Unceremoniously left in the basement trash area, I’m so sorry. You deserved so much more. Maybe i could have sent you for repairs, after all you were indestructible for so long.
To my dear readers, I have all my life tended to anthropomorphise my inanimate possessions, and am especially prone to object sentimentalism. The day I left my faithful Crash baggage for the last time, my heart was heavy, heavy with the weight of my own betrayal and callousness. Even today, when I remember my dear trusty luggage, the heaviness remains.
So today, an ode to my luggage of many years.
You came into my life in 2019.
USA, our first trip together, and what an adventure we had! You were left on the carousel while I passed through customs, through a silly turn of events. And with barely an hour of transit, I begged through warm tears for you to be released. By ingenious miracle, you were! You were, literally, unbreakable – a slip acknowledging an attempted check by TSA stubbornly forced into your innards, but you refused to nudge open for anyone but me! I knew then it was going to be a grand time between us. I’ve retold this tale proudly many times over.
And then COVID, we were stuck in Singapore, you and I. Nevertheless you were significant in my ventures: you accompanied me not across borders, but to a new home. My first time moving out alone!
When we could finally fly, you did with me, to Bali, Lisbon, Porto, Paris; for work, to Seoul; to Chiang Mai; to my first trip to visit K’s family in Wrocław, to Munich, to Taipei, Sydney, London, Dublin, France again, Bali again, Wrocław a yearly affair, to my first time in Beijing and Shanghai, to Tokyo, to my very first ski trip in Japan, to, Galicia, to London and Portugal again. That fateful last trip where you finally cracked.
Oh Crash Baggage, what a time we had together! What glorious, glorious memories we shared. I wish so much I had spent more time at our final goodbye, where I could thank you – a proper one – for being my mainstay through some unbeatable experiences. You were so good to me, the best luggage I could ever, ever hope for.
I will never forget you. I promise you this as the ‘very, very sad classical’ playlist I’ve put on echoes my very, very sadness. As that heavy stone that has been sitting in my chest pitches up to my throat and hot tears threaten to spill from regret, guilt, sentimentality, gratitude, and so much more. Memories of you, that bright and jovially scuffed up yellow, that iconic dented body, well-used and so proud for it, whizzing down dozens of carousels towards me. My joy at seeing that familiar sight of you, always. My pride having you by my side in so many cities. You were fun, reliable, loud, loaded with meaning, so functional, yet so good looking. You were a lion and a dog, fierce and loyal. I miss you and always will, every day of my traveling life.
Adios Crash baggage, I hope with all my heart you are well recycled, and that your spirit is carried over more continents and oceans than I can ever bring you.
Q 