Another One Bites the Dust

In my experience, it doesn't matter how much you pay for the bag. Those baggage handlers can ruin an expensive one almost as quickly as they can ruin a cheap one. (Although once I bought a REALLY cheap one that barely made it home - and it only had to go one-way.)

I think that old American Tourister commercial had it right. (See it here.) Most baggage handlers really wanted to play some kind of sport - and they toss your bag around like it's a ball, or slam it like it's an opponent. My pink bag lasted about five years. I'm going to miss it. The body of it was still good and the zippers were still in tact, but like it's plain black predecessor, the handle that allows you to pull it along disappeared into the body and refused to come out.

At the risk of repeating myself, I'm really going to miss that hot pink bag. I could always spot it the moment it came onto the luggage conveyor. I went shopping for a new one and the only thing I could find in hot pink was a $240 bag. And as much as I liked the hot pink, I'm reluctant to pay that much for a bag. Mark had one (not hot pink, but ridiculously expensive). It didn't even make it five years. This sounds a bit like math, but it's not that complicated. If a $75 bag lasts for five years and a $240 bag lasts for five years, which is the better value? Exactly.

Given that I wasn't willing to pay $240 for hot pink I went to another store. (Actually two more stores.) No hot pink to be found. Anywhere. So I settled for a bright bluish purple. It's actually a bit bigger than the pink bag and we'll just have to wait and see how long it lasts. My math tells me that anything over three years is a bonus. But having just returned from my first trip with it, I'm going to have to spend a bit more time looking for it. Maybe I should wrap it with that florescent orange strap...