Written by Travel Journalist, Rosalyn Wikeley

Occupational hazard, but as a travel journalist and a mother, I don’t tend to sit still for too long. Occasionally, I’ll be glued to my chair to finish a feature, often ‘til an uncivilised hour, but typically, I’ll be running to make a plane, train, taxi with luggage hooked onto every limb. Add to this a toddler and a baby and it’s all looking a little Home Alone O’Hare International Airport. The eldest is demanding elaborate snacks, the baby is giving Pavarotti, without thebel cantodelicacy, and then the phone rings. 

Where is it? Which bag?You’re holding up a queue behind you with a pram, you can’t bend down with the sprog in the baby carrier for the usual bag rummage… so you exhale, edge forward and accept your fate, the children now competing with a bad ringtone for volume.

While not necessarily a fully fledged ‘fix’ for the young children-and-work juggle, freeing up two limbs and keeping your phone firmly located on the end of a chain is something close to it? Only since owning a London Velvet phone pouch have I realised just how often I’d misplace my phone and how easy it is to do that when on the move or, indeed, juggling two tines. 

Yes, there are the festival-style string phone holders with the waterproof cases. They’re functional while wandering aimlessly through the muddy fields of Glastonbury but lack the chic, soft leather finish of a London Velvet pouch, or, often the card holder on the back. In town I now walk between meetings with arms flailing gleefully either side of me and moving through airports and stations is a breeze when the phone’s practically glued to you.  

Whether you’re a parent needing to free up arms and hands, lead a busy life or simply like to keep things light while traipsing through the city or country, I can’t vouch more for this nifty little pouch… and with the personalised straps and colour variations, it will feel very muchyours and can work with any wardrobe.