Rollin Through the Checkpoint
We’ve said it a million times, a million ways: The traveling process sucks. I can’t think of one redeeming quality when it comes to air travel and it always culminates in the general kick-in-the-nuts known as the security-screening checkpoint. Here’s the picture; roller bag at your side, shoes untied but still on, your belt and liquids bag in one hand and your laptop under your arm. Will I get offered a choice of oral or anal exam because of the iPod in my briefcase? Is grandma going to cause an international incident with her metal hip? Serenity now. Serenity now.
Aerovation®, a leader in the manufacture of checkpoint-friendly laptop bags, has taken our problems to heart. Their team of designers and mobile device enclosure engineers (do they have a school for that?), has come up with a pair of products that are sure to have road warriors weeping with joy: the Aerovation CPF® Laptop Bag and CPF® Trolley Bag.
The Aerovation CPF® Laptop Bag is a padded laptop carrier that provides two separate compartments – one for a laptop, and the other to house the laptop accessories. The two compartments are secured together by Velcro strips and fold open to lie flat on the X-ray conveyer belt without taking the laptop out of the bag.
Once the bag has wandered its way through x-ray land, you are free to pick it up at the other end and get the hell outta Dodge. And since the bag is TSA approved, the screeners have been trained to recognize it. (Which in itself is a miracle.) This means fewer, “Is this your bag?” moments. I don’t know how much time it will save you, but I’m sure you will feel less stressed about the potential of having your computer five-fingered before you get to the other side.
Heading out of town for more than the night? The Aerovation® CPF® Trolley Bag expands on the Laptop Bag by adding a large compartment for clothing and other travel items, wheels, and a retractable handle. There is plenty of room for a couple of days worth of clothes and grooming gear, but I wouldn’t recommend a suit unless you happen to know a cheap drycleaner in the next city.
The compartment on the front houses the laptop and swings out to lie flat on the conveyer belt. Once it reaches the other end you simply pick it up and the laptop portion folds back into place on top of the trolley bag. The cool thing about this one is that you can remove the laptop portion of the bag so you don’t have to take all of your belongings to the meeting the next day.
I took them on a test run through security, and found they work beautifully. (Which is good because the alternative was they fail and I end up in the little room with the guy in the rubber gloves.) I even had some fellow travelers ask where they could get one.
What they may lack in aesthetics, they more than make up in function. They’re made of high-grade black nylon that will probably outlast you, and it would challenge even the most disgruntled baggage handler. Check out www.aerovation.com for more information, including some videos of the bags in action. The laptop bag is $79.95 and the Trolley Bag will run you $199.95. Happy trails.
