Travel with the best

It's already been established that I'm cheap, but I believe there are some items that are differentiated in such a way that they deserve a price premium. This differentiation can be something such as the Dyson I previously wrote about, which never loses suction, unlike any other vacuum cleaner I've ever used, and is both elegant as well as rugged.

I've been traveling on business for at least 15 years and am Gold medallion on Delta, so I spend too much time in the air. Packing for tomorrow's trip to the City by the Bay reminded me of how many suitcases I've gone through in my life. I started off with an American Tourister set that quickly wore out. Then I went with a set from Samsonite, but even it didn't hold up well. Eventually I started buying "disposable" luggage from the Samsonite outlet store, figuring that if the bags weren't going to hold up, then I didn't want to spend a lot of money on them.

Three years ago I stumbled upon Briggs & Riley. Their motto is, "Guaranteed for life. Simple as that." A coworker purchased a bag of their & just raved about it, so I looked into buying a set but couldn't see spending $250 on just a single bag. On my next trip, the expandable handle on my garment bag broke.

So upon my return I began investigating exactly which garment bag I wanted to purchase as a replacement for my broken one. On a whim I decided to search eBay and see if they had any garment bags listed. It was my lucky day. There was a Briggs & Riley large wheeled rolling garment bag with a current bid of $35 that had several zippers broken... but who cares? They have a lifetime guarantee!

I entered my high bid amount of $60 and ended up winning two days later at a cost of $50 along with $15 shipping. After receiving the bag, I took it into my local Briggs & Riley certified repair center, and two weeks later the bag was as good as new. Since then, I've added one of their U-75 Garment Bag on Wheels to my set. I've had my eye out for one of their rolling computer bags, but I'm holding out for an eBay deal.