Strung Outbound

Instead of concentrate on where I am right now, I’d rather concentrate on where my backpack’s been.
This bag has had quite a run. It was given to me by a friend who got it for free at work- luckily she worked at North Face. I started using it on a day to day basis because I had no other decent bag to go to and from work with- that was in San Francisco about 4 years ago. Since then I’ve used it practically every day… and in the meantime it’s been around the world. Like a close friend, I’ve trusted it with my most important possessions, and it‘s helped me carry the load hundreds of times.
It’s been throughout California and Oregon with me and my bike, trekked through Yosemite, flew to New York, Chicago, traveled to Turkey, Syria, Jordan, Israel, the Dominican Republic, Puerto Rico, Singapore, and now to Indonesia.
It was the sole bag I used on a 3 month trip through the Middle East, barely fitting all my clothes, a laptop plus all the random things you need and pick up on a trip like that. And it’s carried loads of groceries, laundry, tools, and many other things way too big and heavy for it, but it always fits in there somehow.
And this whole time, with all the abuse it has taken, it has held up, albeit with a few minor repairs and stitches. So I thought I should write about it, because nothing, and no one else has accompanied me as often for the last few years, weird as that may seem. It has helped me, and I’m grateful.