During my travels last year, the gadgets that I noticed among travelers are-cellphones, digital cameras, i-pods, netbooks and laptops. I carried with me the first 3 gadgets which easily fits in a fanny pack that could be turned into a shoulder bag that was made by North Face. This bag could fit my medications, an epi-pen and a dischaler while the camera case loop would be attached to the strap of the bag. It got the job done for my travels but it would make me stand out in a crowd with a sign that would say tourist. Most of all if your trip would include a business meeting, it wouldn’t look good on a suit.

I was never one to travel with a laptop since I felt a flash disk for my presentation was all I needed and I would just inform the people I would be meeting with to provide a laptop with the same OS/format needed for my presentation. But now a days netbooks seem to be getting smaller, powerful with HD screens. HP even carries a business netbook line. I also noticed that most hotels charge for the use of their business center but most hotels and airports now have free wifi. Speaking of airports, internet stations are always packed with lines waiting for a vacant station and to think that most of those using a station are just surfing! Having said all this, I searched for a netbook this Christmas and ended up with a Samsung NF310 with the new Dual Core Atom processor.

Choosing a travel bag is not that difficult, you just need to know what gets to go inside it so you know what size to get, everything else is a matter of budget, fashion and priorities.

What I always bring with me:

1. Wallet

2. Travel documents

3. Face towel

4. Medication

5. I-Pod Nano

6. Cell Phone

7. Pen and Small Notebook

8. Flash Disk

9. Sun glasses

10. Digicam

For travel to hot and humid countries:

11. An extra Clima Cool or Dry Fit Shirt.

12. A 250ml bottle of Mineral Water

For long haul trips:

13. A paper bound book to read.

And now:

14. My new netbook.

So now we get to the PacSafe Metro 200. So will it fit a Samsung NF310? Yes it will but it will be a snug fit with a risk  of it getting scratched by the zipper. Once you use a sleeve to prevent scratches and add some padded protection, the fit gets snugger. I can fit items 1-12 easily but when I want to bring the netbook along something just has to go. The bulky items are the sun glasses (Rudy Project Kerosene in a hard case), the digicam (Canon A640) and whatever paper bound book. Anyway they never get in the Metro 200 all at the same time. The Metro 200 wasn’t designed to carry a netbook. The Metro 250 was designed for this purpose. But I didn’t find the size of the 250 compact enough as a travel shoulder bag.

So the trick is you have to know what you intend to put in the bag, and how compact you want the bag to be. The Metro 200 is the best all around size for me. It’s compact enough to carry infront of you with the sling across your shoulders when you are in a crowded bus, train or shopping site. However if you want to carry along with you a netbook, it can fit but limits the rest of the carrying capacity of the Metro 200.