The day I decided I needed a little more organisation in my travelling life was the day a corrupt policeman tried to force a bribe out of us. We had been in South Africa less than half an hour when the cop pulled our car over, falsely accusing us of breaking some non-existent traffic law. He hadn’t reckoned on the calm determination of hubbie though, and eventually realising we weren’t about to pay his ‘fine’ he allowed us to continue. Yet he did win a small victory by asking to see passports and driving licences, which transformed our attitude of cool indifference into one of slight panic. Where on earth had we put all our documents? And why were they in about three different bags, one of which was in the boot of the car? Normally I live an immaculately organised existence, and am not accustomed to stressful flapping about. Yet there we were, all trace of our former confident demeanour thrown out of the window by one simple request.
We wouldn’t make that mistake again.
I like an element of luxury in every aspect of my travelling experiences, whether it is matching suitcases, a private transfer from the airport, or silken bedsheets at the hotel. My requirements for a travel document wallet were no different. It had to be stylish, practical, and sexy.
Which is precisely why the Torrino Luxury Leather Travel Wallet from Maxwell Scott Bags is now a constant companion on all our adventures.
The love affair began when it arrived in the post. Opening the beautifully presented package made me feel like I’d achieved entry into an exclusive club of sophisticated travellers. Was I really qualified to own something made from such high quality leather? You bet!
Maxwell Scott Bags
I’d always considered leather to be a little old fashioned and just for business people, but English company Maxwell Scott Bags have created a range of contemporary products suited to anyone with an inclination for luxury, style and individuality. Which is most of us, right? As they say themselves…
Maxwell Scott Bags reinterprets the art of leather craftsmanship for the modern day.
Yet it’s not just the product I love, it’s the story and ethos behind it.
Encounters with leather goods whilst travelling in Italy convinced Jacqueline, mother of company founder William Scott Forshaw, that there was a gap in the market for leather bags conceived of a fusion of fine Italian materials and innovative British design.
To stay true to traditional Italian production methods, all items at Maxwell Scott Bags are expertly hand-crafted in their tannery and workshop in the heart of Tuscany. The tannins used come from chestnut tree bark, which gives the leather it’s warm glow, and no chemicals are used in the process. All very natural and great for the environment. The craftsmen and women use tanning techniques passed down through generations in order to create the high quality leather, an artisan process which takes nearly six weeks. Good things clearly come to those who wait.
Their signature premium full-grain leather is so classy that it is only seen in the most prestigious fashion houses, and if it’s good enough for them… I also love the fact that the hides aren’t corrected before tanning, leaving natural marks and folds to give character and individuality to each and every piece.
Torrino Luxury Travel Wallet – our verdict
Not wanting to repeat our embarrassment in South Africa, hubbie and I put our new travel document wallet to the test on our latest trip to Morocco.
We visited the tanneries of Fes and Marrakech to discover a process similar to that behind our new best friend. Boy those guys work so hard softening and dying the leather, it looks like the toughest job in town and not the sweetest smelling either. It certainly made us appreciate all the effort and skill behind the finished products, whether from Italy, Morocco or elsewhere in the world.
The Torrino travel wallet has three internal sleeve pockets and is just the right size for passports, boarding passes, tickets and business cards. There is one external pouch to the rear, and popper fastening on the lid. The wallet dimensions are 23 x 1.6 x 16.3 cm (width, depth, height) and it weighs just 0.19 kg.
Hubbie and I argued a little over who would carry the travel wallet, both of us wanting to look the height of sophistication. I eventually gave in, privately reasoning that hubbie possibly needed a little more help in the style department than I did.
I have to admit a degree of smugness as we stood cool as cucumbers with our stylish accessory at the airport check-in desk whilst the other passengers fumbled around for their passports and flight details. We even got queue-jumped by the officials at one airport, no doubt because we looked the part!
The wallet is really tactile, elegant and smells glorious (unlike the tanneries we visited!), and slim enough to shove, sorry, place carefully, in a handbag.
