The Grafea Backpack

So I thought I'd review a backpack for this post.

Because this blog is nothing if not topical and relevant.

The backpack in question is the Hari model bag in the purple colour from Grafea.

Grafea is a British company that specializes in cute leather bags.

They offer handbags, camera bags, backpacks of all sizes, satchels and 

an assortment of accessories.

I've had this bag for a bit over a year now and have used it on a few

outings over that time. I decided to take it with me to San Diego

to really test it out, and I wanted to use it as a day bag

as it is a bit more compact than my SwissGear backpack.

So, I lived with this bag for a week and took it all over the San Diego area.

Here are my conclusions:

Pros: It's super cute. I got a lot of compliments from lots of different people.

It travels well. Because it isn't too big, it fits under a plane seat, on the bus,

and doesn't make my back all hot and sweaty when I walked everywhere.

The size also helped to keep me from taking along too much useless

stuff. Because it is so compact, I had to make better decisions

about what stuff to take with me throughout a day.

It actually can carry quite a lot.

I managed to fit my laptop, a book, my notebook, a stuffed shark, 

my makeup bag, headphones, lip balm, small camera tripod,

and, when necessary, I stuffed my lightweight hoodie into it.

The smooth leather fended off dirt and sand. It came back home pretty clean.

Cons: Unloaded it can be a bit on the heavy side, relatively speaking.

It was never so heavy that I disliked wearing it, and the few times I did

get a bit back-weary I just carried it by its top handle like a tote.

It takes a while for the leather to break in. Over the week it wore in

well, but it's taken me all this time to finally get to that point. 

So, would I recommend Grafea backpacks?

Yes, I would. There is a ton of styles and colours to 

choose from on their website (which is easy to navigate and purchase from).

It's a great bag if you don't want to feel like a pack-mule on vacation

and is useful while still looking chic. Sometimes you just

don't want to carry a large, super-utility, techno-slick Swiss Gear all

over town and on the beach.

Additional members of my little Grafea family.

Happy Backpacking!