Goodbye Old Friend

As a birthday present, I received a much needed replacement travel suitcase from Ahna, Ezra, and my parents. The old one was getting, well, old and was well on it’s way to a new life somewhere else. Only thing is that it’s hard to say goodbye. I started packing for a trip back to Wisconsin and was lost and confused. For the first time in 20 years I didn’t know where to put things. What is this zipper for? What is supposed to go in this pocket? The old suitcase holds lots and lots of memories. There are countless trips around the US that it has been my companion on (probably somewhere in the neighborhood of 120+) from Alaska to Orlando; and it has been to Japan, Canada and Mexico once, and Israel 3 or 4 times. There are lots of miles from lots of cities on those wheels, and now it’s time to develop a new relationship with a new bag. I took a note from the cutthroat business model by replacing my old trustworthy TravelPro with it’s newer, sleeker, and more  modern member of the same family. This first trip with my new partner in travel is a good trial run; and since Ahna and Ezra will be meeting me at the destination (they left early since I had to work a few more days) the opportunity will present itself to have some one-on-one bonding time. Here’s to 20 more years of travel greatness with a new TravelPro bag by my side.