What we loved
As well as being downright sexy, the leather travel wallet was practical and suited our needs perfectly. It’s also really durable (important if it’s going to survive the deserts, mountains and jungles that feature so often in our adventures!) and even comes with a 25 year guarantee. We live in a disposable lifestyle world, so it’s refreshing to have a product that will probably outlive us, and may even be passed down through the generations rather than being thrown away.
What wasn’t so great
The only frustration was that the wallet was fractionally too small to carry A5 documents without having to stuff them in tightly, but in time the leather will give so this shouldn’t be an issue in the future.
Many travel document holders come with small pockets or sealed compartments for small bits and pieces such as coins and cards, yet I feel the simplicity of the Torrino wallet is it’s forte. Bells and whistles would only detract from the appearance, and if you don’t like to carry a separate purse, you can always keep your pocket money in your sock like the elderly dude sitting next to us on the plane did.
I’m an accessories kinda girl, and have an entire wardrobe dedicated to good-looking things that I don’t really need, so it’s great to actually have something both classy as well as useful for a change. It’s safe to say I totally love our Torrino Travel Wallet and would definitely recommend one for any discerning traveller.
Thanks to William at Maxwell Scott Bags for our lovely complimentary travel Wallet. As always, words and opinions remain my own.
Giveaway
Maxwell Scott Bags have generously provided one Torrino Luxury Travel Wallet in Night Black worth £74 for the Conversant Traveller to give to one lucky reader.
To Enter
It couldn’t be simpler. Just leave a comment below telling us where you would use your Maxwell Scott Luxury Travel Wallet and select the ‘leave a blog post comment’ on the Rafflecopter widget below.
There are also 5 other chances to win by doing any of the following via the Rafflecopter widget:
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- Subscribe to Maxwell Scott Bags Newsletter in the middle of their homepage.
- Subscribe to the Conversant Chronicle Newsletter on the right hand side bar of the website homepage.
- Visit and like Conversant Traveller on Facebook.
- Follow @conv_traveller on Twitter.
- Share this page on social media.
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Terms and conditions
No purchase is necessary to enter or win. A purchase will not increase your chances of winning. The item colour is night black. The wallet is not refundable or exchangeable for cash. This competition is open to a worldwide audience with a minimum age of 18. The giveaway will run for 2 weeks and end on Monday 29th June 2015. The winner will be determined on or around the 29th June 2015 by a random drawing of eligible entries received. Your chances of winning are determined by the number of eligible entries.
GOOD LUCK!!
It’s a very nice design and good quality of wallet. It’s very comfortable for use. Great info you share on this blog. Keep it up.
Too bad I only read this post today, not in time to enter the giveaway! I would have loved that document wallet 🙂 looks very fancy and elegant!
Well we have more competitions in the pipeline so keep an eye out for the next one on Facebook and Twitter!
Morocco
With all my frequent flyer programs I can really look the part when getting an upgrade !
This just what I need to keep me organised, no more rooting through pockets to find that elusive boarding pass!
This is going on my Christmas list! Stylish for when I’m being posh, tough enough for when I’m slumming it! Perfect!
Every where – perfect for travel and everyday! Gorgeous wallet!
Yes, please. I think I really need this to keep me organised when my husband and I take our 3 kids on a 4 week tour of Italy next year! Lots of train tickets, hotel details, tour itineraries, maps, entry passes!!! xx
Wow, sounds like an epic adventure! Hope the children enjoy it 🙂
Wauw, looks beautiful! I would use it for my upcoming travel to Switzerland. I think it would look amazing between the mountains 😀
That looks like just what wee need! I’m always the one in charge of four passports and boarding passes, and my current bag is not wide enough for the boarding passes.
Off to Thailand and Vietnam with the girls this year for my first long haul trip, so could do with something to keep me organised.
