what I...

My Philly bag.
My Philly bag is my Philly bag. Really, this was made by Philly local company, I ordered this in Philly, and I designed it to have liberty one and two.
Since I got this bag last fall, we traveled together everywhere. This is my book/laptop/grocery/bike tool bag in everyday life, and this becomes my carry on baggage when I go on air plane. We went to Stockholm together, and we came to Rome together.
This is what always on my back, and what I carry everything I need, and this big bag let me carry everything. Since my main transportation is bike, I need to have everything on my back and holed handle bar with two hands.

What I always consciously carry...

Bike tool: in case of accident.
Wallet: in case I need money.
My ID case: nice Swedish designed ID case with ugly owl card and international student ID.
Dictionary: in case I need to look up a word.
Keys: to be able to lock/unlock my bike, and not to be locked out from my apartment.
My camera: for the moment and things I want to keep record.
Spare battery for the camera: I hate the moment camera battery died.
My moleskin book: it has all information I need. My Google.
Cell phone: I don’t really need it, but in case someone wants to contact me.
Eyeglasses: my sight getting weak and weak.

Plus, I always need to have enough room for my lap top when I needed, and my grocery when I happed to go grocery shopping after something.

Sometimes, I use my other bag, with selected things from above, and it always end up regretting not having my Philly bag, something I need always missing if I don’t have my Philly bag.

This bag is special to me, not only I order made and waited for 6 weeks, not only it cost $180, this bag really tells who I am and what I’m doing in Philly.
In Philly, I’m bike kids. What I’m doing is riding bike. And, the R.E.Load bag tells people that I’m bike kids because until recently this bag was popular only in bike people. I think having this bag somehow establishes relation ship with other R.E.Load bag owners. We identify each other through our bag.

It is really big thing in Philadelphia bike culture. I don’t see that many R.E.Load in NYC, but in Philly, I see a lot, a lot.

Even apart from Philadelphia, this bag connects me to Philly.
On Monday, may 21st. I was riding my bike to home, then, two men and women asked me, in English, if I know bike shop around the area. How come they knew that I speak English? why did they decided to ask me rather that asking local people(the women spoke really good Italian).

Well....they said they saw my bag, recognized that it is R.E.Load. She said she also has R.E.Load bag. They were Philadelphian!


It is strange, I would not say I like Philly, Tokyo, where I come from is a lot better. but I love people and its culture, especially bike culture. I feel conformable being bike kids. and the bag is my tag as Philadelphia bicycle rider. In any time, anywhere in the world, this bag would tell I was riding bike in Philly.