The Backpack Needed Pockets

Once upon a time, there was a girl who was traveling the world for 11 months. Her goal on this journey to share the love of Jesus with others. On this journey she carried 2 backpacks - one ginormous internal frame pack, and a day pack (the largest school backpack she could find). When she set out on her journey that ginormous pack weighed 47 pounds - it was heavy, but not too bad. But then, 6 months later, when it came time to fly from Africa to Europe that ginormous pack weighed 66 pounds! You see, the girl had done a bit of fabric shopping in Africa. . .

Big pack and day pack - packed and ready to leave Ghana

Well, thanks to a friend who had an extra bag, the girl was able to get all her belongings safely to Europe. While in Europe, this girl’s mom came to visit her - and agreed to take all of her fabric acquired in Africa (plus more that had been acquired in Europe) back to the United States! Thus, the girl's ginormous pack was lightened by 20 pounds!! Upon realizing how nice it was to have a lighter pack, the girl decided she also wanted to lighten her day pack. She decided the best way to do that was to find a new, smaller backpack that she just couldn't put as much stuff in. Less stuff =lighter weight. The girl’s mother was on board with this idea so she bought her daughter a new, smaller backpack, and took the old, large, school backpack and all the girl's extra stuff, back to the United States.

The big suitcase my mom and I bought in Romania so she could take a bunch of my stuff (and friends' stuff) home!

The girl then continued on to Asia, happy that her ginormous pack was now an acceptable weight and happy to have a smaller day pack.

Upon arriving in Asia however, this girl decided that her new day pack needed some adjustments - namely pockets. So she set to work to add those.

Digging through her pack she found a mesh drawstring bag, the perfect size to be cut up and turned into a water-bottle pocket on one side of the new backpack.

The other half of the mesh bag, along with the original drawstring, was hand-sewn on the opposite side of the backpack. This made the perfect travel pillow pocket!

Then some webbing (also found lurking in the ginormous pack) was sewn down one side of the front of the backpack, creating loops for things to be clipped to.

The perfect place to attach a coffee mug! (Something that always needs to be kept handy as this girl has a slight coffee addiction!)

To finish off the backpack modification project, loops of webbing were sewn onto the backpack above the side pockets.  A place to clip a water bottle to keep it from falling out of the pocket when the backpack is shoved under bus seats.

With these additions the girl's new day pack was good to go! Much smaller and more comfortable to carry than the big school backpack - and custom made to carry her water bottle, pillow, and coffee mug! The perfect backpack for the girl to carry during the last 3 months of her travels. 

Now, those final 3 months are almost done (Only 2 weeks left!!) and you can read all about them here!