Summer holidays: the easiest travel companion? My bag

II’ve been carrying the same bag with me for 18 years. It would be nice to talk about a model that is different from all other travel bags. Which I may have found somewhere in the south of Spain somewhere in the outback, which may even have been sewn on the spot. Of course, such an 18-year-old bag must be made of leather, which over time has become covered with scratches and dark spots.

Sold millions of times – but unique to me

My bag also has a patina, but there are bubbles on the nylon and frayed corners. This is a Longchamp Le Pliage model that has been in circulation for 30 years and has since sold several tens of millions of copies. Accordingly, handbags have been out of fashion for a long time among style-conscious people. Now the little models are back, watch Tiktok and #longchampmini with over 12 million views. Mostly young people hold their mini-longshamps to the camera. The owners are probably not much older than my Maxi-Longchamp – they were given to me in 2005, shortly after graduation. Back then, the bag was already a little stuffy, so I chose pink to stand out and at the same time, of course, be part of the Longchamp owner circle.

This nylon monster has always been more than just an unnecessary item to me; I dragged him up the stairs to my first student room. Later, at work, with love in another city, two days a week she hung on my shoulder. I could even drive between my friend’s apartment and the train station and the train station and the office and the office and the house without any problems. Once I forgot it fully packed when leaving Frankfurt and was able to pick it up later in Munich.

Carrying suitcases through the mud? Or take a travel bag with you?

When my first baby was born, he was standing next to me in the delivery room, chaotically packed with everything on the delivery list. When my second child was born, I had already unpacked him in a two-bed ward when the nurse said a soothing phrase: “We still have a single ward.” When today I face a choice before a business trip: dragging a suitcase through the mud or dragging a bag, the decision is obvious.

Best of all, of course, is that the gigantic part adds up. In my life, there is practically no house without a basement. Although now there is something new from Longchamp for this bag, no wallet, no keychain, but: an inflatable chair. Also in pink! I understand? Hardly. But it can definitely be hidden in your pocket.