With the current atmosphere of identify theft - and having seen first hand how the 'sharks' operate in Barcelona (at the Plaza Cataluna) and Naples (at the train station), I am in favor of anything that enhances my sense of security... I love this purse...since I purchased it, I have been using it as my everyday purse so that I would be completely used to it when my next trip comes up...and, quite frankly, the only thing I don't like about it is that I didn't order the larger one ( I got the smaller one as I don't like to carry too much in my personal bag)....this is great for carrying the essentials of credit cards and some personal items, but the zipper opening seems is just about a inch too short to suit me...I will probably buy the larger one so that I can  easily slip my Nikon digital camera and a guide book in as well...the midnight blue color was also a surprise, I expected something along the lines of navy blue, but it is actually a grayish blue that seems to morph to suit my wardrobe color scheme (I noticed that when I wear black or gray, the bag looks medium gray in color, but when I am in denim or other blues, it captures that tone as well - nicely done.