I had to buy a black Samsonite luggage for €185 at the Asian tourists’ filled La Vallee Village in France when my parents’ luggage that I brought to Europe literally broke on the road to Paris Disneyland.

I came from a household that put a cap of $20 bucks for a luggage purchase.

All my previous luggage were old hand-me-down or borrowed-but-never-returned kinds.

Except for the one which I broke. Amma bought it recently from the Mustafa Centre. The plan was for me to borrow it for the trip and return it the next time I visit home. It’s practically brand new and I broke it within days.

Was it due to my overpacking? Or it was my usual carelessness?

And for me to replace it with another one which cost ten times more. Oh, Lord! I had been carrying a pang of guilty feeling for days.

When I met my friends today to update them about my Europe trip over Japanese food, the luggage-guilt was the first thing I shared with them. But all three of them justified my unwilling Samsonite luggage purchase.

I whined:

“But why would a brand matter on luggage? A piece of luggage is just that. Luggage!“

Me circa 2011.

“It’s is a good investment!“, they replied in unison.

I hope my best friends are right about the pricey Samsonite luggage.

Update: 2020 — It has been a decade, almost, since I bought the luggage. It has traveled with me all over Asia and Europe; multiple times between, Melbourne Singapore, Indonesia, and Japan. I have dragged it, sat on, and dropped it multiple times. I have squeezed in more than its’ 30 kg limit into it plenty of times. It has transported undeclared food from one country to another. I am incredibly happy with it. It’s one of the best purchases I have made in my life. even though, I was “forced” to do it.