RIMOWA suitcases??
 

Looked at these in their various styles and prices for carry on. Super costly. Any reason for the inflated price? I already know from browsing in one of their Rome outlets that the only Rimowas worth buying are those in their more $ lines. Otherwise it is the name but not top Quality

Anyone a confirmed Rimowa lover and can you tell me why??

We just bought a couple of Rimowa for our check through bags -- the metal ones. I can't say what's worth it and what's not but the metal ones have to be more protective than the plastic/fiber/poly-whatever types, and they should be impervious to water seepage unlike the soft-sides we've used in the past. Also, there's no zipper, so that's a plus. They should last a lifetime and they're beautiful... will only improve with scratches and dents. We bought ours in Amsterdam, so we took advantage of a lower price than in the U.S., plus VAT refund.

I just bought Paravel for my next trip. I'm curious if I'll like it that much more than whatever has been in stock at TJMaxx, etc. I've been lucky with luggage with almost weekly travel for a lot of years. Really expensive luggage seems like a waste of resources to me, but we'll see.

Those look pretty smart; what color did you choose?

The green. The weekender set.
I hope to go on a safari in the next year so "safari green" seemed like a sign. ;)
My "work" luggage still has life in it but wanted something new to commemorate my retirement.

Anyone remember the day when business men all seemed to have Hartmann briefcases and luggage? I saw the Paravel randomly and checked it out. I don't know anyone who has it, that I am aware of. I liked their story so placed an order. It's here, but still in the box. For whatever reason, it made me think of my dear first boss that hired me into the business world. That's a good thing.

Is Paravel a line of Rimowa?? Where is it made?

Have got check all this out...last luggage I bought was a large Briggs and Riley which is holding up very well. Also bought a piece of junk from a chain luggage store in Rome (on the Corso) that broke before I got to the plane...name began with. "C."

Leaving soon on my much-discussed trip to southern Italy.....just bragging, humbly,(thus last comment related a jab I got on a car rental thread here.......no ill will on my part but that took me for a loop!!)

I need to go check that thread out. I was looking at car rentals for Italy last year and the prices were crazy!

I would ask, how often do you travel. If you’re not on the road say every month, then I think something that cost less would be fine. We have some Samsonite bags that we bought at Costco say five or six years ago and they were just fine. They are hard sided.

Just saw this thread so may be too late to be helpful. I’ve had Rimowa luggage for over ten years and love how well it survives the rough treatment when checked. But, there’s another reason where the quality matters.

Last year I traveled to Greece with a friend. I was hampered by a bad hip so had trouble keeping up with my friend until the end of our trip when we had long treks through airports. The Rimowa suitcase was smooth and easy to steer—basically gliding as I walked with it. My friend had loved her suitcase that she bought at TJMaxx up until that point. She couldn’t keep up with me and basically had to manhandle through the airport. Her shoulders and arms were very unhappy.

She’s going to get new luggage (but it won’t be Rimowa). But, it will be something that is easy to wheel around.

Yes, you have to see how the bag rolls and don't assume it will be fine when it's loaded. We bought a bag on the fly and had to keep steering it as it wanted to go some other direction than we were going. Ditched that one quickly!

We bought Briggs & Riley a couple of years ago before our trip to France and Italy, and love it! It's lightweight, has smooth spinner wheels that glide easily and nice tall handles for my 6'4" husband. We don't anticipate ever having to replace them.

I think they have a nice warranty IIRC. I did like that the hardware is on the outside so there's a flat packing surface.

My number one question is how much does the suitcase weigh empty? And usually the super expensive ones are also quite heavy.

I agree about how often you travel matters hugely. An every-other-week business flight warrior is different than someone going on a tropical vacation a couple times a year. Or traveling to Europe and going around by train. Different trips, different needs.

I've been looking at the Monos hybrid cases. Zipperless spinners seem to get great reviews.Need a waterproof checked bag large enough for my tripod and hiking pole.

No more soft sided bags!

I used my Paravel suitcase today. Glides and rolls like a dream.
Very pleased with it.

RainyCityGirl: Here is the Rimowa recent thread....add to this if you have the time, please!

They are really sharp but since I have to cram in untold new items ranging from hotel shampoos to bags of pasta.....do they expand at all? My normal carry on now is Eagle Creek and for check in, I have a fairly new-ish Briggs and Reilly which is very good although it gets so heavy after I cram in all the (mainly food) items (jars of olives, bags of chicherie from Molise, boxes of good pastas, bottles of colatura from Cetara! Not to mention the big carton of peppers from Senise!! Plus all the extra things that the farmer packed into the box! (I do know I have a problem!!) which are now scattered all over my apartment 2 weeks after returning from Italy.....

