A LETTER FROM A READER
AT 59, MY GRANDDAUGHTER TOLD ME MY TRAVEL BAG WAS THE UGLIEST THING IN THE HOUSE.
I have never written anything like this before, and I want to say at the start that I am not a writer and I am not in the habit of telling other women how to run their homes.
But four different people asked me about my laundry basket, of all things, when they came round a fortnight ago, and I have now explained it enough times that it seemed easier to write it down properly.
It started when my granddaughter came to stay and pulled a face at the travel bag in the corner of the spare room.
Nan, why is your travel bag the ugliest thing in the house?
She was not wrong. A faded beige travel bag, fraying at the seams, that I had been shoving into the back of the wardrobe between trips for the best part of ten years.
I did not choose that, not really. Nobody decides to buy something ugly. You buy the cheap plain one meaning to replace it, and then ten years go by.
HOW IT HAPPENS
A travel bag is the last thing anyone thinks of as nice. It is something you pack, not a thing you choose to like.
So the shops sell us plain nylon bags and dull holdalls, all of them the colour of a hospital corridor, and we buy them without a second thought and then quietly resent them every time we pack for a trip.
And because it is only a travel bag, you never get round to doing anything about it. It is always the next thing on a list that never comes up.
WHAT I HAD WRONG
Here is the bit I got most wrong. I thought a travel bag had to be plain nylon to be practical. Lightweight, easy to carry, does the job.
It turns out a quilted fabric one can be practical and lovely as well. It carries what you need for a weekend away, with handles to take it from the house to the car and wherever you are staying. It simply happens to have a picture on it instead of being the colour of nothing.
Practical and pretty were not a choice of one. I had just never been offered the pretty version. That took me until 59 to find out.
See The Travel Bags CollectionMINE IS THE PEACE AND FLOWER CAMPER
It's from Helen & Rose Auckland, a small New Zealand shop that's spent the last thirteen years quietly making the ordinary things in our homes a bit lovelier.
Mine is the Peace and Flowers Camper, a quilted travel bag with a colourful campervan design, flowers and peace signs in bright pinks, blues and yellows. They do plenty of designs, though, from flowers to animals, which I will come back to.
It is properly made. The quilting gives it a soft, textured finish, and there are fabric handles for carrying it from the house to the car. The colourful campervan design makes it feel like part of the holiday before you have even left.
And it comes in two sizes, so you can choose one for a short overnight stay or a little more room for a weekend away.
WHAT HAPPENED WHEN PEOPLE CAME ROUND
It now lives out in the open, in the corner of the bedroom, where the old one would never have been allowed to sit.
Four different people asked me about it a fortnight ago. My friend Marion, who does not notice things, asked where I had got it. And my granddaughter, who started all this, has decided the campervan is hers and checks on it whenever she visits.
Nobody has ever asked me about a travel bag in my life. Now it is the first thing they mention.
THREE THINGS I HAVE LEARNED SINCE
It looks lovely packed and ready to go. This is the thing my old bag never quite managed, with its faded fabric and fraying seams. Pop a few clothes inside, and the colourful campervan design makes even packing for a short trip feel a little more cheerful.
Two. It folds away. Between trips, it folds flat and goes on top of the wardrobe, leaving the spare room clear for when my daughter visits.
Three. A lovely one gets used. The odd thing is I actually look forward to packing it now, because it is not something you want to look away from. The old one only came out when it had to.
ABOUT THE PRICE
I want to be straightforward about this, because it was the thing that made me suspicious.
The Peace and Flower Camper starts at $64.95 NZD. It was $130 NZD.
My first thought was that it was a lot for a travel bag, until I worked out I had spent nearly that over the years replacing cheap, worn-out ones, and hidden every one of them in the back of the wardrobe.
It's from Helen & Rose Auckland, a small New Zealand shop that's spent the last thirteen years quietly making the ordinary things in our homes a bit lovelier. They are a small boutique selling directly, and the shop is closing there's still stock across every design for now, but once it's gone, it won't be restocked.
I did what I imagine you are doing now and went and read the reviews before I ordered. Just over 1500 of them, sitting at 4.7 stars. Not the suspiciously perfect five you see on some websites, which if I am honest made me trust it rather more. Real people, mixed opinions, mostly very good.
Then I ordered a smaller one for overnight stays as well.
See The Travel Bags CollectionWHAT I WOULD TELL YOU IF WE WERE FRIENDS
If you and I were sat in the garden and you asked me, this is what I would say.
Have a look at the travel bag in your wardrobe. If it is plain, and worn, and you tuck it out of sight between trips, you have simply never been offered a nicer one, and now you have.
It is a small thing. But the small ugly things you put up with wear on you more than you notice, and this is a cheap and cheerful one to put right.
Two practical things. The sale is on now, and the most popular designs sell out first, being made to order. And there are dozens to choose from, so there will be one that is properly you.
The old one went out and I have not missed it once.
Diane
QUILTED TRAVEL BAG | PEACE AND FLOWERS CAMPER
$130 NZD $64.95 NZD
- Soft quilted fabric with a colourful campervan, flower and peace-sign design
- Keeps your travel essentials together and ready to go
- Two sizes, from overnight stays to weekends away
- Dozens of designs in the collection
- Free New Zealand Delivery
Moving Sale on now. Once these designs sell out, they're gone for good.