We recently wrapped up two very cool collaborations. We produced custom Mojito wallets for Mozilla, the group behind Firefox, and Modern Atlanta, a rapidly growing organization that promotes design and architecture excellence.

The wallets turned out great, although we may be a little biased! With the crowds that these two organizations run with, we know the wallets will all be going to people that appreciate good design.

If you’re apart of our Facebook fan page (and you should be, if not!), you may know about our Going and Need Gear initiative. It’s for those who are planning to travel and need some great travel gear to take with them. You simply tell us about your plans- where, when and why you’re excited to go- and this makes you eligible to win a free bag and wallet!  We give them away to someone who’s shared about their travel plans every time we pass another 100-fan mark on Facebook. So far, we’ve had 3 winners. Wanna meet them?

Luciano:
Our first winner was about to embark on one of the most important trips of his life! In Luciano’s own words:

I will travel to Kampala, Uganda, Africa in two weeks to finalize and hopefully bring back our new adopted daughter Nampiima, a kind, super-bright, beautiful five-year-old girl from the village of Bulanga. The process has taken almost 2 years, but it’s well worth the effort.  Once there, I plan on taking a safari with my daughter, going chimp-trekking at an island on Lake Victoria, and visiting the largest thatched hut/tomb in the world to learn about the history of Nampiima’s ancestors, who worked as the king’s blacksmiths, forging the royal weaponry.

Wow, right?!

Anna:
She was preparing to leave for 6-7 months, flying to Bali then traveling from there through Java, Malaysia, Singapore, Cambodia and Thailand. “What I am planning,” Anna wrote “is not a vacation, but a complete restructuring of my lifestyle as I know it…. It’s the biggest goal I’ve ever set for myself and I have been completely determined to make it happen.”

And we were determined to help! We sent her a brown Director, a toiletry case, and a snazzy Mojito wallet. Anna is still traveling, but she updates us regularly with new photos and stories. We’re living vicariously through Anna and loving it! For example, here she is motorbiking in Koh Lanta:

Colleen:
A former Peace Corp volunteer in Zambia who now volunteers somewhere at least once a year, Colleen spent this last Christmas holiday in Buenos Aires, Argentina working at 2 orphanages. Along with a photo, Colleen sent us an update when she finally made it home. Apparently, the gear was great, and so were the Argentinians. One of them even adopted her for Christmas and New Years since she was far from family. After tackling Argentina like a pro, Colleen took her Malcolm Fontier gear to Panama to volunteer on two organic farms.

Do we have topnotch fans or what? And we can’t wait to meet some others! The more fans we get on Facebook, the more more stories we can share, and the more gear we can give away. So spread the word and please say hello the next time you’re browsing around on the interwebs.

You may have noticed some trends in our product names: basically, all our products are named after travel related things. Wallets are named after international drinks, our toiletry cases are tropical beach destinations, and our bags – travel professions. Most names are straight from our twisted minds here at the studio. Others are from nagging friends. The most recent addition to our bag line, The Diplomat Series, comes from the latter.

The Diplomat 13

A good friend of ours here at the studio is a diplomat named Brendan.  And I don’t mean the kind of person who knows how to delicately make a bitter pill taste sweet, I mean the “real” kind of diplomat, the one that has worldwide immunity and negotiates behind closed government doors. Now, Brendan is definitely a traveling professional, both for his work and for fun. He also seems to think that his job is pretty damn cool and doesn’t mind flashing the diplomatic passport every now and again – especially if you happen to be an attractive woman sitting near him on a flight. So, when he realized that our bags were all named after travel professions, yet there wasn’t a Diplomat in the line, it just didn’t sit well with him. Spending a lot of time in government and rubbing elbows with politicians, he has perfected the art of a convincing argument. So when he laid it on us, we didn’t really have much of a rebuttal. And when he kept reminding us that there should be a Diplomat, we finally caved: “Alright, alright, that’s fine we’ll name the next bag the Diplomat. We promise!”

Brendan carried one of our Directors before he switched to the bag that bears his mark. He probably carried that 1st bag more miles back and forth across the globe than anyone else we know. His last assignment with the US State Department focused on U.S. war crimes policy in Africa so he and his Director spent time in Kenya, Ethiopia, Rwanda, Burundi, The Congo, and Egypt, as well as meetings across North America and Europe. His latest assignment has landed him and his new Diplomat in Kathmandu, Nepal where he provides legal expertise to the Nepal government in drafting their constitution. Not all of our bags find themselves in such demanding hands, but at least you know that they are all up for the job.

THE Diplomat and his Director take on Cairo.

