Happy 10th Birthday to One Gem of a Backpack!

There are all kinds of travelers in the world. Million mile business folks, jet setting millionaires, shoestring backpackers, and casual vacationers. One thing any well-seasoned traveler will heartily agree on is this:

Quality travel gear is ESSENTIAL.

It’s hard to believe that just 10 years ago, I had never owned a travel pack. It wasn’t that I had never wanted to. I remember looking into it in my early 20s, and the sticker shock alone stopped me in my tracks. “What?? $200-300 just for a bag?!?”

The thought of spending more money than I had ever spent on a single article of clothing or accessory seemed utterly foolish! I kept dreaming about the idea for years, however. Just imagining the idea of having a smartly compartmentalized, ergonomic bag seemed like the next step to upping my travel game. It was like wanting to go camping but being unwilling to buy a tent.

When I met my wife, one of the first things we bonded on was our shared love of travel, though I had only managed to go on two trips out of the country at that point. We quickly began daydreaming about all the places we would travel to together, and she eagerly insisted that it was time for me to take the plunge and invest in my very own travel pack!

After some overwhelming online research, I was ready to go talk to the experts. We walked into Bivouac, an outdoor supplies store in downtown Ann Arbor, and were met by super-fit, sun-kissed, flannel-bedecked store clerks. My learning curve was steep that day.

I didn’t know that backpacks come in sizes, specifically designed to fit your torso and distribute your load evenly. There are no less than 80 straps covering the thing, with an alarming amount of ways you can make slight adjustments to the fit, or expand the pack for greater contents.

I felt giddy, as the clerk explained what all the separate compartments could be used for. Sleeping rolls strapped to the bottom, hiking poles secured on the outside, easy access pockets on the top flap- I could finally start to see myself as a backpacker!

I settled on the Gregory Jade. She was a beauty! A full 60 Liters in an elegantly subtle green tone, which I could imagine leaned up against the trunk of a tree while I took a break from hiking to enjoy lunch on a cliff, overlooking a stunning rocky valley that I had just ascended.

The first time she traveled internationally, my pack, Jade, got checked. I was a nervous wreck- I had never thought about her and her 200 straps going down a conveyor belt! What if she got stuck, or damaged?

Thankfully, Jade arrived in Asia perfectly unharmed. And my next investment was a bag to put her in for future conveyor adventures.

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Jade and I have been all over the world. She’s got battle scars, and black rubber scrub marks from exploring the insides of countless new airports. We’ve got our check-in routine down to a science now. As I reach the check in counter, I remove her from my back, loosen her waist straps and circle them around backwards to hug the pack and clip together snugly, then do the same with the chest strap. I hoist her up with the sturdy handle at the nape of her neck, and slide her into the cheap laundry bag that balls up and fits in the side shoe pocket after the hard part is over. the drawstring closes around her handle, and I tie them together while the attendant straps her bar code sticker onto the only visible portion of my pack.

A few years ago I noticed my spine zipper starting to fail. The glue that seamlessly adhered the zipper to the fabric began to release. Soon after, the zipper became unusable, and I abandoned the use of that compartment. I didn’t realize just how much I missed this specific aspect of Jade. Super accessible, shallow, yet perfect for sliding in my journal, key documents, and urgent snack options. Without the spine space, I lost a vital part of my organizational technique.

I tried purchasing other organizing pouches to keep in the main compartment, but nothing replaced the functionality I had lost. Finally, I declared defeat, and decided that a decade of travel may have been all Jade was up for. It was a good 10 years.

To my surprise, when I went into my local REI, the sales guy there, while happy to size me up again for a new pack, offered some unexpected advice.

“Try reaching out to the manufacturer,” he said, though my travel-worn pack was clearly well beyond any normal warranty period. I looked back at him like he was dumb.

“It’s 10 years old…” I tried to remind him gently.

“I know,” he ever so politely acknowledged, “but you’d be surprised. Gregory and Oprey are both really good brands, and they really stand behind their products.”

Really? I thought. He continued, “Yeah, I’ve know several folks who have had their packs fixed at no cost, or even replaced and upgraded to the newer version for free!”

Wow! Seriously? Color me impressed. I continued on with my fitting, wearing the 30 pounds of weight around the store while I tried on some new hiking shoes. Considering that I still have a few months before I really need my pack to work, I figured it was worth a try.

So, I emailed Gregory and waited for a reply. To my surprise, the process was super simple! They sent me a repair ticket, which I printed out to mail in with Jade, and my wife rummaged through the recycling to find a box usable for shipping her off.

I was still nervous. We paid $14 to ship my pack, and what if that was a waste of money? They could get it and refuse to repair it due to normal wear and tear. Or worse… they might see that I had previously attempted to fix it myself – first with some other fabric glue, which lasted a month, then by sewing it back to itself (rendering it no longer water resistant).