It's getting pretty bad here....Manhattan=small apartments not made for lots of extra "stuff!" But I do cook with all of it! I did have to ditch the pork products like n'deja and sausage from Calabria.....so sad!!!

They don’t expand, that is a drawback to them. Or you could buy the Rimowa Trunk? ;)
Briggs and Riley have a new expansion system which you pull up, then when your bag is packed you collapse it and it compresses everything.
‘I will report back once I have packed my Rimowa carry on. I actually purchased a top of the range Tumi carry on last weekend but it is 12 pounds empty so it is going back to the store despite being a lovely bag in other aspects.

Just wanted to say I loved your pepper story from your Trip report! Maybe you really do need that Rimowa trunk bag for all these food purchases. I looked at it yesterday when I purchased my Rimowa carry on bag which I absolutely love and it hasn’t even left the house yet. My husband says I am like Gollum from Lord of the Rings with my “preciousssss” Ha! The Trunk is nice and deep for all those food packages.
I learned my lesson about bringing meat products home in 2016 coming home from Florence and the creeps at Customs confiscated my prosciutto and special finochio (sp?) mortadella etc. that I bought at the Sant’Ambrogio market. I was tired and cranky and gave the young officer a real ear bashing about it but he was unmoved by my ranting lol. We were near a carousel from a flight from the Philippines which had several boxes going around on it leaking liquid and reeking of rotten fish- I suggested he should maybe check that out and leave my lovely meat selection alone but he said that was situation normal and someone else would do it. His favourite finds apparently were the many many suitcases loaded with cash being smuggled out of China. By this time we had become so chatty together I’m sure he felt perfectly comfortable eating my prosciutto. Haha.

Hi rcg: I'm curious... did you declare the meat/cheese products on a form? Did they have food and cash sniffing dogs? How do they find it other than the "tell" of the leaking smelly liquid? I once got lectured over not declaring a chocolate bar as food, but it wasn't confiscated. Thankfully, I'm now beyond the age where I get scrutinized for, ahem, other things.

RAINYCITY..Love the idea of those carousels with the stinky balut and goodness knows what else!
I used to sneak in meat all the time. Cheeses are generally fine to bring in and I bring them back from Spain and Italy all the time with no problem. But a few years ago I had taken a lamb sandwich on m'sam (spelling--the Moroccan bread) from Andalusia. I thought I would eat it on the plane in stead of the junky food onboard. But I forgot. So when we landed at JFK my partner told me to "look at that adorable beagle..he has a vest!!' "Must be a service pup!!" But that cute service pup seemed to take an extraordinary interest in my backpack where the sandwich was tucked away. So you can imagine....I never did go home with that sandwich even though, this time, it was an honest mistake. And since then I've been hesitant to sneak in the Jamon Iberico and all the salumi from Italy! I even had to thrown away that donkey salami from Ragusa that we had no chance to eat!!! And folks, don't laugh, donkey is a treat in parts of southern Italy..the meat is sweet and so tasty, and more expensive than most other meats.....Salami di Asino is the name of the salami from donkey..look for it and enjoy its there!!

What makes my bags heavy are the bottles of olive oil, newly pressed, and the cans of conservas from Spain, like ventresca, or tuna belly. And all those packages of unusual pastas, like the ones I just bought which are infused with pepperoni di Senise!@!! And oh, the bottles of colatura from Cetara....I made a garlic and anchovy pasta with the colatura the other night and it was really special....so easy:

https://www.seriouseats.com/spaghett...-with-colatura

One thing I learned on this last trip to the South, was NEVER to use breadcrumbs in a dish with tomatoes because the tomato liquid will make soggy the breadcrumbs. I've been doing that so many years and YES, the breadcrumbs always get soggy. Have to add that tip to my recent Italy thread..

Hi Trophywife, yes I think I did because I had looked up the rules and was sure I had read that it was okay to bring in if vacuum sealed, so at passport control I was told to go over to a special desk where they check your items. I live in Canada just for clarity. And yes, I'm beyond that age too lol. Our airport does have sniffer dogs, although in the case of the stinky fish boxes dogs weren't needed. According to the fellow I was arguing with/chatting to, there are certain flights they always pay attention to because there are always things brought in that aren't declared etc. I don;'t know if it is still the case but suitcases full of cash from China was huge for a while due to the Chinese gov't's restrictions on the amount of money their citizens are allowed to take out of country. Rich people there would employ someone to pretend to go on vacation and take all this cash with them. Occasionally one of these smugglers or smurfs as they are called would make the very stupid decision to run away with said cash. I'm sure that didn't end well for them.

