It arrived ahead of schedule from Connecticut. It was packed well. Smells beautiful in my opinion, and according to the manufacturer, is tanned using a traditional vegetable process. I don't know if that means the chemicals used to tan the leather are less noxious than contemporary ones, but it sounds appealing. It's the kind of luggage you want to touch for no reason at all.

I purchased this bag to go out of town last minute for work. I wanted something leather for sure. I was looking around and found this. The size was right. It had a shoulder strap and I like the texture and grain of the leather. Bag is awesome. Seems like it will last for a very long time with some basic leather treatment. Only thing I would have like to have is the lockable zip pulls for when this bag has to be checked on a flight. I just used some strong zip ties to keep the zippers closed.
My favorite tip is to be organized and prepared but still willing to be spontaneous. When going new places, my husband and I research the top places to go, get recommendations, and decide what general areas we want to go to. We make sure to hit the top things on our list and then just wander to see what else we can find. When we went to Tokyo, we found the best ramen place and a beautiful little park just by wandering around.
What would you recommend to avoid being robbed? One place I read, suggested a backpack. A backpack surely seems unsafe and you can’t see them going into your bag. I was in Egypt in 09 and a lot of people were robbed while sightseeing. Please advise as I’ll be traveling to South Africa (Johannesburg and Cape Town) soon and doing a lot of sightseeing. I like the idea of the anti theft one mentioned in your article.
Get a travel credit card with a limit on it. If it does get lost or stolen, it will prevent a lavish spending spree. Also carry a cc that doesn’t have charge fees associated with use, some cards will charge 3-5% per use. If two of you are travelling together, each person should have a different credit card in the event one gets lost/stolen and you need to cancel it, the other person has a different one for expenses. Do not travel with items you never want to loose, leave them at home.