Gregory emailed me to let me know that they recieved my pack, and…

IT WAS FIXED! Ironically, their solution was also to simply sew the pack back together. She make look a bit more like Frankenstein at this point, but…

She’s ALIVE… JADE IS ALIVE!!!

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I’m excited to see how many more years my trusty travel buddy has left in her. Next up is Peru and Ecuador in April! No matter how many more miles we travel, or how many more countries we explore for the first time as a team, I’ll always be grateful for our experiences together.

And when the time finally does come for Jade to retire, you can bet your bottom dollar I’m going with another Gregory.

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Sweden

About six years ago, a dear friend of mine moved to Sweden. It was quite a departure from her life in San Antonio, Texas, where she had moved after we graduated Architecture school together in Austin. In fact, winter in Austin was just slightly cooler than summer in Stockholm, where she now calls home.

For years, I had been meaning to prioritize heading there to see her and her husband, Carl. It just kept being pushed to the back burner for more adventurous trips that aligned better with our travel matrix. You see, as an avid traveler, with a modest budget, I can only make it so many places in a given year. Usually I try to travel to places that are higher on my list, which is a pretty simple assessment.

 

Top Travel Priorities =

1. Places at risk of disappearing due to climate change (already checked off the Maldives, Glacier National Park, and the Everglades)
2. Places that require very long travel times (Asia, Australia, very remote islands, etc.), which are easier to handle while my body is young, and will be more painful if I wait until I’m older to explore.
3. Once-in-a-lifetime events and cheap deals that are too good to pass up. (Solar Eclipse in Paducah, KY is a local example, or visiting a friend in the Peace Corp in Ouagadougou, which I regret missing out on)

 

So, when I heard an interview last fall on NPR about silly-cheap flights to the Nordic regions, I had to explore. Apparently, Norwegian Air was offering round trip flights for as little as a few hundred bucks, which was less than half of my first European travel back in 2001! Online I went to explore the possibility.

 

At first, it seemed too good to be true! $400 to fly to see Raina and Carl? Totally worth it! As I worked my way through the airline’s website, however, I was nickeled and dimed to death, with add-ons for so many ridiculous things that mainstream airlines like Delta or American Airlines don’t pester customers with. Eventually, I made it to the final page, with the “no-turning-back” button staring me down. As I prepared to click to book the flight, I was accostsed with yet another pop up. “Want to pay with credit card?” It taunted, “That’ll  just be another $33 fee!” This was the last straw.

I opened another tab and did a quick search. Turkish Airlines, which we had flown last year to Sri Lanka, was all-inclusive, and just about $500. It was worth it to know I had an assigned seat, room for my luggage, and even free drinks on the flight! Plus- BONUS- I had enough reward points from my credit card hobby to buy both our tickets without spending a dime!!

 

Thus, our trip was booked! Free flight, free accommodations (thanks to Raina and Carl for putting us up in their office/spare room!), so we just had to pay for meals, entertainment, and local transportation. My wife and I were very much looking forward to a different kind of vacation, with the ease and comfort of knowing locals, and a cultural experience more like our own than different.

 

What I discovered, was a bit surprising. This is very much my personal experience, which reflects my own travel history moreso than Sweden’s generous offerings.

 

Sweden is north.

Really far north. Like, “further-up-than-most-of-the-country-of-Canada” north. Which means the sun plays tricks with your body, by doing things like making the sky light at 3am (or 10am, depending on the time of year). While it technically rose at 4:30am, the sky begins to glow for hours before and after the official existence of the sun in the sky. This seemed like no biggie, but after tacking up extra curtains, wearing an eyemask (thank you for the freebie, Turkish Airline!), and covering my head with a pillow, the sun was no match for my body’s incessant alignment to the cycles of the sun. I slept well every second or third day, which made it tougher to fully enjoy our daily excursions.

Sweden is soooo easy.

Never in a million years did I expect this to come out of my mouth, but our vacation was almost TOO easy for me. I didn’t realize how much I enjoy the challenge of learning a new language, adapting to other countries’ cultures, and the challenges of figuring out how things work. This is definitely a sensation that has evolved over years of traveling to less and less developed parts of the world. Don’t get me wrong, I enjoy a lazy day where I can relax, order a beverage in my native tongue, and not have a care in the world. But I also (apparently) really enjoy the challenges of foreign travel. Maybe it just makes for better stories.

There’s no language barrier.

In Stockholm, as in many large European cities, everybody speaks English. Here, it’s partly because they have free college education as citizens. Even when we tried speaking Swedish, people responded to us in English, which, as a language lover, was sometimes disappointing. Clearly, I’m privileged as a native English speaker, but it was also beautiful to see so many other visitors from countries all over the world speaking in their native language, and then switching to English (instead of Swedish) to order a meal.

 

Cars not required.