It turns out that the Diplomat is an approriate name for a bag that works as hard as it plays. It can jet off across the globe carrying your computer and files for tackling a serious job or it can tote a travel guide and beach attire for your break between meetings.

…………….

“The Real Story” added by Brendan…

You also may have noticed some other trends here in the Double Rectangle studio: the shameless recruitment of their closest friends to do all the hard work – movie making, modeling, custom artist designing, even naming their products. So when the Double Rectangle duo (Gabrielle & Malcolm) needed someone to spend weeks scripting their wedding ceremony, ensuring that it captured the four continents of their ancestry and the full narrative of their lives, and then perform that same ceremony in a thick, draped robe below a blazing hot Jamaican sun, who did they turn to? That’s right. The diplomat-cum-preacher.

And so it’s no surprise that they again needed a little inspiration from their friends in creating their next bag’s nom de guerre. Some initial suggestions I proposed for travel-related bag names included The Roman Polanski, The H1N1, and The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants. All were names that I felt truly embodied what it meant to venture boldly. What could be more bold than a global health pandemic, or a 76 year-old sexual assault fugitive taunting L.A. prosecutors? Those should be the real faces of the Mojito. But in the end, the two of them insisted on a one-word-only name, and one without numerals. So I was forced to turn inward and a take a long, hard, meditative look at myself. Diplomat, I said, as a weathered United Nations flag flapped overhead. And with that, I gathered up my diplomatic passport, refilled my Ciprofloxacin prescription, and fit them both snugly in my sexy new Diplomat bag. There was a draft constitution somewhere out there, and by god I was going to find it.

This post is a bit of a pay-it-forward. A random meeting in the gym led to me gaining my dual nationality so, it’s the least I can do to pass on the word and hopefully help someone else. I recently regained my Belgian nationality which gives me dual Belgian/American nationality.  I didn’t waste any time getting the Belgian passport and as I write this I am sitting on a plane returning home from using it for the 1st time.

Basically, what I would tell anyone is this: it is worth looking into- you never know if you might qualify until you check. If any of your ancestors in the last few generations emigrated then look into it.

My story went something like this: I was at the gym about a year and a half ago. I started talking to a guy named Nick as we shared a machine.

Nick: “So, where are you from, blah, blah, small talk, etc…”

I replied: “My dad grew up in Belgium, my mother…etc”

Nick: “Do you have your dual citizenship?”

Me: “No, I don’t think I qualify.”

Nick: “You should look into it, my grandfather was from Italy and I recently got my dual Italian/American citizenship- neither myself or my parents had ever even lived there.”

Nick’s wheels started turning: “You know what, I think there’s a Belgian Consulate in the building across the street where I used to work. Come with me, let’s go see!”

We walked out of the gym and took the elevator up to the 27th floor- and there it was. Turns out there are only a couple in the US and one happened to be across the street from my gym, and the guy I shared a machine with happened to know about it. I promised Nick I would come back the next day when the consulate was open and ask about dual nationality. A little over a year later, some paper work and about $150 in fees, and I have it.

My case was definitely a little more straight forward than most. My dad was still a Belgian citizen which gave me automatic dual-citizenship when I was born.  I went by what others had told me and assumed I lost it at age 18 unless I served in the Belgian military- definitely the last thing I was thinking about at 18! Turns out that the info was wrong and I actually had it for a little longer but it would have required some paperwork to keep it. Either way, I would not have it or the super-cool EU passport if I hadn’t met Nick. Nick had a similar story of a random meeting of another Italian-American that told him to look into it. So, to anyone reading with even the slightest chance of being eligible- I say look into it immediately. The Belgian Consulate basically just told me, “Yep, no problem, we’ll help you regain it.” and sent me to their website to start downloading forms. They had a list that stated clearly who was eligible. I would assume other consulates are just as organized, so finding out if you qualify only take a few minutes of clicking.

Many have asked “Why?”.  If you are here on this site you probably don’t need to be told this- but “Why Not!?” We all love adventures and you never know where a trip, or life, may take you- and it’s good to have options. Venture Boldly.

BTW- Nick, Thanks – where ever you are!

I want the title  “Punk before Punk was Punk”. Unfortunately I am way too  late, and the NY Times already gave the title to a band with the cute little name, Death.

Actually, I am probably not even punk by most people’s standards. So, I’ll have to settle for “35 years too late, and way off the mark”, and leave the punk title to the band that deserves it.

The Short Version:

Death was formed by three brothers, David, Dannis, and Bobby Hackney. The brothers started playing their own variation of rock in the mid-70’s. At the time, the punk genre didn’t even really exist. Like anyone else that has been ahead of their time, it was difficult to find an appreciative audience. The brothers were playing for a Detroit audience who’s taste was more Motown or Disco- so, the hard-edged aggressive sound of Death- got a lot of “WTFs?”. Frustrated with the whole scene, they called it quits and moved to Vermont. The Hackneys didn’t give up on music but they softened their tone a little and switched to reggae.

