Your suitcase hides all your secrets

01.

There is a saying that one's truest personality qualities can be seen during travel. In fact, even if you only look at the suitcase, you can roughly guess what the owner looks like.

In the film "In the Clouds", George Clooney has a classic line about suitcases:

"(Towing a suitcase) 35 minutes. I travel 270 days a year, which is 157 hours, which is equivalent to wasting 7 days. Do you want to spend an extra week to tow the suitcase?"

Look at his box in the video: it is not outstanding, but the storage function is extremely powerful, not only with a computer protection layer, but even a special suit storage bag. The image of a business elite who often flew around the world jumped on paper.

When waiting for boredom at the airport, I like to watch the suitcases and their owners. Low-profile and durable classic business models, the standard configuration is a hurry traveler. A lemon-yellow suitcase appeared on the conveyor belt, and most of the time it was picked up was a young girl. The 28-inch large shipping box is either an international student, a parent who is traveling with a baby, or a shopaholic who is crazy about sweeping goods.

There were also times when the goods were out of order. I remember once, while queuing at the boarding gate, I saw a man dragging a rose-gold suitcase and took the time to chat with his wife and children at the other end of the screen. So I can't help but imagine that this is probably his wife's suitcase. The color is not so harmonious, but it reflects the gentleness of this husband.

If you can see the appearance of the suitcase, you can better understand the nature of the owner of the suitcase.

Sometimes on business trips, and living with unfamiliar people, you often find the other side of one's appearance: some people have a bright appearance, but the suitcase is ridiculously messy, and you can't find anything when you lose it. On weekdays, it is lively and exaggerated, seemingly thick lines, but the suitcase is like Doraemon's pocket, unexpectedly reliable.

Friends who can travel together for a long time must have suitcases with similar prices, sizes and even styles. Because the companion travel is in time, the most important thing is to see if the budget and purpose match. Those who drag Tumi feel that they are out of touch with the mountains and the water; and the poor travel enthusiasts who are holding the cheap board can almost conclude that it is difficult to play with people who own Rimowa.

For example, Miss Z and my soul travel companion, for a long time, have been relying on the case to handle all long-distance travel.

Her highest record is 20 days, from Russia to the Vatican; my highest record is 18 days, from Norway to Portugal. Jackets, down jackets, outdoor shoes, thermos cups, laptops, and even small tripods have been successfully stuffed into 20-inch boxes by us and never missed.

Only bringing the case on board is to avoid the hassle of shipping, on the other hand, of course, because most foreign airlines have to pay extra for shipping. Poverty limits the size of our luggage.

Fortunately for each other, we never realized that we originally belonged to Wonderful. It wasn't until she participated in a new company group building that she opened the door to the new world in stun. From the imperial capital to Jiangnan, a total of 6 days of travel, only women of all ages in the company were alone with a 20-inch box.

Some people ’s boxes linger with radon at a glance, and they are worth more than her suitcases. Some are pure and white, and they need to be covered with a cover to go out. No matter how bad they are, they must be retro red avocados. .

In contrast, Miss Z's weather-resistant dark blue small box looks extremely straight-in fact, when the fellow men dragged out their low-key and sophisticated suitcases, she found that she was worse than straight men.

This may be the era of comprehensive consumption upgrades for travel suitcases: it is no longer just a suitcase for luggage, but a facade for travel, props for taking pictures, a stylish item that shows a certain lifestyle, but also a This kind of label: what kind of person you are can be roughly seen from your suitcase.

02.

"Knowing the Box" knows more than just today. If there are celebrities in history who have used their suitcases for generations to come, we can also glimpse the nature of their predecessors.

Napoleon always carried a small mahogany suitcase with him when he fought in Europe. The suitcase is only over half a meter wide, but there are up to 92 daily necessities hidden in it, which are layered in an extremely clever way, and are firmly fixed by the grooves in the case.

This set of daily necessities includes coffee maker, teapot, milk jug, lunch plate, etc., and you can drink a full set of afternoon tea. With only one cup, it is completely exclusive to Napoleon.

But most of the items in the suitcase are personal items used for grooming. Among them are a full set of hairdressing tools, including toothbrushes, almond cream, essence, soap, and even a needle cylinder. It can be seen that although Napoleon was a Corsican, he was indeed the emperor of France, and he was not sloppy about the instruments during the march.

Contrasting Napoleon's identity as a military strategist, he is a portable monocular, which is only 4 cm thick in the box and 20 cm in total length. There is also a hand-held candlestick, which is convenient for him to view the map at night or to visit the barracks.

From today's perspective, although this suitcase has limited functions, it can be regarded as the ultimate storage. It came from Martin Guillaume Bionne, a first-rate craftsman at the time, and Napoleon ordered several similar boxes from him. Later, Napoleon met with Russian Tsar Alexander I. This suitcase was very popular with the Tsar, and Napoleon gave him one.

And when the time was pushed to nearly a century, when it comes to suitcases, the most inevitable name was Louis Vuitton.

Louis Vuitton has customized suitcases for countless celebrities, but one of the most legendary stories happened to Hemingway.

In the 1920s, Hemingway lived in Paris and had a lot of contact with people in the fashion industry. At the time, Hemingway was struggling to carry books when moving and traveling, so in 1927, Gaston-Louis Vuitton customized a travel suitcase for him.

This bookcase is exquisite in design, not only convenient for placing books, but also a secret drawer, which allows authors to place manuscripts. Hemingway put the manuscript of what he saw and heard in Paris in this box.

Unexpectedly, when Hemingway moved to the United States in 1928, the book box was accidentally lost in Paris. These books and manuscripts have disappeared for nearly 30 years.

In 1956, Hemingway returned to Paris and returned to his favorite Ritz hotel. Charlie Ritz, the hotel's founder's son, told him that two of his suitcases had been left in the basement of the Ritz Hotel. Book boxes and manuscripts were thus recovered.

After reviewing these early manuscripts, Hemingway completed "The Feast of Flow", which is also the last work in his life. In 1961, Hemingway committed suicide before waiting for the publication of "The Feast of Flow".

The flowing feast, the lost suitcase, and the life that suddenly passed away all seemed to be a kind of concealment in the dark.

03.

Behind every suitcase, there may be a secret and a life.

In the 2008 "Story of the Suitcase" published by the female writer Grace Crechetti in 2008, the protagonists are the 14 children who went to exile in war-torn countries on the African continent and eventually came to Johannesburg. One of the children lamented: "My life is like a suitcase without a handle."

For those who have not experienced war, it is difficult for them to empathize with the perplexity and helplessness.

But for people drifting in the city, the suitcase is more a symbol of security.

Suitcases to them are mostly not used for travel, but for migration.

A friend traveled to Hong Kong alone and had troubles at first. He moved several times. During that half year, the two suitcases were almost all his belongings. Where the suitcase is, it is home.

After his life was settled, he no longer needed to move by suitcase. But the old suitcases, one large and one small, have not been willing to throw them away.

Perhaps, after you have experienced many stories together with something, it will unknowingly become a silent witness in some part of your life. Every scratch is a mark of sorrow and joy over the years.

And this is also the deepest secret buried between you and it.

References:

[1] Xu Jin: , 《Napoleon I and his suitcase》，《Financial Expo (Fortune)》April 2016

[2] "LV the Book: Around the Library Trunk", louisvuitton.com

[3] Grace Klecetti: 《The Story of the Suitcase》, Life · Reading · Xinzhi Sanlian Bookstore, March 2010, translated by Lin Liguan