I grew up in the days before the backpack was used for anything other than camping. As kids, we did have an old Boy Scout rucksack, the cast-off of an older cousin, which we used when we were playing World War II.
Then, in the early 70’s, in the great era of Let’s Go Europe/cheap-flights-young-folks-hitting-the-road, everyone who took one of those cheap flights to Europe had all their stuff in a backpack. I was one of those everyones.
And here’s the red Kelty backpack I carried on my back:
This held everything I took with me for my 5 month jaunt through Europe – a couple of pairs of jeans, one sweater (a very pretty dark fuchsia that I got at Macy’s in NYC), one long sleeved shirt (blue plaid – from Spags), a couple of tee-shirts, undies and socks, a blue checked knit dress (a dress was required for getting into St. Peter’s), a bathing suit, a nightgown, socks and undies, cap and gloves, a few personal items (towel, toothbrush etc.), a pen and notebook.
And our camping gear: two-person tent, sleeping bag, egg-crate foam bedroll, tiny little Gaz Bleu one burner stove, cookware, water bottles, etc. Joyce (my traveling companion) and I took turns toting the tent vs. the cook-stuff. I also had some sort of rain-cover for the backpack. Good thing.
The Kelty was pretty much the top of the line backpack at the time – I might have paid as much as $100 or so for it - and it stood the test of plenty of rough treatment during those months of hitchhiking, camping, and hosteling.
At one point, however – somewhere in the Greek islands? – one of the wire coils that held the waist-strap in place came off. I tried to repair it the old fashioned way: using my teeth. The result, no surprise, was a chipped front tooth. But the fix worked; the coil held for the remainder of the trip.
Somewhere along the line, the Kelty and I parted company. I know I used it for storage for a while, but then it was gone…
Since then, I’ve had a number of casual backpacks, from small utilitarian to corporate logo to good for carrying a laptop to fancy tapestry to lug a bunch of groceries. Most of these backpacks are 
So I like backpacks just fine.
But I am not in the market for the Louis Vuitton extra-large backpack.
First off, unless I really don’t see this as a backpack. It looks more like something that you might want to sling across the back of a pack mule. I guess that technically makes it a backpack, but once you put something in it, it looks like it would be too heavy to heft onto your bath. Not to mention that you’d be walking off balance all the time, no?
In general, none of the features have any particular appeal to me:
Crafted from a rich fabrication of gray fleece and embossed with the label’s classic monogram pattern, the enormous carryall features a top-flap closure along with two side pockets that look spacious enough to accommodate a bottle of bubbly or fine wine. (Source: NY Post)
Fleece?
That doesn’t sound like an especially practical fabric for a backpack. Talk about not being able to survive in the elements. Out in the rain with that over-sized sucker, imagine what it would weigh once it started to absorb water. Yikes!
Smaller details like the silver LV logo keychain pay tribute to an iconic heritage that is as timeless as it is lux.
I’m way too much of a city girl to carry my keychain dangling off my backpack. So no thanks.
But what makes this a really “key hero piece” – whatever that means – is the price tag: a whopping $10,000.
I think that if I do feel the need for another backpack, I’ll invest in an updated Kelty. That’s enough of a “key hero piece” for me.
Meanwhile, a ginormous backpack full of thanks to my sister Trish for pointing this one out to me. And no, you won’t be getting one for your birthday.
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Thank you, Dave from the blog Going RV Way who figured out and shared his workaround for embedding an image in a post – a capability of the blogging utility Open Live Writer that disappeared in January.
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