Fast-forward 30-ish years. Bobby Hackney now has grown sons of his own who are also musicians.  David, Dannis and Bobby were so put off by the whole experience with Death(that sounds odd in a sentence no matter how you say it), that they never even mentioned it to their sons.  Death almost faded away into musical history, until last year, when Bobby’s son Julian was at a party in San Francisco and heard a song by Death,  instantly recognizing it as his dad’s voice. When Julian dug into the subject a little more, his dad decided to pull out their old tapes.  Julian and his brothers, Bobby Jr. and Urian, were so blown away by the music their dad and uncles had played, they reformed their own band as Rough Francis to play as a Death tribute band- that should make any father proud! Several decades and a few crazy little twists later, and now a record label has picked up Death’s music and recently released an album- almost 35 years after it was recorded!

You might say what does this have to do with travel or adventure- and you’d be right, but what it does have to do with is attitude. We love free spirited go-getters and jet-setters, and trend setters. The Hackneys definitely fit this. The 1st song I found was “Keep on Knocking” -I played it over and over until everyone at the studio banned it-temporarily.

I guess the lesson here is a pretty obvious one: if you have something good, stick with it, “f”‘ what  anyone else says. And, if it really is good, eventually the world will come around.
Venture Boldly.

The Long Version:

Read:  the NY Times article.

Listen: Death, “Keep on Knocking”

Buy: the CD, “…For the Whole World To See.”

Our friend Paul is in the middle of an epic journey. I call Paul a friend but we have actually only hung out once. We got along great, but I have learned a lot more about him and his outlook through his accounts of his current adventure and our long distance communications.

Paul is originally from Sao Paulo, Brazil. He lived here in Atlanta for a while but decided it was time to move back to Brazil. As a cyclist without time constraints, Paul applied some basic logic that probably went something like this: “What’s the best way to get from Atlanta to Sao Paulo? I think I’ll ride my bike.” Makes sense to me, although my ass hurts just thinking about a ride like that!

As I write Paul has been on the road for just over a year. He is somewhere in the desert of Peru- A loooong way from and Atlanta, and still a long way from Sao Paulo. In the year since he headed out he has lived a ridiculous number of experiences. He has seen some amazing landscapes, tasted different cultures, made tons of new friends, and partied with old friends. He’s also been stranded in Panama for a while pulling together the ferry fare to make it to Columbia, and been robbed in Quito- But, it seems like the few little glitches in the trip will become minor nuisances when compared to the tons of great times he has had!

“…so I got robbed in Quito, and, believe it or not, they managed to slash my pocket WHILE I was standing there and without me knowing it – boy did I feel like an idiot.  I would say that probably the best highlights of my trip were surviving my first week of camping in the frosts on the way out of the US (after not having camped in over a decade – yeah, I was well prepared, lol), the magical transformation from the sterility of the US to the vibrant colors and sounds and street-life of Latin America (ie: arriving in Mexico), the melting pot of culture, historical sites, bohemian neighborhoods, and compolitan nature of Mexico City, the stunning blue highland Lake Atitlan, ringed by volcanic peaks and quirky villages, the unforgettable journey from Panama to Colombia across the Caribbean by a huge tallship sailboat, passing through the dreamlike desert islands of San Blas, and the raw and unspoiled beauties of Colombia – from top to bottom.”

Paul sent me a few thoughts and reflections from the road when I mentioned I was going to write a piece on him:

• “…since beginning my trip the importance of destinations has almost faded into an afterthought, whereas the peoples, cultures, and warmth of welcome of a place are by far the most rewarding part of any visit.”

• “I would also have to say that all of the best and most memorable experiences of my entire trip were when I was given the opportunity to meet new friends in one of the cities or towns that I was visiting and then      discover that world through their eyes and feel like a local – so much more invigorating than guide-book exploring.”

• “…after having traveled through such austere and poverty-stricken lands for so long, I´ve learned to cherish and be grateful for the simple things, to make sacrifices, and to do for myself more than I ever had to before in my life (washing all your clothes by hand? Are you serious?).  I can´t say that there aren´t still some first-world luxuries that I always long for, …  but then again, I suppose they´ll be the much more rewarding once I do find them again (oh Ben & Jerry, where art thou?).”

Paul’s goal was to change his course in life and find a more fulfilling path with the epic bike trip as a rewarding, head-clearing transition. And so far, it sounds like the adventure has been a huge success.