On a recent extended trip with my son, I knew a big suitcase was a necessity.  What I didn’t know was if the “existing” big suitcase with the fickle zipper was going to work out.  Since my wife knows I like to travel but I don’t like hiccups, she opted to let me (really the family) purchase a new large suitcase to simplify the planning (and possible work-a-rounds) necessary for the trip.

Two days before the trip, we went to Kohl’s where my wife always seems to have a “stash” of discounts tucked away in her purse or the counter or wherever she cleverly stores or allows them to congregate.  Luckily, they had a sale as well.  After test driving a few suitcases and weighing the critical appearance and overall effectiveness factors, a decision was made.  The winner was not to flashy, but had the necessary growth and organizational features.

Skip ahead a few days….the bag worked great.  It allowed me to fit some of the items my son’s suitcase was not able to safely carry.  It still had room to expand, and even on the the nights when we had to live out of the suitcase it had the pockets and corners I needed to find my stuff.  At the end of the trip, it certainly seemed like the right suitcase for this trip.

On our flight home, the bag was still a winner.  Since it was an international flight, we got to see our bags before the final flight home.  At that time, I picked up my bag and easily rolled it to the dropoff before heading thru the post-customs security clearance.

At our final destination, the bag arrived as shown above.  Yes, it still rolls.  Yes, it still has cozy pockets to store my electronic and international charger needs, but it leans wrong.  It does not give me a convenient place to comfortably rest an extra bag of shopping goodies or the backpack full of computer/kindle/ipad/gopro.  Critique it all I want, but it still has REALLY good zippers.  Somehow, a reliable level surface is likely to trump a good zipper.  <sigh>