OK for a mammoth suitcase intended for a month long holiday for two and a child
But nowadays even the smallest case appears to come with wheels
Just researching Talbot Simca Sunbeam things at Gerard's behest I came across the following 2008 article from James May that summed up my position totally
Which may explain why I find Richard Hammond’s wheeled luggage so offensive. We each have roughly the same overnight Globe-Trotter suitcase, but while mine is fitted with a normal handle and is carried in the acceptable fashion, his is equipped with two tiny and noisome plastic wheels and a telescopic bar, and is dragged around behind him like a reluctant dog.
Why? He’s a healthy and strong bloke, so unless he’s filled the thing with the bullion from The Italian Job he must, by dint of its size, be able to carry it. I can carry mine, and I’m a bit of a weakling.
I’ve told him it makes him look a sap and in response he parks near my house and then wheels his spare pants and toothbrush to my front door, knowing that the plasticky rattle of his approach will cause rage to mount like a squadron of cavalry at the back of my head. He’s doing it purely to annoy me.
Wheeled luggage is fine for women, whose privilege is to take three times as much on a journey as is actually needed. Even the rufty tuftiest of birds is guilty of this one. But blokes?
Nothing testifies to the enfeeblement of our sex quite like a bag with wheels on it. At airports I see men who have quite clearly given up, tugging briefcases the size of a laptop on unfeasibly long handles. How can they possibly not carry them? It’s pathetic. And it makes a horrible noise.
The rules are these. If you can’t lift your case, you’ve packed too much stuff. Pick it up, for crying out loud. Wheels have more important things to do.
As an aside - is there any source of motoring misinformation and off-track advice that is any worse than Honest 'Never buy a car that doesn't have chain driven cams' John in the Telegraph?
Rob P
Last edited by Rob P on Wed May 16, 2012 8:16 am, edited 1 time in total.
Forum Diversity & Equality Officer (unpaid)
"We sleep soundly in our beds because rough men stand ready in the night to visit violence on those who would do us harm." - George Orwell-
Rob P wrote: is there any source of motoring misinformation and off-track advice that is any worse than Honest 'Never buy a car that doesn't have chain driven cams' John in the Telegraph?
I wouldn't be without my wheeled suitcase now. Memories of lugging 23-35kgs worth of carrying case up stairs, around platforms, round towns, etc, having to put it down all the time, arms aching, handles cutting into my hands, it's not nice. For those who transfer luggage from door to car boot, from car boot to hotel lobby (or baggage cart) then it's all very well, but if you're going to be going any particular distance, especially on public transport, then it makes one hell of a difference.
What I can't stand are the wheely cases that are "cabin sized" and that people take on aeroplanes as hand luggage. Well, there isn't enough room for everyone to have one and those who do are just being selfish. I always take a soft bag as carry-on luggage. The problem is endemic in China where no one wants to check in bags at all. I've been one of 6 people waiting for a suitcase off an airliner in China. Inevitably these cases get piled up in the aisle, and to much protest, get taken down into the hold, but just to be given back at the door at the other end rather than collected on the baggage belt.
I think airlines should ban them from the cabin and make people check them in. Actually, I was on a flight from San Franciso to San Diego recently on a CRJ and they don't have the space for them, so they did actually take them off people at the gate to put in the hold.
Wheeled luggage I've ever encountered always seemed too impractical. Handles far too short, and wheelbase far too narrow. Damned things would always hop side to side or scuff the back of ankles.
A large heavy suitcase with wheels, especially the type with 4 wheels to push in an upright position are fantastic for moving around easily.
A grown man in a suit pushing or pulling a laptop sized bag on wheels is just as bad as a grown man in a suit pushing himself along on one of those little scooter things (lots in Switzerland); it looks ridiculous!
Paul_Sengupta wrote:I wouldn't be without my wheeled suitcase now. Memories of lugging 23-35kgs worth of carrying case up stairs, around platforms, round towns, etc, having to put it down all the time, arms aching, handles cutting into my hands, it's not nice.
For all the years I was travelling extensively for work I had a Kluge, though one manufactured in the Cordura, rather than leather which is all that seems to be available. Having a substantial shoulder strap as well as handles I never found any great issues carrying it, though arguably I was fitter twenty years back than I am now.
It was sold as an underseater. I always checked it. Whilst I realised this destroyed the impression that you were a go-getting manager, skilled in the ways of travel, and unwilling to loose even a few minutes from your busy schedule, it actually made life in the departure lounge considerably simpler. I can never recall any time at which the few minutes around the carousel ever lost me a contract, or even inconvenienced me marginally.
I still have the Kluge - It was with me in Normandy this weekend.
Rob P
Forum Diversity & Equality Officer (unpaid)
"We sleep soundly in our beds because rough men stand ready in the night to visit violence on those who would do us harm." - George Orwell-
I wouldn't be without my cabin baggage only 2 wheeled case: It's all I need for two days away and saves me getting hot and sweaty on the 10 mile walk from T3 to station at MAN.
I was distraught when the handle failed after 8 loyal years but jubilant when I found an outfit dahn sarf who repaired it for £25.
I also have two fullsize 4 wheel cases (me 'n' 'er indoors): I can move both of these with one hand with my small case in the other. Try that without wheels.
If we're talking about irrational hatreds, for me it's (people with) umbrellas.
In a busy crowd of commuters, using an umbrella is deeply anti-social IMHO. It collects several square feet's worth of rain and channels it onto the heads and shoulders of the people around. The little metal spikes poking out from around the rim threaten to gouge out the eyes of its owner's fellow commuters, especially when erected suddenly and without warning when there simply isn't enough space. The holder of an umbrella, having solved the issue of getting wet themselves, then proceeds to amble along at a relaxed pace, oblivious of the hold-up they're causing behind them, with the crowded pavement full of people who'd really rather be walking somewhat faster. And then, when the umbrella-toting git reaches the top of the stairway leading down into the Underground station (for example), where finally everyone can get in out of the rain, they stop while they re-fold the bloody thing, thus blocking the flow once again and ensuring that their fellow commuters get just that little bit wetter than necessary. To add further insult, sometimes they shake the fecking thing, casting an additional deluge of water over everyone else.
Edited to add: I've only just noticed how accurate that umbrella smiley is: it perfectly illustrates the puddles of water collected and channelled by the holder's umbrella - except that in reality those puddles would have been absorbed by the shoulders of other people.
Last edited by David Williams on Wed May 16, 2012 8:56 am, edited 1 time in total.
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