Over the years and many trips, I've tried plenty travel handbags. With each one of them, there was something wrong, when it was not the look, it was the size or the weight. Some were multi-pocketed affairs and I could never remember in which one I had put my Eurailpass or my glasses. The bucket type with everything in a mess at the bottom was not a good idea. I also tried the messenger bag with the floppy flap, the enormous rigid flight bag (you know the one that is assorted to the suitcase). All failed miserably, all were utterly disappointing.

I have to admit that my budget for the perfect travel handbag was always very low. I have finally understood (yes, I'm slow sometimes!) that one cannot find a bag that checks all the boxes for 20 bucks - pun intended.

For my upcoming 7-month trip in South East Asia, I was determined to get a nice bag that would do double duty, i.e. handbag and flight bag.

Features I was looking for:

• Extra light - I'm no spring chicken and cannot carry a heavy bag for hours all day long.
• Good size - large enough for my netbook and other necessities but nothing looking like a diaper bag.
• Water bottle section outside - but not a mesh pouch that I find "gearish".
• One long adjustable strap - to wear it cross-body - no other strap/handle that would encourage me to wear it on the shoulder and end up forgetting it somewhere.
• Some organisation - but no pockets galore.
• A bit of elegance and style - hopefully!
• Not too expensive - let's say no more than $100

Armed with that list, I started my search on the internet. I live in Ireland and ordering from a company outside of the European Union is a costly business with postage and heavy custom fees. I found on the American website ebags quite a few models that I liked and finally narrowed my search down to LUG bags and, a few clicks later, discovered that LUG is a Canadian company! Once I had decided on the model I wanted, I rang my daughter in Quebec immediately: she ordered the bag which is now on its way to her. She will bring it to me when we meet in Paris in August.

Now, I imagine that you want to see THE bag. Here it is:
http://www.ebags.com/product/l.....d=10017745

It's made of nylon, 15 ounces only, nice shape, good size, etc. Really ticks all my boxes.
The orange and yellow are totally gorgeous, but it would get dirty rapidly so I got the black one: it goes with everything and I already wear very colourful clothes so did not need the injection of colour.

What do you think?