You Don’t Always Need Better Gear

I have a problem with backpacks.

Not necessarily buying them, although that is certainly part of it.

I like looking at them. Every few months, I find a new one with better straps, smarter pockets, nicer materials, or some feature that suddenly makes the backpack I already own seem inadequate.

Then I look at my tomtoc 40L travel backpack.

And I keep using it.

I paid around $80 for it a few years ago. Since then, it has traveled all over the world with me. It has been stuffed into overhead bins, dragged through airports, packed in hotel rooms, and carried through more trips than I can easily count.

After about two years of intense travel, it finally developed a tiny rip.

That’s it.

It’s completely fixable. I could sew it or put a patch over it and keep going. After everything I’ve put that backpack through, a tiny rip isn’t bad.

I did eventually buy another tomtoc.

Not because the first one failed.

I just wanted a different color. ☺️

There Is Always Something Better

I’ve looked at plenty of other backpacks. The Pakt 45L backpack is particularly tempting. I like the way it opens, the organization, and the overall design.

But there is something to be said for a bag I don’t have to think about anymore.

After traveling with the tomtoc for so long, packing it has become second nature. Everything has its place, I can move through airport security without digging around for what I need, and I have a pretty good sense of exactly how much I can fit inside.

It has become less of a product and more of a tool.

Then I Went to Tokyo

I’ve carried a LOCHBY Pocket Journal almost every day for nearly three years.

It’s faded and worn. It’s been tossed into bags, opened at coffee shops, carried through airports, and taken around the world with me. Recently, the notebooks inside even got wet after I was caught in heavy rain.

I’ve thought about replacing it.

Then I went to TRAVELER’S FACTORY in Tokyo.

If you like notebooks, this is not a particularly safe place for your wallet.

The leather covers, interchangeable inserts, accessories, and whole ritual around Traveler’s Notebooks make them incredibly easy to want.

I came close to buying one.

But I couldn’t bring myself to replace the LOCHBY.

I did leave with something, though.

Actually, a couple of things.

I bought a small Traveler’s Company pendant and attached it to the LOCHBY I already had.

And I bought one of their notebook inserts.

Then I did something that feels very obvious in retrospect.

I put the Traveler’s Company insert inside my LOCHBY.

I went to Tokyo thinking I might come home with a new travel journal. Instead, I came home with a notebook to put inside the one I already loved.

I’ve been filling it ever since.

A Few Years of Travel

The first pages of that insert have slowly turned into a running record of my travels.

Nothing fancy. Just the year, the month, and where I went.

Cambodia. Vietnam. Japan. England. The Netherlands. Belgium. France.

Then another year.

Thailand. Türkiye. Montréal. Portugal. Spain.

And another.

Puerto Rico. Virginia. Maryland. Philadelphia. Montréal. Québec City. Chicago. Portugal. Spain.

And now Australia is next.

I didn’t buy the insert with some grand plan to turn it into a record of this period of my life. It just happened.

That might be why I like it so much.

When Gear Becomes Yours

Maybe the difference between old gear and good gear is the history attached to it.

The LOCHBY has followed me through airports, coffee shops, meals, ideas, plans, and whatever else I was trying to figure out at the time. Now it holds a notebook I bought in Tokyo with several years of travel written inside it.

The tomtoc has its own history too.

At some point, both stopped feeling like products I happened to own.

They became mine.

You can replace a backpack or buy another journal.

You can’t replace the miles already on them.

The Upgrade Can Wait

I’m not becoming a minimalist.

Or maybe I am?

I still like stuff. I’m still going to look at backpacks I don’t need, find notebooks I want, and put things into online shopping carts while telling myself I’m just looking.

But something has changed.

I’m getting better at noticing the difference between wanting something new and actually needing something better.

Eventually, both will need replacing.

Until then, maybe I sew the rip, add another pendant to the old journal, fill a few more pages, and let the things that have already traveled around the world with me keep traveling a little longer.

For now, I’m keeping them both.

Update: While writing a blog post called You Don’t Always Need Better Gear, I discovered the Pakt backpack I mentioned was 30% off.

I am currently being tested.