If you travel regularly and need to move around crowded airport terminals, you'll almost certainly need a suitcase. These wheeled cases with handles are adapted for modern travel, and are ideal for clothing and electronics. With hard shell and soft designs, various wheel setups, and a dizzying range of colours available, they are also increasingly diverse. So whatever your needs, there should be a case to match them.
Cases of some sort have been used for centuries, but the suitcase is quite modern. Wheeled cases with built-in handles appeared in the 1930s, and were made with aluminium for elite travellers. From the 1960s, they became mainstream, as synthetic fabrics drove down their cost and weight.
Now, there are plenty to choose from, so let's dive in and explore how to find the best suitcase deals.
Here are some top suitcase models you might want to consider when looking for a new suitcase:
Here's a very general guide, and one that won't necessarily apply to those with expensive electronic equipment or large amounts of clothing. However, whatever you carry, it pays to take care to compress your luggage and make the best possible use of the space available.
Firstly, plan what you'll need to take on your trip. As a rule, you should be able to get by during a week-long vacation with 5 vests, pants or socks, around 3-4 t-shirts or casual shirts, one sweater and 1-2 pairs of shorts or trousers.
When you know roughly what you want, you'll need to find a suitable case. For solo travellers, small hard-shell cases should be fine for week-long trips. Hard cases can work well for those who want to be ultra space efficient, as they won't let you cram in extra socks or accessories that aren't completely necessary.
Make the best use of space by packing clothes within clothes. For instance, you can stuff a couple of pairs of socks into most shoes. When you pack shoes, it's also a good idea to enclose them in a plastic bag to keep other clothes dirt-free.
Most clothes can be rolled up to save space. In some cases, you may find that packing them in separate packing cubes helps to compress them even more.
Pack clothes on top of footwear, and then add wash bags and toiletries. This will make them accessible if airport staff feel the need to inspect your luggage.
Finally, coats and other items that can't be rolled or folded, can be placed on top of everything else – possibly with a liner in between them and your other items.
