Right now, I'm in an intense period of travelling for work. Backwards and forwards I walk from home to the airport train, out to Arlanda airport and off.
Picture this. Minus 20 temperatures. Snow tumbling down. Pathways covered in deep layers of snow, rutted and ribbed from pedestrians and pushchairs.
There I go. Head, neck, hands, legs, feet freezing because I'm only wearing a thinnish suit under my coat. Behind me, I pull a suitcase. A suitcase on wheels. I drag it, with much effort, through the piles of snow. It gets stuck in a snow-dune. With a wrench, I jerk the suitcase out and continue, head down into the wind and towards the station. I curse the fact that the pavement isn't ploughed, and that the snow just keeps falling, falling, falling.
Sweden is a country that has fostered many inventors. For having a relatively small population, a very large amount of inventions have come out of this country. The safety match, dynamite, the blowtorch, the AGA stove, the safety belt, the zip, the ballbearing, the pacemaker and dialysis machines. All Swedish inventions.
Now, you'd think in such a small country of big brains, someone would have invented a suitcase on skis wouldn't you? So many problems would be avoided.
I would definitely buy one.
You'd also think that a country so far north would not be shocked to see snow appear every year and think about how to clear it from the sidewalks. THAT would be more useful.
ReplyDeleteI also understand now why suitcases with backpack straps (or a carryon bag without wheels) are strongly suggested by diehard travelers. Wheels are useless unless you're running long distances at airports or in hotel corridors!