Comments on: Shopping for the first day – travel gear

By: Thomas

Thomas — Mon, 10 Aug 2009 15:43:35 +0000

Florian, how do you fit all of your luggage (including suit!) into such a small suitcase? I'm just about to start my consulting career and I'm looking for a right suitcase, so this is pretty important to me career

By: Anonymous

Anonymous — Thu, 09 Apr 2009 02:34:56 +0000

Update!

By: Roger Hollis

Roger Hollis — Fri, 13 Mar 2009 09:53:04 +0000

You are the biggest non-conformist have ever seen. Well done.

By: Jon

Jon — Fri, 06 Mar 2009 16:00:25 +0000

Carryon luggage – my rule:
1) Roller blade wheels. They're easily replaceable.
2) NOT black. It will make idiots want to pick up your luggage and potentially walk away with it. You can get business-like colors like silver and dark beige that will not be subject to this.
3) Soft shell. Hard shells are for idiots. They aren't flexible enough to be squeezed into places when needed and scratch. Soft shells are just as strong as hard shells because they have a hard shell protecting your luggage on 5 of the 6 surfaces. Don't believe me, look.
4) The difference between a $500 tumi bag and a $125 travelpro sale model is negligible. Buy the one on sale. Will anyone really know if you don't have this season's model??

By: Steve Shu

Steve Shu — Fri, 06 Mar 2009 00:29:08 +0000

FWIW – I agree on spending on the laptop bag over the trolley. I have the permanent callous on my right shoulder as my consultant medal of honor.

By: Consultant Insider

Consultant Insider — Thu, 05 Mar 2009 21:59:47 +0000

One thing new and old consultants might want to consider is a smallish laptop backpack. I know, they don't look cool, and they wrinkle your suits like shoulder straps, however I have lost count of the number of consulting veterans who have crappy shoulders and backs from lugging a laptop around on one shoulder or in one hand. A well designed laptop bag can be quite sleek – see an Australian company called STM – and for those interminable walks through terminals having a bag balanced on both shoulders can be a great comfort.

In terms of differentiating the black trolley on the carousel – one of my colleagues came up with a great idea – he used to masking tape a big M on his trolley before he checked it in, then rip it off as it came off the carousel. Easy to do, and makes picking up your bag if you have to check much easier.

By: TravelGirlDC

TravelGirlDC — Thu, 05 Mar 2009 18:27:45 +0000

If you really want the Tumi you can get barely used on ebay for a fraction of the price. I bought my first Tumi on ebay and would have never been able to afford it retail as a young staffer.

By: icebear

icebear — Thu, 05 Mar 2009 17:16:48 +0000

As you already started label dropping:
I can strongly recommend Samsonite/Samsonite Black label. Nice design, very functional and long lasting and still not that expensive. My laptop bag cost about 90 Euro and is, for normal use, absolutely equal to the TUMI, which I had a look on, when I went to buy a bag.