Tuesday, July 14, 2015

Four wheel spinner suitcases for easy travel

I have spent hours looking at four when suitcases on eBay and Amazon and Google.
The decision is easy if price is not an object - but it is. The 'World's Lightest' fluorescent pink would cost me, or you, £59.50 for the smallest size and more than £284 for a set of four, from bagsandluggage on ebay.

Argos and Homebase and Tesco have suitcases around £20, but usually black. You have to watch out that you are not getting two wheels instead of four. Many of the eBay links are for four sizes of suitcase and you find they are sold out in the size you want or the colour you want.

Matching Sets
One advantage of matching luggage is that if you lose one of a pair, when reporting the loss, you have a photo to show staff. You can locate also report the brand, which you will be asked on the claim form by the lost and found department.

I looked at sets of three or four matching suitcases. I went off his and hers suitcase when two members of my family accidentally went off with each other's suitcases at the airport when we were going to different conferences. Luckily he realised in time that he had mine because I had my luggage tag and a coloured ribbon on the handle. Otherwise he would have been asked to open his suitcase at Customs and they would have found ladies underwear and concluded he was either a thief or a transvestite. I would have ended at a beach with skiwear and a business suit.

Colours and Patterns
Luggage which is pink with hearts is cute, but not if any men in my family want to borrow it. Black doesn't show stains and is inconspicuous. However, trying to identify our luggage on the tarmac of Changi airport after a bomb scare has put me off black luggage.

Later on another trip my luggage went missing at Changi. I was just reporting it when I spotted a suitcase with flowers by the side of a carousel half way down the arrivals hall. It was a suitcase I had bought at a bargain price in Mustafa's which they obviously couldn't sell quickly because of it's odd colour scheme. But it was really handy for seeing at a distance.

Four Wheels or Two?
Here are my choices and discoveries of four wheel suitcases. In the July sales at John Lewis department store the four wheel suitcases were beyond my budget. I looked in Watford and was shocked at the prices, even in the sale. You can check John Lewis and Debenhams on line.

The big supermarkets and chains also have luggage. Marks and Spencer. Tesco.

I do another search. Foldable suitcase only £13.49, delivery free, red bags and shoes, from luggagetravelbags, 18 inches, Easyjet cabin approved, but how many wheels? Only two.

I already have a black bag on two wheels from Antler. Fed up dragging it around. (After exhausting myself carrying it up and down stairs at stations.)

£21.99 four wheel from Skylight luggage, postage free, on eBay.
Other colours out of stock.

The red one is available, but dearer.

Summary of my findings:

Websites:
Amazon. Ebay.
Amazon Suitcase Guide:
http://www.amazon.co.uk/b/ref=amb_link_176240227_3?ie=UTF8&node=2908562031&pf_rd_m=A3P5ROKL5A1OLE&pf_rd_s=hero-quick-promo&pf_rd_r=048NQA4X5MFW5VPF0JWF&pf_rd_t=201&pf_rd_p=415860167&pf_rd_i=B00QWRW4MM

Department Stores and Shops:
Argos. Debenhams. John Lewis. Marks and Spencer. Mustafa's (Singapore, India.) Tesco.

Brand Names:
5Cities.
Aerolite.
American Tourista.
Antler.
Cabin Max.
Delsey.
Dunlop.
Frenzy.
Goexplore.
Idealo.
Samsonite.
Skylight.
it.
itluggage.com

You can also find luggage at weekend market stalls, and at airport shops.

Angela Lansbury, travel writer and photographer.

(More on four wheels in later posts.)




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