Is a Perfect Backpack Possible

Is a Perfect Backpack Possible
Rodney challenge me today, saying maybe should use the word,
- Excellent. -

I said,
- No, this is an excuse to say good enough. -

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Manila, Philippines - Quezon City Southeast Asia
Saturday, December 8, 2007
Andy of HoboTraveler.com --- Submit Hotel URL
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More or less the idea of perfection is an only accomplished as a goal that gets continually closer. I am only happy when I trust a person is continually improving, when they stop, I would say they do not want perfection.

Wikpedia.org is a work in progress, it continually is better; it is that which all others follow.

I did an introspective moment a couple of years ago, thinking to myself, what do I want in the perfect backpack.

If the bag was destroyed, I would like a second one ready to be sent to me anywhere on the planet. This is closer to perfect.

Somewhere in this, I know when I accept that perfection is not possible, then I believe imperfect is real, and perfection is not. The intention is to create perfection.

Is a Perfect Backpack Possible

A Philippines Backpack

A Philippines Backpack
'Look, your worship,' said Sancho. 'What we see there are not giants but windmills,

From Don Quixote
By Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra

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Manila, Philippines - Ermita Southeast Asia
Tuesday, December 4, 2007
Andy of HoboTraveler.com --- Submit Hotel URL
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I met a Philippines man yesterday who has a room full of sewing machines used to make backpacks.

My friend Gary says or alludes that I am chasing my Windmills when I start talking about Backpacks.

I have made over 11 examples of what I hoped to be the perfect backpacks; I have gone to many countries chasing my Dream.

Katmandu, Nepal
Saigon, Vietnam
Cusco, Peru
Bandung, Indonesia
Jakarta, Indonesia
Hong Kong
Panajachel, Guatemala
Toledo, Ohio USA
Hampi, Indian
Subic Bay, Philippines

I went to Quezon, City Philippines yesterday chasing the Giant.

Hope, I find myself lying here in bed afraid to think about this project, this long-term project of mine to make the perfect travelers backpack.

Gary also said something to me saying you cannot beat a man that will not quit.

There is a price to pay when you go chasing dreams, I have to ask myself today, am I willing to cough up the price, do I have the energy, the will, the motivations to pay the price.

I will reach into my pockets today, do I have enough time and love to devote to this dream, can I forgive and forget pas failures, can I overlook all the past frustrations and angers and chase a dream.

This is an idea so simple you think stupid.

I am trying to draw the perfect circle.

I want to make a backpack for a person that needs a backpack, I want to make a backpack that I can sell and never give any excuses. I do not wish to say, I am sorry, there is a problem, a backpack I would be so proud of I could say, this is a backpack a true traveler would use.

I need a backpack, when you meet the women of your dreams; you had better marry her today, not tomorrow.

Bakit Hindi

The Philippine Tagalog languge for?

A Philippines Backpack

Changes Made to New Backpacks

Changes Made to New Backpacks
I wrecked my two backpacks in Togo when the Motorcycle Taxi guy hit a pig, and I have scars. My body is healed, the backpack were using rope to closes as I redundant designed. However, I decided, time for a change. I do not volunteer to be a victim of temptation robbery so I needed cut these new bags up.

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Bangkok, Thailand Southeast Asia
Thursday, October 18, 2007
Andy of HoboTraveler.com --- Promote Hotel
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This is my new trolley tramp roller coaster Backpacks. I am going for the wheels, not yet up to what I want, but I am tired of carrying 80 pounds or 40 kilos, I think I am getting nerve damage from the straps. The wheel need to be wider apart and bigger for mud puddles.

Both bags cost 1400 Baht or about hmm 3 x 14 = 42 US dollars. Not bad for two bags, and will last about as long when I reinforce them and add some fixes. I was going to make backpack with three rows of stitching and not the standard row of one on my design.



This is the smaller carry on size, not really, but I think I can try, the wheels will help pretend to be carry on size. Carry on is an ok idea, but getting it under the seat, in the rack above, this is the problem. This is 24 inches high, about 2 above what they say they will take, and it is too fat. This is 12, and I think 8 inches is desired and 10 are acceptable and never trust airlines….

Most carry on bag I see are about 14-16 inches fat, and I know will not fit in that steel cage they show, but rarely use. 60 percent of the passengers would have too big of bags, impossible to use, and the pilot for sure has too many bags.