Our friends and hosts, Raina and Carl, do not own a car. They live and work in a place where they can either walk, bike, or take the metro every single day. Even when we wanted to escape to the country, we could do so by simply taking one of many ferries out through the archipelago to a remote island, knowing that there was a regular schedule to allow us to return home at regular intervals. Never once did I feel ‘stuck’ without a car, because their transportation system is so interconnected, frequent, and redundant, that at almost any point we had multiple options of how we wanted to get home.

Stockholm was inviting.

This city is extremely clean, feels very safe, and most importantly, it has good urban design.

 

As an Architect, I relish in discovering the dichotomy of ancient ruins, historically preserved buildings, and modern infill. Yet, unlike other major European cities I’ve been to, Stockholm feels much more preserved. It’s not that there is no modern design, but that the scale is kept in check with historic neighbors. There is not a ‘downtown’ filled with skyscrapers, in fact,  there are seldom any buildings taller than the predominant 5-8 stories. Instead, new construction is respectful, and typically built no higher than the tallest neighbor, which is often a church steeple from 400 years ago. The city has maintained a human scale, where you feel like you still matter. This makes it feel like a much smaller city than Indianapolis, despite having 50% more residents.

 

The density of the built environment n Stockholm is much more consistent, versus the skyscraper cluster that transitions into single family homes in less than a mile of downtown Indy. Single family homes are rare in Stockholm, and our friends owned a flat in a 4 or 5 story apartment building with a beautiful courtyard filled with bicycle parking.

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People MOVE here.

I’m not talking about immigration, although they DO have an unbelievable program that paid for Raina to take a year of intensive language courses specific to her field of expertise so that she could be a fully productive member of their society.

 

No, I’m taking about how people get around. I mentioned the mass transit, and referenced the bikes, but it really is amazing to see just how little cars are used here. It took me a few days to put my finger on it, but when I did, it was truly eye opening. After spending endless hours walking the cobblestone streets of the chain of islands that make up Stockholm, we sat at an outdoor cafe, joined by others willing to brave the chilly 61F temps to celebrate winter’s passing.

 

With a glass of wine in hand, we sat and watched the boats pass by, the regular trains over bridges, and the abundance of pedestrians. I started watching more closely to observe the footwear of those who clearly were walking to or from work. What I noticed was starkly contrasting to what I would see back home. Unlike the business professionals in Indy, the very stylish Swedes made one small concession. They wore comfortable shoes. Think about this. Not a single woman walked past us wearing high heels. They were just too impractical! Instead, women wore sneakers- all of them! They might have fancier shoes at work to change into, but nobody was judged for wearing logical shoes on their walk to work. And you can see the difference in how fit everyone is!

 

There’s room to breathe.

One of the very unique aspects of Stockholm is that is is made up of a series of islands. Each island is connected via numerous bridges and tunnels, and many waterfronts are also lined with public parks and trails for biking and walking. While many of these parks are narrow strips of green, the interstitial space between the islands effectively functions like additional park space. No matter how dense the buildings are, you are seldom more than a 15 minute walk to a waterfront, which functions as a ‘release’ from the density. It gives your mind and body space to breathe, and enough visual distance for beautiful vistas that encourage you to slow down and enjoy the view.

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People Matter.

Hands down, the most fascinating thing to me about our experience in Sweden was the culture.  It left me so impressed, I can imagine why people want to live here, despite the dayless winters and nightless summers.

 

Taxes are high, and they have the social support system to prove it. For example, I saw more men pushing baby strollers on any given day than I have seen in the US in any given year. Swedes get 14 months paid leave when they have a baby! They also value work-life balance. When you work overtime, it gets banked as extra vacation time, on top of the 4 weeks of standard vacation folks already get. And your boss expects you to actually take all that vacation time!

 

Lastly, I have one word for you. FICA (pronounced “Fee-kuh”). Fica is a national concept that every employee, EVERYWHERE, takes a mid-morning break, where it’s practically mandatory for you to leave your desk, grab a coffee, and socialize with your coworkers for 15-25 minutes. Then, in mid-afternoon, you do it again. We actually went to Raina’s architecture firm to witness a Fica, and it was surreal. They even play ping-pong like socialists. Everyone grabbed a paddle, walks in a circle around the table, and takes one turn to hit the ball before continuing forward to make room for the next player. It felt like I was in a commune (but in a good way, and much cleaner). I’ve now taken it upon myself (as a person who eats lunch at my desk while working) to embrace this concept of Fica and bring it back to Indianapolis.

All-in-all, we had a very enjoyable experience. I didn’t even get into the specific sites and attractions Sweden offers, but that’s what your ‘big box’ travel sites are for! If you’re looking for a nice entry to oversees travel, I highly recommend it. Or if you just want an easy place to wander, you’ll never feel lost in Sweden. Say “Hi!” to Raina and Carl for us!