I have packed a black suitcase for every holiday for forty years. This is the first bag I have ever written a letter about.
I have packed a black suitcase for every holiday for forty years. This is the first bag I have ever written a letter about.
Six things two little camper-van bags get right that forty years of sensible black luggage got wrong, written down by a customer, not a shop.
Dianne Prescott · Customer · Epping, Sydney · 5 min read
I am 64, and I have owned a black suitcase since before I owned a microwave. Black because it does not show the dirt, black because it goes with everything, black because that is what a sensible woman buys. This spring, standing at the baggage carousel at Hobart airport with forty other sensible people and forty identical black suitcases, I finally worked out what all that sense had been costing me.
Two women on our flight picked their bags off the belt without so much as a second look. One was a green bag shaped like a little camper van, with a forest and white daisies on its side. The other was the same little van in rainbow colours, covered in daisies. They are the Forestvana and the Prismvana, from Thompson Sydney, a small Australian boutique that has been quietly making lovely things for women our age for a few years now. I ordered one the week we got home, fully expecting to send it back. I did not. I wrote to the boutique to tell them why, and they asked if they could put my letter up for other women to read. So here it is, the six things these bags get right.
Travel bags, if you have looked lately, come in two piles. The first pile is the sensible one: black, grey or navy, and exactly like everybody else’s. The second pile is the fashionable one, which costs the earth and looks like it would rather be carried by somebody half your age.
A bag nobody would mistake for anything special, or a bag nobody would mistake for yours. I stopped accepting that a woman has to choose, and these two are the proof I was right to.
Find the one that is mine. Go on, take your time.
You can pick it out of any pile
This is the thing I noticed first. Graham and I flew down to Hobart for a spring week in Tasmania, and the carousel did what carousels do: black case, black case, black case, round and round. Graham hauled off a black case with great confidence and had it halfway to the taxi rank before a man in a rugby jumper came running after him. Meanwhile a woman called Marilyn, a retired school librarian from Kingston, and her sister simply reached out as their two picture bags came round, and were gone. I asked Marilyn about hers in the taxi queue, while Graham was still apologising.
The hire car boot on our next trip. I know which one is mine.
“I used to tie a red ribbon on my case like everybody else. Now I just look for the forest.”
Heather W., HuonvilleTwo good handles, and you simply pick it up
There are no wheels to drag over cobbles and no extendable handle to jam. It has two sturdy carry handles, and I take it by both in one hand and off I go, up the steps of a guesthouse or along the old sandstone footpaths down by the water in Hobart. I had forgotten how pleasant it is to carry your things rather than tow them.
Along the old sandstone warehouses by the water, both handles in one hand.
“No more bumping a case down the stairs at the station. I just pick it up and walk.”
Beverley J., SorellTwo sizes, for a night or for a long weekend
The smaller one is 40 × 20 × 20 cm, and the boutique calls it the go-anywhere size: a night away, or a roomy cabin bag, with a change of clothes, a wash bag and your bits. The bigger one is 46 × 23 × 23 cm, for two or three days away with a couple of outfits, shoes and a towel. I took the bigger Forestvana for the week, and the little Prismvana is my overnight bag for Lyn’s in the Southern Highlands. Every design comes in both sizes.
“I bought the small one as a cabin bag and it has been on four flights already. I get asked about it at every gate.”
Gail R., New NorfolkIt holds far more than it looks
I was sure a bag shaped like a toy van would hold a toothbrush and not much else. It is roomy inside, and the boutique says it holds your travel essentials with ease, which in my experience is the honest truth. My week in Tasmania went in the big one, cardigan and walking shoes included, and Graham, who packs one shirt per decade, had to admit it.
Packed and waiting by our front door. Banjo knows exactly what this means.
“Three days at my son’s, everything in the big one, and room for the jar of jam his wife sent back with me.”
Noelene P., CygnetThe picture on the front makes people smile
The Forestvana has a little forest down its green side, a yellow pine and an orange pine and big white daisies, with yellow windows along the top and a peace sign on its nose. The Prismvana runs through every colour of the rainbow, front to back, with white daisies all over and a pink peace sign on the front between two round headlights. They are printed pictures, not plain fabric with a logo, and I have never had so many strangers talk to me in a queue.
The Prismvana on the guesthouse verandah. The owner’s grandson asked if it was a real van.
“It is the happiest thing I own. Even the man at the security check smiled at it.”
Rhonda F., SnugA whole collection of designs, so one is yours
There are nineteen of these little vans in the collection, and that was half the fun. Forests, sunflowers, rainbows, meadows, a night sky, every one a different picture and every one the same price. I chose the Forestvana because it reminded me of the drive down the Huon Valley, and the Prismvana because I have never owned anything rainbow in my life and it was about time. I spent an evening on the sofa choosing while Graham watched the cricket, and the chance of anybody at a carousel having the same one as me is very slim indeed.
The afternoon they arrived. Graham asked if we were opening a caravan park.
“Took me a week to choose. Then I went back for a second design, because the first one made me so happy.”
Kaye D., BothwellThe Forestvana and the Prismvana, against the black suitcase
You can buy a travel bag almost anywhere. I know, because I have owned most of them, and they were all black. Here is the difference, laid out plainly.
Identical to every other case on the carousel
A ribbon tied on the handle so you can find it
Wheels to drag over cobbles, gravel and steps
Comes out of the cupboard and goes straight back in
Nobody has ever asked where you got it
Spotted from the other end of the baggage hall
A picture nobody else on the flight will have
Two good handles, picked up and carried
Two sizes, a night away or a long weekend
Asked about in a taxi queue in Hobart
About the price
I will be straightforward about the price, because it was the thing that made me suspicious. The smaller 40 cm bag is $76.95, and it was $154.00. The bigger 46 cm bag is $79.95, and it was $160.00. Every design in the collection is the same.
The boutique says the spring sale is about making room for the summer stock, selling directly, with no middleman taking a cut, and that at this price they are barely making anything on them. That is their arithmetic, not mine. What I can tell you is that I have paid more for one black suitcase that went round a carousel looking exactly like everybody else’s for twenty years.
If you have spent forty years squinting at a carousel and tying ribbons on handles, this is where I would start. The black suitcase has gone to the back of the cupboard, and Graham has been told it is his.
Dianne
The Forestvana & Prismvana Bags
- ✓A camper-van picture you can spot in any pile
- ✓Two carry handles, no wheels to drag
- ✓40 × 20 × 20 cm $76.95, or 46 × 23 × 23 cm $79.95 (was $160.00)
- ✓Nineteen designs in the collection, all the same price
- ✓Free delivery across Australia
Spring sale on now. The popular designs are already going.