Travel Tips

I have being Backpacking around the world now for over 20 years and over the past few years I have had some Major problems with my backpack being damaged during the flights, The first time this happened was eight years ago on a Biman Bangladesh flight out to Bangkok-- At this time I used to put my backpack inside a large heavy duty black plastic bag, this both ensured that the straps on the backpack didn't get entangled in airport carousels and it also kept it both clean and dry during transits !! -- Well on this occasion when I arrived at Bangkok the backpack didn't arrive with me !! In fact it took me six days of battling with the airline to retrieve it and when I eventually did get it back it was in an Appalling condition, Wet, Slimy and Stinking to High Heavens !! -- What I think had happened was that during the transfer in Dhaka, when they had unloaded the plane that they had got my backpack mixed up with the garbage and it had spent several days in the garbage skip -- Hence the condition !!
So I said to myself that it probably isn't the best idea in the world to have all my expensive trekking gear disguised as a Bin -Bag !!!!
So for my next trip away, a Trekking Holiday in Switzerland I Carefully tied all the straps together on my New Berghaus Pack, checked it in, But this time when I arrived at London Heathrow where I had to change planes the backpack got caught in the carousel and Ripped the back right of it !! -- So not the best of starts to a trekking holiday !!
So the next time I had to fly I bought myself a rucksack safe, This was like a giant pillow - case that you put the pack inside and zipped it up !! This time I was flying out to Athens But when I arrived there the zip was ripped off the bag and the lock was missing, also there was two holes in the bag where some Kind luggage handler had Dragged it along the tarmac !! -- so again Not so wonderful !!
So I thought to myself, with 20 + years of backpacking experience, couldn't I come up with a better design myself ?? So over the following months I came up with various ideas, dismissed most of them and finally settled on "The Rucksack Pro-Tector" I had a prototype made up locally and did trials on it -- All worked well so I decided that I could combine " Business and Pleasure " and fly back to Nepal in 2004 and see if I could go into production there, This I successfully achieved, my original order sold out so in 2006 I returned to put in a second order and to try some new "lines”
In 2007 I placed another order by email and bank transfer then in 2008 I wanted to produce some more new lines so it gave me a good excuse to go back on yet another duel purpose business and trekking trip, this time fulfilling my dream of trekking in Upper Mustang !!

When I decided to start my Rucksack Pro-Tector and Travel accessory business the first thing that I had to decide was where to have my products manufactured. As I had already visited Nepal, at this point three times and had fallen in love with both the country and its people, Nepal seemed the Obvious choice.
I was however aware of certain drawbacks in basing the manufacturing part of my new venture there, The First Big downside is that Nepal is a land-Locked country, Therefore all my products have to be Air-Freighted back to England which is obviously a lot more expensive than shipping them by sea, also as the political regime is, to put it mildly, a bit unstable, then I also risked loosing any money that I have there on Deposit.
However, In Spite of these and many more lesser restrictions, I decided to follow my Heart and go ahead with production in Nepal, as at least by providing some employment, at a fair rate then I both then felt and still feel that I am doing my Small part to improve the peoples lot over there.So after extensive trials on my prototype Rucksack Pro-Tector, I booked a flight to Kathmandu and there talked to several manufacturers and inspected their factories. I wanted to ensure that employees were fairly treated and paid at least the going rate. I didn't want my products manufactured under a "Piece Work" arrangement as I believed and still believe that this would be both to the detriment of the employee and the product.
I eventually settled on a family run, Kathmandu based company called P.G. Garments to manufacture my products as they pay there staff slightly above the average, they don't employ child labour and every time I visited the factory there always seemed to be a Happy atmosphere.
So in 2004 I returned home with some sample pieces of my Rucksack Pro-Tector and the rest of the order followed me a couple of weeks later by Air-Freight.
I went live with my web-site in the summer of 2004 and traded slowly but surely for a period of 12 months before Disaster struck. I was defrauded out of my original www.pro-tector.com name and there was No way of me being able to get it back. The British Police were involved and the person who defrauded me, I am Pleased to say is now serving a custodial sentence in one of Her Majesties Prisons, But All this didn't get me control of my web-site back !!
In 2006 I returned to Nepal and ordered another batch of my Rucksack Pro-Tectors and also Two New Lines which I had designed, The Pro-Tector Wallet and the Documents / Valuables Pro-Tector Travel Pouch. As some of you will no doubt know, Nepal was in political turmoil at this time But in spite of this, My Good Nepali friends manufactured my order and Air-Freighted it back to England .
In June 2006, This my new Pro-Tector web-site went live and Slowly But Surely orders are coming in.
In 2009, after taking advice, I decided to register the business as Companies House.
The New Company Name is “Pro-Tector Great Britain Limited” with the company number 6787918.

So, To Recap

1) By purchasing a product from this web-site you are helping support workers and their families in Nepal who are fairly paid.
2) Now that my products are starting to sell in some volume, I am Happy to report that I have been able to start to support Some of the less fortunate people in Nepal my contributing to Just-One – A charity that strives to actively promote and facilitate educational opportunities for disadvantaged and marginalized children in Nepal by working at a grass-roots level