Int’l Travel Tips: The Perfect Suitcase

   I’m on a flight to Israel now, and I’m feeling pretty smug. Ladies and gentlemen: I have gotten international travel down. Of course, it’s easy if you’re rich. You settle into your first class or business class seat and practically get massages and pedicures while you fly. Sadly, I’m not rich, despite my half-dozen jobs. As I write this I am in row 32, middle seat firmly wedged back in coach.

Travel is always a pain these days, but international travel for the not-so-rich—especially to far flung parts of Africa and Asia— has its own unique headaches including no cozy direct flights, several days of travel-time, the lack of reliable baggage check in the developing world and connections and long layovers in airports that are every bit as “emerging” as their economies. As such, I’m quickly becoming an expert in all the products that make even the longest trip not only bearable but comfortable.

Since I’m spending nearly 40 weeks in other countries over the next year and a half, I thought it might be fun to blog about a can’t-leave-home-without travel find or tip on each departing flight from San Francisco. If you want to read all of them, they’ll be tagged under “International Travel Tips.”

Today, I am writing about my favorite find: The perfect suitcase. It honestly makes me happy just to look at it, as you can see from the photo Mr. Lacy took this morning. It’s made by Hideo Wakamatsu and for all you San Franciscians, they’ve got a store in the Mission. As a sucker for design, I adore the day-glow green color (I have a purse in the same hue, believe it or not), the grey trim and the compact shape. In fact, that’s why I bought it just before I went to Africa in February. But during the trip I discovered so many other things to love.

For one, it’s light as a feather. Shockingly so. I can pick it up over my head easily even fully packed. With my old suitcase, I always had to do that southern girl thing and ask some gent to lift it into the overhead for me. I had no idea how convenient this would be traveling in Africa, where a lot of airports don’t have escalators or elevators, just lots and lots of stairs. The only thing I’d complain about is the lack of a handle on the side, which would make it even easier to lift.

When you unzip it, there are two compartments, and there’s only a thin layer of fabric that sits between your stuff and the hard metal exterior of the case. That means nearly every inch goes to storage space. And while the hard case won’t bow out if you over-pack, there is some elastic give around the zipper.

The best part: THE WHEELS. You can tap this suitcase with one finger and send it flying down a long hallway. That sounds stupid, but anyone who has had to pull a traditional rolley-bag through a huge airport or down several blocks knows the strain it starts to put in your arm. This bag all but jogs along side you. And the wheels work in every direction. So when you’re passing through a narrow space, like the airplane aisle, you just swivel it to the side and keep wheeling.

I know I sound like a Hideo commercial here, but it’s rare that a product brings me continual delight the more I use it. I actually smile every time I see it in my house. I’m making Mr. Lacy get one before he goes back to Africa with me in June, because all the vaccines in the world won’t keep him from dying of jealousy at how easy mine is to pack, lift and navigate around. Fortunately for him, they do come in more masculine colors.