The wallet looks great, I’d love to feel smug and have everything organized while my friends are looking for their documents. It would be great on my upcoming trip to Scandinavia when I’ll be visiting 5 cities in two weeks, so being organized is definitely needed 🙂
Nothing wrong with feeling quietly smug 🙂 Enjoy Scandinavia, sounds like a lot of logistics to arrange, good luck!
Myself and the Maxwell Scott Torrino Luxury Leather Travel Wallet alike – Simplicity and style !!
We would travel everywhere together, one complimenting the other. 🙂
Love it!
That is one gorgeous accessory. I’d use it every day as we are fulltime travelers. I’d be the one to carry it, as Pete recently lost his wallet in Paris. Miraculously, it was returned with everything in it, but what stress!
We reviewed the exact same wallet and I absolutely love it!
Well done on keeping calm in that traffic situation! I’d be freaking out haha. The wallet looks really stylish 🙂
I was freaking out inside!!
Loved reading the story behind it! It gives the wallet a bit more personality 🙂 As messy as I usually am in daily life, I must admit that I’m pretty organized when travelling. 🙂
I would show it off while queuing patiently at Marrakech immigration
That would be quite a catwalk! 🙂
I’ll use it on our next trip to Peru to make sure all our documents are in one place and my other half doesn’t leave his passport in the taxi to the airport again.. Gracias a Dios the driver came back and hunted us down!
There’s always one 🙂
I’m visiting Tuscany this summer so it would be fun to take the wallet back to where it started!
No idea where I’d use it at the moment but who knows what adventure is around the next corner!
Always good to be prepared.
I’d love to get my hands on this for my trip to Central Asia later this year, we have lots of border crossings so it would come in very handy. Great write up!
Off to Turkey with the girls in October, I’d love to show it off to them!
That is a great review, I love the idea of sophistication & luxury you can get from one small practical accessory, I think I could do with that look & feel right now after having twins & feeling like chaotic is becoming the norm! I would have to use it for important documents out n about & on mini holidays when the car is jam packed with baby clutter & trying to check in.
Anything that makes life a little less chaotic has to be good!
A degree of smugness….LOL…that was clever. It really is a beautiful wallet. Nice.
OK, perhaps a bit more than a degree… 🙂
Such a travel wallet would look just the part next to my singapore sling in the Long Bar at Raffles, so I’d take it there!
I can’t think of anywhere in the world more suitable to style it than Raffles! Very jealous!
Funny thing is my next trip is in South Africa! I might have to get this even if I don’t win! Thanks for the review!
Just watch out for the cops!!
Would love to use this on my up and coming European adventure. Great review!
It is a very nice bag but my concern would be where do you strap it so that your hands are free and it is safe from being stolen. Not sure I would want to risk putting it in my luggage. I usually have these documents strapped to my body in some fashion.
I hear you Tim, it won’t be for everyone, but it is pretty slim and streamlined so can easily be popped in a carry on bag or even a larger pocket. Or you could always use your sock like the old dude on the plane 🙂
This wallet looks awesome!! I have been looking for something like this to keep all of our documents in that is very professional and stylish! I would love to win this and take it everywhere!! Great review of the product.
It is awesome! We all need a little help looking stylish now and again 🙂
This looks like a great option! I’ve never had an actual travel wallet…. I’m so bad I just use my flimsy passport wallet which is probably the worst thing ever because it means I have everything with me all the time. I feel like I’m just asking for trouble doing this, but I haven’t been able to really find another option that isn’t super bulky. So I could definitely use this for up upcoming trips which I am announcing next week…but it involves 4 months and 2 different continents 😉
Sounds like an epic trip in need of a slim-line travel wallet! 🙂
beautiful!
This sounds like a great solution when traveling or even if you are home. I don’t know how many pouches I have gone through in trying to see what would be right for me when wanting to have my passport and other essentials handy and with me at all times.
Road trip around the National Parks of the USA
Over-landing in Africa in two months, this will be ideal at the borders……fingers crossed!!
I’d use mine travelling MENA, for all of those “crossing fees” at border crossings…….