The Purple Pack

For Halloween 2010 I dressed up as Dora the Explorer.

I made a quick run to Wal-Mart and purchased a purple backpack for $5, and I haven't parted with it since.

It is deceivingly big and can comfortably hold everything I need for a 5 day trip. It fits my life so perfectly I have used it as a purse, as a school bag and my permanent travel companion. It has been with me to New York, DC, Florida, Colorado, Texas, California, Illinois and all of the UK.

The Purple Pack in Arthur's Seat, Edinburgh, Scotland. 

It has developed a personality of its own, I like to think that it has changed as much as I have with  the things it's seen and experienced. The pins and doodles are each scars and stories of each new place. I have been keeping journals since I was in 5th grade and I like to have a notebook specific for each trip. (Post about it to come later). But this backpack is a collection of all the stories, it is sort of a friend who was there with me through every trip.

I could get a newer, better one. With more space and better design with comfortable straps. But I don't want it. Just like my old beat up Converse, it has been with me everywhere, it was there when I stopped making excuses for staying put ("not enough money, not old enough, don't know anybody, still in school" you've heard them all) and I like to think that Dora's spirit did dawn on me with this backpack and I finally started exploring.

It became a sort of running joke with my friend Carmela, when she followed my lead and dressed up as Dora in 2011, acquiring for herself a purple pack of her own. Amongst many things, we share the love of travel, and now a recent graduate, I hope she gets a bit of the explorer spirit herself.

M.