help. We don’t have to carry an SLR camera for good shots. From a multitude of keys just to operate our travel vehicles, now its reduced to one…basically. And the list goes on.

My daily carry on / go-with-me items include my Samsung Fold to get my writing done when I am away from my workstation. Then, I have the my Samsung S23 Ultra for fast taking pictures and voice notes. The Fold can be cumbersome in one-hand operations. I also carry a small leather portfolio notebook, for some just-in-case notes. Somewhere in there, my Bose Quietbuds are a must carry-with-me-wherever-I-go item for its great noise cancellation feature. This is so important to me as my concentration while piping in or typing an article can be crucial.

I have acquired several bags, especially the small-to-medium sling-type bags. One of the features that I look for in an item is that I want it to last forever and ever. The Venture Sling from Bellroy looked the perfect fit. The most attractive thing about this bag was the colour. I was definitely into bronze. I tried it out, stuffed all my things into it, and it did not look bulky. In fact it maintained the overall shape of the bag.

The other point of importance for me was the zipper. It had to work all the time for me, not some of the time, not jam once in a while, not having to fiddle with the whole bag just to get the zipper working. To this, Bellroy tuned it well enough for one-hand operation of the bag.

Long story short, I have been using the Venture Sling as my daily carrier through all the general Malaysian weather. I am an urban user, no longer on dirt tracks and mountain trekking. This has been going on for close to 3 years. I have “collected a tan” from my daily 10 kilometer walks, many a times in the sunny side of the sun.

Funny thing – I don’t sling my main work bag when I go for my walks. However, the Venture Sling seems to have picked up a tan, too.😉

One day, I noticed that the “Bellroy” logo was starting to peel off. I was not too sure if this was natural. I wrote to Bellroy’s Customer Service.

This I can say. Their Customer Service is on par in excellence with their products. I took pictures of the issue. They responded quickly and handled the matter with professionalism, friendliness and customer satisfaction as their priority. A shout out to Moises.