Ms. Dahlia, Detroit/Cleveland
Age and Occupation: 24, PhD Student
Fiance's Age and Occupation: 24, IT System Administrator
Engagement Date: December 31, 2006
Wedding Date: May 2008
Blogging Since: September 19, 2007
Venue: United Methodist Cathedral & historic downtown hotel in Cleveland
About Me: I enjoy cooking, dancing and swimming. I am a geek and apply game theory to my everyday life. Winter is my favorite time of year, especially when spent curled up with good coffee and a book by Madeleine L'Engle.
A Love Letter To Luggage
March 26th, 2008 @ 3:53 pm by Ms. Dahlia
Dear luggage,
I’ve traveled quite a bit with several of you, and I want to take the time to let you know how I feel.
Kelty Redwing Backpack,
you are amazing. You were absolutely faithful in the 3 mile walk to the ferry in Stockholm, never letting in any bit of moisture despite the continuous downpour. You remained faithful going from Budapest to Bratislava, and lasted much better than any rolling bag would have in the cobblestone streets of Riga. But it’s been several years since I graduated from college, and I’ve found that I increasingly need to travel with a suit. We’ve shared some good times, and I will come back to you.
The rolling bag that shall remain nameless,
Your time has come to meet the fate you deserve. I’ve tried to take care of you, to treat you well, and what do I get in return? A bag that tips over no matter how I pack it. A bag that gets caught in the tiniest crevices. A bag that never rolled very smoothly. I’ve given you numerous second chances, and you’ve blown it. Off to Goodwill you go.
You’ve been replaced:
Ricardo Beverly Hills Del Mar Lite ,
You have become the apple of my eye, after hearing about you at ebags, and finding you for such a great deal at Luggage Factory. You are extremely light weight, easy to pack efficiently, and even provide a way for me to separate dirty laundry from clean. You roll smoothly, and have pockets just where I need them. And you come in purple! I know I can depend on you to not get tripped up when I’m racing to the gate to catch my plane, and manage the cobblestones of Playa del Carmen with amazing ease. While I love Kelty, it is you that I will be taking on our honeymoon.
Love,
Miss Dahlia
What luggage are you taking on your honeymoon?
10 Responses to “A Love Letter To Luggage”
Briggs and Riley. I can’t say enough about it! People are sick of hearing me talk about it, so I’m so glad you asked.
I had a job which required travel 100-120 days a year, and I celebrated my hiring by buying a suitcase. On sale. Having done no research. On my first trip, which lasted about 42 days, I spent every free moment either skulking around hardware stores, looking for screws and other bits to fix my luggage, OR asking my coworkers what kind of luggage they had. A bunch of them had Briggs and Riley, and they had nothing but good things to say about them.
It ain’t cheap. Not by a longshot. But it’s quality stuff, and their warranty simply can’t be beat (it’s roughly along the lines of “What happened? Bummer! Here’s a new one.”). I’ve now had my 22″ expanding pullman for more than ten years, and it looks new; I can go about 6 weeks from my 26″ expanding pullman, and my husband and I can go 3-4 weeks out of the two. Given the size of men’s shoes, that’s remarkable.
If you’re taking one big trip every 5-10 years, it would be tough to justify the investment. But if you’re planning on a lot of travel, please do consider Briggs and Riley. It will save you so much frustration to have quality luggage.
/soapbox
And again, thank you for asking.
I’m trying my hardest to not check any luggage on the honeymoon. We’ve practiced packing several times and I think it’s going to be a success! Toiletries have been a struggle but with some creative product replacements (Oil of Olay clothes that just need water to sudds-up) and some freebies from the resort (Ti Kaye has shampoo, conditioner, body wash and bug spray) I think we jut might manage a carry-on honeymoon. When I tell people my plan they look at me like I’m crazy… which might be true.
My fiance’s father-like figure owns one of the biggest/best known/swankiest upscale luggage businesses in Philadelphia, so we know we are going to get some super ritzy luggage for our wedding — probably a full set of Tumi. I’m kind of torn because while it is GORGEOUS, it’s really only for 5-star travels, and I’ll probably have to go out and buy something for rugged trips too, but I don’t want to buy it through him and make him thin we don’t love our bazillion dollar luggage he gave us!
I reaaaally need new luggage. I have this gorgeous set of Fermi red wool plaid bags (which’ll be so fun for Ireland), but they’re small and really beat up. So I needed this post. 
you are too cute. that’s an awesome letter. what are you going to call your new baby?
Thanks for the tip! I just ordered one for my FI so that he can use it for his work trips, since the suit function really comes in handy!
I’ll probably take my Delsey lightweight luggage and my trusty packing cubes. Like Sarah I travel ~100 nights a year for work and the packing cubes make packing tolerable. I got a set of Ebags ones and combine it with an Eagle Creek packing folder. Underthings/workout clothes go in one, extra shirts/sweaters in another, pants/skirts/dress shirts go in the folder. Things don’t get as wrinkled and my suitcase holds more. It makes security a breeze and there’s less chance of a TSA stranger digging through my lacy underthings while looking for contraband gels and liquids during the random checks or customs. I’ve even convinced my ever skeptical fiance and we now jokingly fight over who gets to use which cubes when we go on vacation.
As a buyer in the luggage industry i have to say you could’ve done better than Ricardo….without spending a fortune!
I needed this post, too! We both could use new luggage. We usually do quick weekend trips with Patagonia messenger bags. While they are very sturdy and fabulous, I can’t imagine that they will cut it for our nice long vacation. That was fun to think about
