I just took mine to Hawaii and read on the beach there, same with my wife. We left them (in a backpack type bag) with the beach rental folks when we went for a snorkle the one time it caught our fancy and we had the readers with us. I've taken it with me on my motorcycle trips, read in parking lots, service station chairs, etc... pretty much whenever I think I'll have 5 minutes to kill, I'll take mine. But this is Colorado, USA... and I'm a 6'4", 260lb, fully bearded guy who doesn't look like someone to mess with.
If it breaks, I'll buy another one. To this point, I haven't even had a case/jacket/sleeve for mine.