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Backpack Upgrade

December 3, 2016 • Travel

It’s been quite a long time since I’ve been waiting to upgrade my backpack.

A 7 days trip to Yogyakarta I did a year ago proofed me that my 20L Kalibre backpack is just enough for lightweight traveling in tropical climate. But when I canceled my homey apartment rental in Jakarta, sold all my furnitures and belongings to set out for my long term journey, I could’t fit all things those were left with me into that backpack anymore. I had to bring an extra handbag to Malaysia.

Before my departure to Malaysia I have been eyeing a 40L backpack from Osprey. It has very good reviews by digital nomads and lightweight travelers. It’s Osprey Farpoint 40. I checked at a local distributor for Indonesia and found out that this very model was not being imported. Ouch.

After searching for overseas distributors, I saw Tearproof, the distributor for Malaysia sells this model. That’s my next destination. And here I came to Malaysia with my 20L bag in hope of upgrading it before my next journey.

Not long after my arrival in Kuala Lumpur, I proceed to MidValley mall to look for that particular backpack. Unfortunately, the Osprey Farpoint 40 was out of stock. Actually there was some stocks left, but not the grey color. I wanted grey color.

I waited for a few months before coming back again to that store to check if they have restocked. Nope. Then to another store in 1 Utama mall I went. Nope. At this time I was tempted of just getting the aqua blue color. At least I could get the functional backpack. My next trip is still a few months ahead, so I didn’t actually need it very soon. But the temptation to buy is high.

Despite the mind battle I somehow successfully resisted and waited until December. For a while I forgot about the backpack. My days lately was so busy that all I could think out of work is mostly how to get enough sleep.

Then as the next planned short trip back to Jakarta is coming, the idea of upgrading my backpack popped up again. Have they restocked the grey Osprey Farpoint 40 again? I asked one of the sales staff to call me when they got a new stock beforehand. But until now I haven’t received a single call from them.

Today I went to the shop again. The aqua blue colored bag was still there. Hmm I will just get whatever color is sold this time, I thought. I asked the shop lady if there’s a grey color. I had low expectation actually. But suprisingly, there is grey color! And not only that, after a thorough examination I saw that it’s a new version with some alterations made.

Today I’m not going to review the backpack since I have not yet used it on the go. And there are already plenty of reviews for this particular backpack. What I want to write today is the differences I noticed compared to the earlier version.

In the earlier version, despite the good quality of the bag, there are criticisms for the unecessary two logos in front of the bag. Seems like the company has listened to it and striped out the additional logo, and further simplified it to a monochrome logo, located at the front top part of the bag. The dangling zipper handles have also been replaced with a compacter ones. Other than that, there is a change in interior color. Now it’s bright green color. The moment I opened the zipper, my heart was filled with joy! It might be personal taste but I really like the color! Hahaha.

I checked the price tag, it was more expensive that last time. Previously it was 695RM, and now it’s 768RM. The huge price increase was primarily also caused by depreciation of the currency. Nevertheless it was worth the wait. Not only I got the color I want, I got a better bag than if I buy it few months ago. For the additional little thing that matter, the mall together with a bank is having Christmas promotion. I didn’t get a discount, but I got a choice of Touch n Go card (an all purpose prepaid card widely used in Malaysia), a journal notebook, or towel as a promotional gift. I chose a towel.

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