This has four to five pockets on the outside. There is zero way to lock these pockets, as is standard on the too nuts to sell backpacks. Backpacks are made 90 percent for trekking and used 90 percent on buses and planes. This one has admitted it, it has wheels, but this is a knock off, I purchased something called check-point brand, and I wanted red and blue so they bring out Lowe Alpine that was the same bag, just different color, this is NOT a Lowe Alpine bag, probably made by little Asian people in Vietnam, I hope Thailand.



Tall or height is not a big problem, too fat is, this backpack will need to go under bus seats, above train seats, and in baggage compartments of cheap and expensive airlines. It cannot not be plump, the front pockets had to go, and I left one pocket on the right so I could wear this on the front of my body and pack a guidebook. This one is fat.



They look naked, but this is good, I lost too much color, hard to recognize my bag from a distance with black. Notice the ONE outside pouch for a guidebook.

NOW! I have only one zipper to lock, and I am safe, secure and I can lock this to my bed, keep girls out of my bag when they stop over to say hello. The house cleaner cannot do some temptation theft, as all is snug as a bug in rug inside the bag, with no pockets in free open range.



This is called a padlock slider, THE NEW BAG HAS THIS. I am always searching for the ideal one, I have only seen one, the best one on the planet so far. This photo is far from ideal, the tab pulls will break off, and this is just to stop the people without a knife. I will replace the small lock with a round steel loop so I can use a bigger lock or put two locks on this and use a bigger lock.

Ideal Padlock Slider or Best I have seen

Every bag is ok, they just need modified, and really a big army duffle bag would work good, if I was only using one bag, and not two, no computer and nothing breakable.

I wished Thailand wore shoes, and not sandals, hard to get repari made in non-shoe countries.

Submit Hotel and Free Webpage or maybe Contact Andy

Changes Made to New Backpacks

My Backpack is a Boat

My Backpack is a Boat
Tsevie, Togo West Africa
Thursday, April 19, 2007

I can carry 80 liters of gear easy in my two backpacks. I hope to add a few caps and increase the easy capacity to 160 liters of junk, this is about 35 kilos or close to 80 pounds.

Today was a sad day in Lome for me this morning before I left for Tsevie, as I decided to offload about 20 liters of non-essential items. I left a lot of gear or my home furnishings in Lome in the room, and moved on down the road.

I have been carrying about 100 liters of volume, however to do so, I needed to tie a bag on the bottom of my backpack. The backpack worked perfect for this, and when Michael was with me, he tied or used bungee cords and connected his gear on the bottom of one of my bags. If I put on the bottom it makes the ride on the Motorcycle Taxis more comfortable as it allows the bottom of the bag to sit higher and less stress on my shoulders while on the bike.

However, I trimmed the boat, and offloaded some cargo. Not because I wanted too, but because I like convenience. Tying the bag on the bottom took time, and I did not feel lean and mean with the set up.



A photo of Michael way off and the photos is blurred, however you can see that the small grain bag full of his gear on the bottom allows the backpack to ride lighter on the shoulders of the rider. If it hangs, the weight it continually bouncing, I also can loosen the straps and allow to also go lower, but the bottom bag helps a lot.

The grain bag was not easy to tie on, and the truth is, I had a lot of non-essential items, and miscellaneous pack rat items, some experimental gear items, that were not working.

This is my home, these are my possessions, I become enamored with them and do not like to let go. I do have a clothing policy, if I do not wear it often and regular, I throw it away, normally means I leave in the hotel room.

I need an easy to clip on cap or bag, that I can load, then just clip on the bottom, when I get near the combinations of material, tailor, clips and such, I will make one. Annoying to think how the boys of Nepal could not get their act together to make this simple item, or I would have four right now.

The way I pack a bag is like a boat, the heavy in the bottom, the side-to-side weight is balanced, I try to distribute the good properly, and if the boat is overloaded, I go to port and unload some cargo, and leave again. I have a front and back pack, this distributes the weight to the front and back, they are both the same size, and 40 liters in capacity. I do not really care about weight, as I never plan on walking, I plan on taxis, except in Europe and then I buy a 2-wheel cart, because all I do is walk, hard to get fat there.

Right now, I would like to be carrying about 5 more kilos of books in English as I am down to one English book, and Africa is French.

Backpacks, Gear, West Africa Gear, Motorcycles, Togo Transportation, Togo, West Africa Transportation, Taxi,

80 Liter 80 Pound Backpack

80 Liter 80 Pound Backpack
Lome, Togo West Africa
Tuesday, March 6, 2007

I have two 40 liter bags, one for the front and one for my back, I guesstimate they max out at about 80 pounds when loaded properly. Yesterday, I purchased rice, almost salt, and a few cans of vegetables. In India I purchased a new 220 Electric Hot Plate. I found two one pint or 500 milliliter bottle of alcohol for fuel. This stuff weighs a lot.

