Some women take to bags and purses as soon as they hit middle school…or sooner or later. I’m not sure. I wasn’t one of them. I’ve never liked carrying a purse and put it off for a long time, during which I forgot my wallet and keys often. I started to carry one in my 20s only because pockets on women’s jeans aren’t worth doodley squat. As much as I tried, cramming my wallet, keys, cellphone/Walkman/technology of the day wouldn’t fit in my teeny tiny useless pockets so I caved and got a purse.
For most of my adult life, I did not use a large purse, though. I preferred smaller bags and rotated through several that just didn’t fit with my purpose or personality. The Baggallini Criss Cross Bagg (it’s so cool that they had to spell bag with two Gs) is just about perfect. I bought mine several years ago and it still looks good as new. It’s so perfect that it doubles as both a purse at home and a faithful travel friend. It’s wandered the historic streets of Fredericksburg, Virginia, with me. It’s watched the Bellagio fountains with me in Las Vegas. And it’s traipsed through the Gamla Stan in Stockholm and wandered the halls of Rijksmuseum with me, too. And more recently, it’s gone to the beach in Oregon and Salt Lake City. We’ve had good times, this purse and me.
I just love it.
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What Rocks about the Baggallini Criss Cross Bagg?
I will say if you love larger bags (or baggs), this probably isn’t the purse for you. It’s neat and compact, and yet ideal for people who like bags that aren’t one large abyss. This bag has pockets. And when I say it has pockets, I mean it has POCKETS. I think I counted 20-some pockets in there once. Some of the pockets even have more pockets inside of them, secret compartments even. In fact, it had so many pockets that when I first got it, I sat down and tried to think about a purpose for each pocket because I’m the sort of person who doesn’t let things just go wandering in her purse. Things have a dependable place. It got to the point where each of my Chapsticks had their own private pockets before I gave that up. There were, in fact, too many pockets for me to assign things to for what I actually wanted to carry with me in the course of a day or a vacation. But that’s no problem. If you don’t want to use some of the pockets, then use the ones you want. These days, my Chapstick shares a pocket with my latest lottery ticket. I know. Sometimes you just have to get a little crazy.
This bag is easily customizable for any amount of organization that floats your boat, from absolutely none to well sorted.
What really caught my eye about this bag in the first place was its unique criss cross design. Rather than one central body, the bag has two main compartments (i.e. larger pockets) that criss cross each other. In between the two criss crossing compartments is another compartment (you might say, another pocket) – so the main body is not one, but divided into three parts (I could make a really nerdy Latin joke here…if you just got that, then brownie points to you).
When I first got this bag, I assumed I’d be using the criss crossing compartments, but where it’s really at for me is that compartment in the middle. For one, the criss crossing compartments have zippers on them. Who has time for that? I apparently don’t. The middle compartment has a magnetic snap on it (which is really great at demagnetizing hotel room keys if you’re not careful…and there’s another one on the very front pocket that’s even better at demagnetizing hotel keys, to the point that you might forget the magnet is there and become pretty sure you have some sort of electromagnetic power and that only your husband should carry hotel keys before you remember that there are magnets in this thing), but the way I use that, it doesn’t really stay closed and I’m cool with it. I like the gaping maw that is the middle pocket. I can take things in and out quickly. And yet when I’m traveling somewhere and worried about pickpockets, I can easily switch to one of the zippered pockets. That’s right, thieves. You want my wallet? You have to work for it.
What Makes It Great for Travel?
For one, Baggallini as a company was founded by two flight attendants. Their products are designed to travel. They’re tough, lightweight and super functional because these bags were born to see the world. The Criss Cross Bagg is no exception.
This bag is tough. I’ve used it every day at home and away for about five years now and it’s still going strong. The bag exterior is made out of nylon and is water resistant. Great for handling weather and accidental beverage spills in the tight confines of a plane.
The bag strap is designed to be worn across your body, which is in general the perfect way to wear a purse when you’re traveling. It’s harder for purse snatchers to grab and go, it’s harder for you to set it down and accidentally leave on a train or airport seat, it’s just the way God intended you to wear your purse on the road.
The front pocket has spaces to fit up to four cards of your choice. And there’s even a change pocket in there too (seriously, a pocket for everything). This bag is trying to put wallets out of business.
While the two main zippered pockets can hold your wallet, cell phone or other things you might want to keep zippered shut, the center compartment allows you to carry a book or Kindle or tablet. You could probably even stick a water bottle in there.
What It Lacks
For me, nothing.
However, this might not be the best choice if you’re looking for a larger bag. The official dimensions are 11” x 10” x 3” and it clocks in at just 9 ounces, but once you start stuffing things into the…dare I say it again…pockets, the bag tends to fill out and feel a bit smaller than it might sound from the dimensions alone. It might look a bit like a messenger bag, but it definitely has more of a purse feel to me.
This review was not sponsored. I just really love this purse and wanted to tell other people about it.
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