I refuse to bid farewell to a trusted partner. We’ve travelled the world together for 10 years.
I’m talking about my purple Rimowa Salsa Air suitcase. Some Tank’s Travels readers might remember when I purchased the suitcase at Mego on Granville Street in Vancouver (now shuttered) in 2013 for a scuba diving trip to Thailand. It cost a lot of money at the time.
I want to cry when I look at the state of my dear friend following my most recent trip in late March 2023. Cracked at the wheel.
See the purple duct tape? A suggestion from the Vancouver Rimowa-store guys after finding the crack during a lock fix last year. “You can buy it from Amazon,” they said. They told me the crack was severe and no fix was possible due to its location next to the wheel. Duct tape, they said, might lengthen the suitcase’s life. It lasted another two trips to Mexico – packed full of scuba gear (and flavoured tequila on the trips home!)
I live in a 510-square-foot Vancouver condo. No room to store a broken suitcase with sentimental value and its replacement. The building’s annual spring cleaning event happens in a few days and the thought of dumping my buddy in a pile of trash hurt my heart.
Then came the idea of the century. Why not store the dive gear I store under my bed in the suitcase? Genius move.
As for the replacement, $1,200 to $1,400 for the Rimowa Essential or Lite. Two grand and up for aluminum. OMG.
I’ll keep you posted on the hunt for the perfect, affordable-ish replacement. Folks on the Rimowa Facebook page are recommending Pelican!
Anyone need a roll of purple duct tape?
tankstravels.com 
I know how you feel. On a trip to China (Air Canada) my much used suitcase which had travelled previously on two trips to China and two trips to India as well as the UK and three cruises (one departing Los Angeles and two departing Florida) as well as train trips to Portland and Seattle with no damage apart from a few case scrapes. But when I arrived in Cheng Du China I noticed severe damage (cracking and perforations) around the rear roller wheel assembly. Bad enough that I had to buy a new piece of luggage to continue my trip. Being of Scots ancestry I couldn’t throw my old case away so I stowed it inside the new luggage piece and brought it home. I claimed the damage and after many phone calls and complaints Air Canada finally paid for a new replacement from the original manufacturer. The damaged piece (with a shaped piece of plywood reinforcing its’ base and wheel assembly) now stores travel mementos and old style photos albums from my many trips in the corner of my bedroom closet.
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