Luggage Renewal
You’d think that I was living in a luggage store. Within 10 feet of my computer there are no less than 6 suitcases.
It’s the larger suitcase that recently were renewed with new replacements.
The type of luggage that Barb and I prefer is called the Pullman and is probably the most common type of suitcase nowadays. Pullman luggage have the two wheels at the bottom and the telescoping handle that comes out the top. When we went on our honeymoon we bought all brand new luggage and learned a lot about what luggage not to use. Other than the suit bag (which can be useful is you travel with business suits a lot), the luggage that we bought back then were heavy, hard-sided luggage that had the lift handle on the small end so the suitcase would tip over when going over the smallest bump. This luggage also was bad in the sense that when you were lifting from the handle so it would roll along on the wheels, you were really lifting most of the weight of the bag. The Pullman type is a better design as you tilt the bag over to roll it from the top so not all of the weight is on your arm.
When time came to go on our first big trip in 1998 to Britain after our honeymoon, we did a lot of research into the kind of replacement luggage that we wanted to get and found a line of Atlantic luggage with a unique feature called 4×4™:
The “4×4” feature was a set of extra wheels that could fold out when needed and allow you to rest the entire weight of the suitcase on the four wheels and roll it along like a stroller. Because the suitcase was in a reclined position when in 4×4 mode, you could rest additional hand baggage on top of the suitcase on the extended handle rails and it was all perfectly stable. When you didn’t need the 4×4 mode any more, you just used your foot to snap the two wheels back into place in less than 1 second.
Since that Britain trip, that luggage has seen lots of use including one trip to New Zealand and five more times to Europe. During those years, our luggage had taken a beating but for the most part had only seen superficial damage. However it was the recent vacation to Italy that saw both of our 4×4 suitcases take more than just superficial damage. It looked like it was time to look at some new luggage before our next trip in 2006.
Over the years we had done some quick peeks to the Atlantic web site and had noticed that they seems to have discontinued the 4×4 option so we were always concerned that when time came to buy new luggage that we wouldn’t be able to find what we wanted. Luckily for us, Atlantic has come out with an updated version of the 4×4 concept called Quadwheel™ technology. Quadwheel seems to be similar to 4×4 in the sense that the extra wheels can extend and retract but the enhancements they have made are that the wheels are larger and now pivot. This makes rotating the luggage much easier especially when on rough surfaces. The other enhancement is that there is a small button on the top of the luggage to extend the Quadwheels. On the 4×4 system, you had to press a button with your foot to extend the wheels and sometimes stood there kicking the button a few times before the wheels would extend.
We actually weren’t planning on purchasing new luggage right away but we happened to see these suitcases on sale at a store called Collacut in Metrotown mall so we decided to pick up two of them. One of the difference between our old and new Atlantic luggage is that the old luggage was sized as 26 inch and the new ones 25 inch. Although this makes the new luggage technically smaller, it has a 1.5 inch expansion zipper which the old ones didn’t have which will be useful for those return trips laden with shopping bounty.
If you’re in the market for new luggage and want something that stands alone in being easy to carry around the airport and to/from your hotel, look into the Atlantic luggage with Quadwheel technology – I promise you won’t be disappointed.
Baden