The weight is not a problem, the moto taxis or a car taxi cost between 40 cents US and 4 dollars on average to get from any hotel to any inter-city collective taxi departure point. It is the volume or space needed in the backpacks that is a problem. I was not able to finish the expandable part of my backpack, because of incompetence on the part of the Nepal backpack makers, therefore I missing a critical part of my back. I need an extra 20-40 liters of storage compartments now and again, not always, yet, I do need it sometimes. The can goods, the heater, the rice, for sure the 2 bottles of alcohol take up too much space for an airplane trip and would be jettisoned before I fly anywhere. I forgot, I also want to carry another 4-8 books, aaagh, there is a real need for volume.

I am trying to muse, dwell, obsess on this issue before I move out of Lome, Togo, I need a solution or I am going to be like ever other dingaling backpackers, and be carrying gear in plastic bags. I do not tie things on the outside of the bag, I do not carry plastic bags along with my backpacks. I can and am capable of tying items to the bags, both bags are made exactly for this, however I am really wanting everything all the gear inside the bags. I think I need to have a special 20 liter bag made that will become a cap or part of my bag, this is annoying, every time I think of this I get angry at the Nepal bag makers, knowing they were just slow in the head, and very under-developed emotionally to handle the project. They could copy anything, yet to create became impossibly long, this is the under-developed aspect of under-developed, right along with the lack of develop manners and caring.

I just realized, I am in Lome, a city, it would be better to go to a smaller village and do this than to stay in Lome and try to get city people to care. Village people are much more culturally able to care for something than a city person who by nature of a city become jaded, money hungry, not nurturing because of the socialization of cities.

I have a bag of sorts, a pillow of sorts, I will fasten it on the outside of the bag, it is extremely safe and compact, just not the ideal way to carry items, however better than 99 percent of the other backpackers idea of a good idea. I do not like to lose items, I do not like when I accidentally set something down and walk away and lose the item. I have both a mosquito net and a rain poncho, the rain poncho pretends it is a rock, the number one worst item in my bag probably for weight. I use this poncho and mosquito net about almost never, but when I need them, I need them.

Telltale signs of how much you need a mosquito net, the Brit guy, riding his motorcycle across West Africa for three years now, came down from Morocco to Senegal, I think went across to Mali and East to Togo. Lived one year in Senegal and one year in Ghana. He says,
- Oh yea, I forgot, I still need to buy a mosquito net. -

I mentioned the mosquito net rule, of things you need to carry, because on the one night per year when you need them, you would do about anything to have them. Ok, he is on a motorcycle, there is a perceived idea that these persons would be camping along side roads and such, GONG, not so true.

I have been thinking, what is unusual about Africa is to take public transportation across Africa, it almost makes me think a motorcycle, van or truck of some sorts would be the easy way. It is more unique to take public transport than to drive in Africa.

Here is a photo of a SUV or 4-wheel drive overland trips.



This vehicles was parked in front of the Galien Hotel in Lome, Togo for a short time, not sure why? However, I would say this is about the most prepared for bear vehicle I have seen. I hope they have a winch on the front or back somewhere? I cannot see one in the photo.

Theft and getting stuck, man this seems like a great truck to rob, it is pretty obvious they probably have money. I think about a van, but I want about a 100-200 foot cable winch so I can get unstuck about anywhere.
http://www.longroadtripsouth.com

I am in a quandary, the vehicle owners here have for sure worked very hard to be prepared. However, if they was extremely prepared in my view, I would never have noticed the truck, thinking, just another Junker on the road. I noticed, therefore from a safety point of view a little over the edge.

The difficult part about going across Africa seems to the Chad, Congo, Angola area of questionable safety.

80 Liter 80 Pound Backpack

Backpack Components Inspection

Backpack Components Inspection
Katmandu Nepal Asia
Tuesday, January 9, 2007

I am drawing the various component parts of my backpack design daily. After completion, I than go to the internet café, publish to paper, and then go to the factory to show the master cutter.. I am not sure they understand them, the words are in English and not Nepali, yet there is idea that they now have been told. What the real success is I have slowed them down enough to focus on one component and not trying to think of the whole.

