The suitcases I swear by, according to a travel & fashion writer

One of the questions I get asked most often is “what luggage do you use to travel the world?” I always read that to mean, “what luggage do you trust to travel the world with?” Let’s be honest, our luggage needs to be born ready and tough to make it through a single airline adventure these days, so here’s my answer…

Over the past two decades, I’ve traversed the Atlantic ocean more times than I’ve kept track of. Whether I was going back and forth from London to the USA for travel features, fashion runway shows or just to visit family, I made the mistake only once of doing so with luggage that was less than stellar. Let’s just say I learned my lesson when it came out of the hold wide open and in a plastic bag, the only thing keeping my intimates from spraying out onto the conveyor belt.

It was then that I decided I needed to part with some cash to get some reliable luggage if this was to be my life for the foreseeable future. So I saved for months and invested in my first piece of Samsonite luggage. I hope you weren’t expecting me to say a Louis Vuitton trunk. Please remember I started in this town making £12k a year!

That first Samsonite lasted fifteen years. It had been thrown 1,000 ways to Sunday, been accidentally chucked down cement stairs, lugged through heavy snow and sat upon endlessly, by myself and others, over the years. She was sadly retired not out of my choosing but because an airline lost the beauty. I was flattened, irreversibly. But, I quickly found a reason to perk up. I was actually in a position to level up. It had been a decade and a half and I could afford something with a little more airport curb appeal.

Try not to laugh but I had this idea that I was going to get a suitcase that was a hard shell and I was going to buy stickers from every place I had travelled and would add a sticker to the luggage every time we returned safely from the trip home to London. That was the plan, like I’m a roaming teenager. But I’m not ashamed to say I thought it would be cool and might still contemplate that move another time. However, upon being introduced to the luggage that would be my future travel companion, I think you’ll understand why I could never decorate these pieces with anything. They shine on their own!

So, there are actually three pieces of luggage I have on rotation, two carry ons and one larger case for the bigger trips. There is a duo, meaning the carry on and the larger case match. And there is a carry on that stands alone, truly as a piece of art, that is used exclusively for the quick trips away. It’s a weekend only bag and it is never put in cargo and never handled by anyone other than myself, because I am absolutely terrified of anything ever happening to this masterpiece.

Now then, let me formally introduce you to the EJJ travel team…

The first is the luxury piece, the dream piece… the piece I’ve already vision boarded a 1,000 times sitting on the end of the bed in a cabin on the Orient Express. This is quite possibly the most beautiful piece of luggage I have ever owned and I am as protective of this beauty as I am, or imagine I would be, a small child. It borders on ridiculous, I’ll happily admit.

This is the Globetrotter Safari Carry-On with two wheels… and it retails for £1,455. So now you know why I am extra careful. I don’t want a single scuff. This beauty will stay a beauty until I depart this earth… end of. Oh, and she only comes out of the closet (currently the storage unit) for very special trips.

Now, let’s talk about the pieces that aren’t for the special moments. That doesn’t mean they aren’t special. It just means these two are less “delicate flower” territory and more “made for combat” gladiator arena level of quality. Like I said, these are the bags that have been put through their paces. I reckon they’ve seen more hours in airplanes in the last five years than most bags see in an entire lifetime, and you know what? These bags look better for it. When these two silver bullets arrived at my house they were shiny and new. They were perfect, too perfect. But now, similar to way a leather couch looks better after years of wear and tear, these aluminum tanks are two of my proudest possessions. They’ve had more scrunched into their compartments than Samsonite probably ever tested for and they’ve never once let me down. They have literally fallen off sides of buildings and still remained air tight (by the way, that was unintentional and is why the big one now has a dent with an amazing memory attached to it). At times, the weight has exceeded 75 pounds and not once has a handle even given a whisper of a thought of breaking or given into the pressure. In a nutshell, I’m saying this has been most rugged and reliable luggage to date and I do hope it is something I can pass down to the next generation proudly. And I really must start keeping track of the mileage they’ve been racking up over the years. It’s quite impressive they’ve been through so much with me and never once shown any sign of weakness.

Right then, these are my travel heroes. The cargo sized bag is the Samsonite Lite-Box Alu 76cm and is £675. The carry on (not pictured but often shared in airports on the ‘gram) is the Samsonite Lite-Box Alu 55cm and it is £565.

I am not currently, nor have I ever been under contract with either company… but they should know if a brand ambassador is needed, I’m your girl!

Now, any questions… feel free to ask below!