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Over the Thanksgiving holiday we drove 4 hours to spend the weekend with our family in Connecticut. Now those of us who travel with children know how quickly the car can fill up with all the essentials: pack and play, booster seat, toys, clothes, extra snacks, and the like. This year we made sure to pack our Trabasack. Guaranteed you may not know what a Trabasack is, but this should be an essential part of any family roadtrip by land, air or sea.

The  Trabasack Curve Connect is a zippered, curved bag with a bean bag insert and mulitple straps. It is the perfect size to hold an iPad, small laptop, netbook, portable DVD player, a few children’s books, art supplies or gaming devices. On one side it has a soft to the touch, velcro compatible surface, that covers a very sturdy tray.   The other side is a bean bag cushion that rests on your lap.  Inside there is another zippered pocket for added storage. The zippers have large rounded ends that make them easier for small children or adults that might have impaired finger control or arthritis to manipulate.With the exception of the bean bag insert, the Trabasack can be washed.  The straps allow it to be slung over a shoulder, worn over both shoulders like a backpack, carried in one hand by handles, or if sitting buckled around the waist. This bag also comes in a rectangular shape rather than the contoured curved shape.

These are the ways our family has benefitted from owning a Trabasack:

– This weekend, while traveling in the car, using the straps, I attached the Trabasack to the back of passenger seat in front of Gavin, so that it was on a 45 degree angle sloping down towards him.  It was the perfect angle for him to read books and see the pages while we were driving. Without it, the book was flat on his knees and kept falling to the floor. I think this would also prove to be a great bag for children to take by train or on an airplane, not only to use in flight, but to use as a flat desk-like surface during long layovers in terminals.

– Many strollers, like our Maclaren stroller, do not come with a commercially available tray, so we now keep our Trabasack in the trunk of the car for an on-the-go mealtime and playtime surface. When not in use, I keep it hanging off the back of the stroller and it can double as another bag to put a few diapers, wipes and some snacks.

– This is an awesome portable laptop tray that I used in the back of the vehicle to create this post!

The Trabasack was created in the UK by a mother of a child with a disability and it is also a helpful tool for children and adults with disabilities, serving as a portable wheelchair and stroller tray. The unique velcro top can also be helpful to secure items such as a cup, books, communication devices, or Mayer Johnson pictures.

The early intervention company I work for was going to also purchase one to use with a lot of our positioning equipment for children, as typically the cost of other trays can run into the hundreds of dollar range, making the Trabasack a much more cost effective solution.

Do you need a unique holiday gift for a tech loving adult who lives out of their car, the train station or the airport and needs a portable office? Did a friend recently have a baby and you are looking for a unique, but useful gift that the whole family can utilize? The Trabasack is a versatile bag that can appeal to a variety of individuals and their personal interests. The Trabasack is available in the US through the medical distributor, Windsor Direct.

This post is brought to you today from the back of the family vehicle, using the Trabasack as my portable laptop table.  Trabasack provided this lap top bag free to facilitate a review.