I go to the factory now at 11:00 AM, and then return between 3:00 and 5:00 pm to check. Today it will be at 3:00 because they turn off the electricity in this part of Katmandu from 4:00 to 7:30 pm.

I am trying to learn how to deal with overseas companies who speak a different language. It for sure would be easier if I would make the sample in the USA, and then bring here. Everything about manufacturing backpack has to do with the availability of fabrics, clips, and parts needed to make the bags.

This one component discussion and not the complete bag is windfall advancement in methodology. I am in a constant dilemma on how to control the quality and design.

Daily making and inspection of only one component solves the language problem. When they proceed fast, the number of misunderstanding is tripled.

I guess to plan, I need to think, one component, one day, therefore I need to count the number of parts, and add a few days for backup.

Backpack Components Inspection

Making a Backpack

Making a Backpack
Katmandu, Nepal Asia
Tuesday, January 9, 2007

I am making a backpack here in Katmandu, Nepal; there are many problems and many solutions. My goal is to have a solution to all the problems encountered when carrying a backpack for travel. I hope in my travels I have encountered the majority of problems, thereby being a person capable of incorporating into the design a solution to 90 percent of the problems.

I say 90 percent of the problems, because there is a 10 percent gap where one solution conflicts with another solution. For example, there is a constant desire to keep this small enough to be a carry-on bag, yet big enough to carry as many possessions as a person wants.

So do I make big and the person needs to check in the bag all the time or do I make small enough to be a check in bag. A bag that is carried on is safer than a bag that is checked, as it does not leave the possession of the person. However, when a person visit’s a country and does the normal tourist behavior of buying, probably the number activity of tourist, then where do they put these new souvenirs and wants.

How do I manage when a zipper breaks?
How do I manage if someone cuts the bag?
How do I manage if one of the harness straps breaks?
How do I manage if one of the clips breaks or is lost?

The list of problems with a bag is in many ways endless, therefore in my desire to make the perfect bag, I have made a list of all the possible problems with a bag. I continually add to this list.

I then try to design into the bag a solution.

I have a desire to sell this bag; I often think the name of the bag should be…
- THE UGLY -

I have a continuous fight with the two men who are the owners of the factory. It is hard to say this is a factory; it is group of about 20 sewing machines inside an apartment building piled high with bags and pieces of materials.

The fight is because, they make bags to sell, what makes a good bag to sell, they do not make a good bag for me. They know what sells and the bag I am designing probably would not sell in the stores in Katmandu, Nepal. The nature of Katmandu is about maybe trekking and price, they often sell only price, then they sell straps. The more clips and adjustments the better, the more widgets, the more gadgets, the more pockets the better.

How do I make a bag easy and quick to open and close, yet difficult for robber to open and close, this is in may ways the goal. I am putting an extreme amount of features that often a person could think is not needed.

Maybe call this the…
- Mosquito Net Option -

People can say, I do not need a Mosquito Net.
However, on the one night when they need a Mosquito Net, they will spend the whole night kicking themselves saying.
- Why did I not buy a Mosquito Net?… -
- Why did I not buy a Mosquito Net?… -
- Why did I not buy a Mosquito Net?… -

I now always carry a Mosquito Net, the one time I did not carry a Mosquito net while in Europe, I was thinking to Europe was very modern. I lived one week in Brugge, Belgium in total misery as I was bitten every night in a room for one week. I discovered, hmm, Europe is not as modern as the United States. There were no screens on the windows.

I know a good traveler will choose a room, a situation where many of these options are never needed, this is the goal. However, when a person makes a mistake, as I am 100 percent, sure they will, I want them to have a solution.

Teaching the solutions in this bag is the next obstacle, how do I teach a person how to use the bag. I think I must include a DVD Video explaining all the options. Then when the person leaves it at home, destroys it, or just never looks at the DVC, they still have the option of going to the internet and viewing the video.

There are so many possible scenarios to design this bag, this is why I am on number 10 or 11, they are starting to blend together, and the last time I was in Nepal, we made three prototypes. Every time we make a bag, there are more solutions that are incorporated into the bag.

I am going through a very time consuming procedure this time, we are only making one specific component per day. We will assemble the 8 major parts now at the end, each day is one component. Therefore, to make one bag will take about 10 days, including the weekend and days off etc., the prototype requires I take 10 days to supervise and wait for one piece to be made.

Each component part becomes a prototype or an example, each stands alone, and I can change or redesign up to day of final assembly. This is not how they make bags in Nepal, it is not this strict, yet in many ways, they have never made an original, and they only copy.

Making a Backpack