Make Your Plain ol' Backpack into the Perfect Conversation Starter!
My first trip to Europe was when I was 16 years old on a 10-day trip with my mother around Italy and boy did the souvenir shop owners love us. As a typical tourist, I bought Colosseum keychains, a leaning tower of Pisa mug, an “I Love Firenze” T-shirt (that I never wore and nearly dissolved after a single wash), and knock-off “Italia” and “Juventus” soccer jerseys. I was young and the travel bug was only beginning to sink its teeth in me.
As it was my first real trip abroad, it had not yet occurred to me that there are better ways to commemorate a trip than by stuffing a rolling-suitcase full of worthless nic-nacs and cheaply-made clothing, then lugging that baggage through an airport, onto a plane, only to discover that half the trinkets shattered on the voyage home.
Fast forward a few years, and a couple of larger, longer trips later, and I find myself in a souvenir shop once again. This time, as an experienced wanderer of the European continent, I am not looking at the keychains, mugs, or shirts. My attention is on a basket full of sew-on patches and bumper stickers. I remembered how someone at my hostel had her country’s flag sewn onto her travel backpack, and bought the Italian flag patch. I got some lunch, then headed back to the hostel… when I looked down at my day-bag, it suddenly looked kind of plain.
Not wanting to damage the integrity of the material that made up my travel backpack, as I was living out of it for the next few months, I decided that my Jansport day-pack was to be the canvas on which I paint a picture of my adventures… with sewn on patches.
Some people have a shelf in their house full of commemorative shot glasses, a fridge full of magnets, or a cabinet full of decorative spoons, I have a backpack full of hand-sewn badges. I bought a sewing kit at some corner store in Siena, Italy and sewed on a new patch every time I had a few hours on a train, bus, or in my hostel. Because I taught myself how to sew as I proceeded with this new project, you can note the progress of my abilities with each newer badge.
To make each patch more significant, each place more memorable, and to add some character to my bag, I decided that I wasn’t going to on acquire uniform country shield or rectangular shapes. They were all going to be different sizes, shapes, and depict everything from national flags to iconic cultural symbols. I also decided that I would give preference to regional and municipal emblems over country flags (this is only because I felt like sewing on a German flag after only having been to one or two cities is “cheating” somehow). Furthermore, I concluded that I will only buy a new patch in the place it represents (no buying them online from home), and at a shop located in, or close to, a place of some significance.
Because I got the idea a little late in my travels, the backpack doesn’t show ALL of the places I have been, and I couldn’t get them all in one photo. I plan on continuing to fill every inch of fabric with patches and giving leaving the bag to my son or daughter one day.
Hopefully you read this before you spend your Euros on some crappy keychains or Eiffel Tower lighters this summer, and this inspires you to do something similar!
