Off with the wheels
Seth Stevenson, writing in today’s New York Times, wants us to think twice about using wheeled luggage. He’s fed up with people running over his feet or asking for help to lift an overstuffed case into the overhead lockers on aircraft.
I’ve pretty sure I’ve never done either. Though I’m a great believer in carrying no more than I can run with when heading to a rainforest, I do like a small, wheeled case for a city break. It’s always heavier on the return trip, with books and magazines and newspapers and notes and scraps of paper that might just provide a line or two for an article. But I always shoulder it into the locker myself.
Stevenson is clearly more of a minimalist:
People, you never need more clothes than you can comfortably carry in a shoulder bag. Soldiers in ’Nam got by with less gear than the average executive now packs for a two-day trip. Unless you are a deep-sea diver or, maybe, an iron-ore salesman, your luggage really shouldn’t necessitate load-bearing wheels.
Is he right?
The problem with them is that they are normally designed to fit exactly the maximum size of hand luggage bag allowed. This means they takey up a large proportion of the overhead baggage areas. What is it people take. Why do they need so much?
What is wrong with checking luggage? Otherwise surely all you need are items to entertain you and perhaps a toothbrush for long haul.
There does seem a movement whereby people are just simply no longer able to carry anything. Even some laptop bags now have wheels.
While I may not be quite as against it as Mr Stevenson I have made an inward, silent vow never ever to buy a bag with wheels.