Poor Mindy mailed me last month just as I was leaving on travel, and then I got sick, and chances are excellent that she’s not only gone on her trip and returned, but had several more children in the time that it took me to get to this question. But I’m going to answer it, anyway, because even though I probably completely let her down, I like to assuage my guilt. So. Mindy wrote:
We are traveling on an airplane in a few weeks and are in need of some luggage. The last new luggage my husband and I have ever had was the sets we received as high school graduation gifts! We’ve seen since then, that luggage comes with good rolling wheels and telescoping handles and weigh a lot less. Do you or your readers have any good thoughts on which brands to look at and best prices/places to get them? We are a family of 5 with kids ages 11, 7, and 4.
The first thing I’ll do is refer you to this post on luggage I wrote a while back; many of the links are now defunct, but there’s some general advice in the post and some great suggestions in the comments. I also quite like this eBags blog post on specific things to look for.
As for places to buy, well, today eBags is offering 25% off any one item, and I often find good deals at Overstock or at Amazon (check out this set or this one, just for example.)
Hopefully that helps a little. You know, for your next trip.
We found a great deal at Sam’s Club on a Samsonite set.
TJMaxx. I have Samsonite luggage that does 360 and bought it for a steal (in bright red! it never goes missing.)
Since we almost NEVER travel, we can’t justify shelling out the money. But our neighbors with 4 kids go to Florida once a year, and they HAVE shelled out the money, so the one time we went anywhere we were so crass as to borrow a few of their bags!
I agree with Brandi – buy it in a bright color, maybe even a lurid color, and your pieces will always turn up, you’ll spot them from across Baggage Claim, and you’ll be an eddy of creativity in a sea of black suitcases!
Almost missed this. Thanks for the ideas. We went with High Sierra luggage and got it from Kohl’s at half off. The luggage endured the trip and still looked sharp. And we went with grey and orange, so easy to spot.
Many thanks to everyone!