Thule Crossover MacBook & Electronic Backpacks

Very few things really change your life. I mean REALLY change your life in the long haul of things. Anyone of any advanced age will likely tell you that only a few major happenings really effected how they did things or saw things that made them do anything differently than the way they always had done things prior to that moment. I'm no different in that regard. I'm 44 years old and I can only name three things that truly had a profound change in my life. Oddly enough, all three are intrinsically linked, so maybe it's really one thing.

The first thing I write about in Anyone Can Marry a Psychopath and it sets me up on a journey that ended up with me buying this most miraculous backpack. The second thing is the birth and continued raising of my son, who owns a similar backpack. The third I haven't written about as much, but it's the reason we ended up buying these backpacks, which is a journey we are still exploring everyday and hopefully will never end.

Due to my upbringing, I was raised to be materialistic. It never really stuck with me for some reason though. I am more of a free spirit, tree-hugging, recycling type (long before everyone recycled, I did). My mom's way of showing affection was to buy me things. I understood this as a child because she was a single, working mom. As I became an adult with a great job I bought tons of nice things but they never fulfilled me. I married and lost everything monetarily, was diagnosed with bipolar (which you can also read about), had a child whom I raised alone with some materialistic help from my family and yet I felt trapped. Stuck in a life a loathed. When I was finally free (after the release of my ex from prison and I could legally remove his parental rights) my son and I had made plans to leave our old life behind.

After months of planning (actually years on my part) and without our family's blessings, we sold off almost everything we owned and donated the rest. And I mean EVERYTHING! My son gave up toys, furniture, most of his walk-in-closet full of clothes, stuffed animals, games, Nintendo, movies, sports equipment, books, etc. I gave up the same down to the SUV, jewelry and our house. The biggest loss ~ our dogs, neighbors and friends. One dog was old and had to be put to sleep but one we had got a year prior to my ex getting out, for safety. The saddest outcome, the complete lack of support from my family.

So when you're left with a few clothes and some top of the line electronic gear (two MacBook Pros, iPad, iPhone and iPod ~ we've always been a Mac family since about 1986) and you plan on leaving the country for at least six months, what do you choose? After months of research I picked Thule!

Before we get started, let's learn how to properly pronounce the company name...Thule is Swedish so the "th" is not like the English "th" in our word "the" it's just a "t" and Thule doesn't rhyme with fool. Phonetically it's "tool" with a long "e" at the end because the Swedish say that "e" at the end and you should, too!

Thule offers the most room in the 17" if you carry a laptop and an iPad, plus it has room for an iPod and iPhone (though I never carried my phone in it. It has water resistant material (not waterproof) in case you get caught in a bit of rain and it's computer area is heavily padded for extra shock resistance which I wanted being that we were going to be on trains. It has pouches for everything from water bottles on each side (that are deep so you won't lose them), a hard shell case on top for sunglasses, and a huge middle section for books, clothes, or food. It even has an smaller zipped front pocket for pens and a waterproof zip pocket inside for small flash drives or memory cards. In between the two is a place you can slip a jacket, shoes or any number of items (though it's not enclosed) but you can tighten it with the straps. I keep hand wipes tucked in it or books I'm reading and need to get to quickly.

Even though we only traveled with it two months on trains and through several airports, I never lost a zipper pull, it never ripped and it looks new ~ AND I still use it everyday and have for over a year now. I take it everywhere! Did I mention how comfortable it is to carry? Well it is!!! So what's my point? Change your life with this backpack ~ get rid of all the other junk, clear out the clutter and get something that works for you!