SOMETIMES YOU HEAR OR READ SOMETHING so painfully obvious you wonder how you missed it. That’s happened to me twice in the past few weeks, and both times it was the same exact truth.
When I think of travel and my own personal travel gear, the first thing that comes to mind is luggage, and I think that’s true for most of us. I have three suitcases — a 19" upright for one- and two-nighters, a 24" pullman for longer business trips, and a great big behemoth for those extended vacations (and unfortunately, it’s hardly ever used). I’ve always thought these were my quintessential pieces of travel gear, but I was wrong.
In this issue’s feature about suggestive selling, Chuck Weisbart of “It’s…In The Bag!” explains how travelers might own more than one suitcase, but the one bag that goes with them on every single trip is the carry-on, making it the most important piece of luggage. It’s such an elegant, inarguable truth I just never realized it.
And earlier this year, at The Travel Goods Show’s All-Industry Awards Breakfast, keynote speaker Ryan Mathews touched on this very same thing when he talked about the single carry-on bag we’re allotted on the plane. “It’s a personal bag…a soul catcher. Presumably everything important to that person is in that bag.”
They’re both right, but in different ways. Pragmatically, Chuck’s right — the bag you use the most should be the most important. But Ryan’s probably closer to the mark — the carry-on is important because of what it contains.
I started thinking about what I load into my own carry-on: laptop computer, cell phone, my PDA, agenda book, wallet, handbag, photos of my daughter, notepad and a good pen, and eyeglasses. I realized these most-important things, the items I wouldn’t trust to be searched through by security without my presence, are all accessories. Add them up, and you have my life in a bag.
On their own these accessories aren’t much. A phone is just a phone, after all. But in its case it’s personalized, and functionally, my programmed databank of family and friends’ phone numbers makes it uniquely mine. The same goes for my PDA and laptop. My choice of pen and notebook make a personal statement. Even the paperback I read on the plane says something about me. Add these items up, and you have a pretty good snapshot of who I am — somewhat organized; balanced between family, friends and work; usually trying to do too much at once.
Accessories don’t just organize your traveling life, they help compartmentalize your real life so you can take it with you. And increasingly, travel accessories have become part and parcel of our everyday lives.
I’ve been quoted recently as saying lifestyle portability is the new trend, and it’s true. With the exception of the laptop computer, what I take in that carry-on isn’t all that different from what I pack into my handbag every day. And if I wanted to download my computer data into an iPod or portable hard disk I’d be able to carry everything important to me, ready to go anywhere as quickly as I could slip my hand through the strap and snatch up my purse.
While accessories aren’t big-ticket items, they are still important. They’re everyday items, the small purchases that power our industry and keep consumers coming back between those oh-so-rare luggage purchases. And more importantly, they’re a little reflection of our selves.
Editor-in-chief
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