What your suitcase says about you

Crazy colours, corporate case or clapped-out holdall? The luggage you take could say more about your personality than you think, according to new research from Virgin Atlantic.

One in five of us can’t remember the last time we bought new luggage, with more than half only upgrading their suitcase when it’s actually broken or completely worn out… which could be tricky as a fifth also wait until the night before travel to dig the suitcase out of the loft or garage.

But one in 10 go to the opposite extreme by splashing out on flashy luggage to beat their travel companions, especially 16 to 24-year-olds, a quarter of whom would buy new bags to copy a celeb.

And almost a third of women would even consider buying new luggage based on their holiday destination

Behavioural expert Judi James has identified five different personality types – so which one sounds like you?

• Designer trunks – “Luggage defines these passengers’ achievements and their status,” says Judi. “This is the Greta Garbo of holiday makers, someone who is outwardly saying ‘I want to be alone’ although with all the matching designer gear and huge, blackout designer shades what they’re really saying is ‘Look at me! Aren’t I rich and famous?’”
• Crazy colours – “Attention-seeking and slightly scatty, this is the noisy, dramatic traveller who will hold up the queue while they hunt for their passport or dash off to get duty free just as boarding has been announced. They’re the zany friend you take on holiday only to wish you could tip them off the pier on day two of your break.” (As someone with a zebra striped suitcase, I might argue with that! Hopefully my travel companions would too…)
• The holdall – “This is the Mary Poppins of travellers, the one who manages to pack everything they need into one piece of luggage, finding space for things the rest of us forget like adaptor plugs and baby wipes, and yet still has room for a different bikini for every day of the holiday. Frighteningly practical and terrifyingly confident this optimist will tend to be the most seasoned traveller of the lot because for them it’s all about low drama planning rather than last-minute panics.”
• The corporate case – “These passengers know they’ve made it so there’s no need to be flashy. There’s a very practical side to this rather focused and determined person, too, meaning a time-managed flight that includes working on the laptop or catching up on some well-earned power-napping.”
• The rucksack – “Still living in the glory days of their gap year, this traveller is unashamedly the eternal teen, loving to imagine that they can lead the freewheeling, commitment-free lifestyle forever. They hate being pinned down or pressured into any form or responsibility and they like to think they can go anywhere the wind decides to blow them.”

Image: E>mar/Flickr