Your posts are so mouth watering- I love those peppers. I am a big horse and donkey lover so no way I'm going to eat that no matter how tasty it is supposed to be. There are few meat types I will eat and am heading toward being a vegetarian, could never be vegan because: cheese! I love going to the markets in Italy, usually I resist buying too much food because I like to leave the luggage space for clothing/shoe/handbag purchases. In November I'm doing a wine tour with a company that offers shipping of olive oil so am planning to just order that online and have it shipped-luggage problem solved. I'd like to be able to ship wine too but we have archaic liquor shipping laws here in Canada so it's a no go.

After several years of various suitcases, I've generally found anything with the following to be 'the one to get':

• 4 wheels that swivel
• Telescopic handle
• Piano hinge all the way down the side that opens
• No zippers
• Hardside shells that 'fit' together on the seams
• Rubber gasket at the seams
• Clamp style closing hardware on the 3-sides without the piano hinge

Last bag that we bought that fit this criteria was from Canada since it wasn't available in the US--the Samsonite S'Cure. There's a newer name for the series that carries these features now, but I don't know it. All of these features essentially started on the most durable bag ever made--the Samsonite Oyster which is legendary but no longer practical due to only having 2 wheels and non-tsa locks (so they get broken upon inspections).

American Tourister has a similar bag in their Tribus line, but I think they have also changed the name or series and I don't know what the new one is.

Shortly after we bought our first S'Cure for my wife (she travels internationally for work very regularly), we noticed that's what the long-haul flight crews were also using. It's become a very popular bag and it really solid.

If something breaks on a bag meeting the above design requirements, nothing short of a Pelican case would have saved it. Pelican does make cases for travel, but they are as heavy as they are indestructible, so you have to consider that.

The thing about these (besides the price) that doesn't work for me is that there are only hinges and not a continuous hinge. The problem with individual hinges like this is that when they're under stress, they tend to break off--and when they do, the case is generally done.

But the Rimowa people must do free repairs if a part breaks. Or do they charge for repairs?

I never bought one because I thought it would not expand when I cram in things that I've bought overseas....I have an EagleCreek soft-sided wheeled carry on that allows expansion.

I love the style of the Rimowa....

There's always limits on repairs so I look for bulletproof designs and manufacturing instead.

Generally hard side suitcases won't expand, but I do have one large samsonite that does. It's unfortunately oversized now on everyone except BA (and maybe even them now), so I instead use it as wheeled storage.

I love Eagle Creek. I had no idea they were as good as they were, but here we are in 2024 and my college backpack that I bought back in 1995 is still going strong after literally hundreds of flights (carry on), car rides, and trips. Very durable stuff.

I love the Eagle Creek also! I think I read about it in an article that reviewed various options and that chose Eagle Creek as one of the best. We each have one of the carry ons.

That's great about their backpack! I have a black Kipling backpack that I bought when I went back to school, and that was 30 years ago!!!!!!!!! And not only that, a couple of years ago the drawstring that closes the backpack broke. AND, the little furry monkey that came with it had gotten lost at the airport in Madrid, years ago. So Ii contacted them, expecting them to say that my pack was too old for them to help. Sure enough, Kipling not only sent me a new drawstring and the plastic gizmo that you draw it through, but also a new young monkey !! They even phoned to tell me that they were sending the items, and how to restring the cord. That's what I call great customer service!

That's some super customer service from Kipling! I'm going to check out their stuff now. :) It's hard to find companies that make products and stand behind them like this today. In fact, it's scary rare...

I did end up buying a Rimowa carry on size suitcase, took it to London, Florence and Rome in November. I absolutely love it, the wheels are better than anything I've had or tried, so smooth. It holds quite a bit but obviously since it is hard sided you cannot stuff it like a soft sided and it has no outside pockets. That doesn't bother me as I usually have a tote bag or large handbag as well.

Thanks for the update! Which style did you buy--as I remember they have more than one category, with one being quite a bit more expensive than the other(s).
Didi you buy the silver?

I am going to plan a visit to the Rimowa store in Manhattan. Do you think that the prices are substantially lower in Europe than in the US, lower enough to make a point of buying in Europe (Spain or Italy but not Germany)? I did visit the store in Rome, but this was before I had the time to do any reading to acquaint me with the various lines. And with the high prices, I wanted to educate myself before buying. I may have said this before, but I ended up buying a hard-sided bag from Carpisa, on the Corso. It broke even before I got to the airport!!

https://www.tripadvisor.com/ShowUser...ome_Lazio.html

:wow: that's some serious Crapisa...

ekscrunchy, I bought the Classic Cabin S in silver in the international size. I like the more flat square top to this one so it is easy to put a tote bag on top as you are walking through the airport. I bought it here in Vancouver (I'm Canadian) and yes I think it is pricier here than Europe. You can Google to price compare, I just saw a 9 month old Reddit post from a Canadian who bought one in Rome for 1120 euro and then got 12% VAT back so definitely cheaper than what I paid.
And that is too bad about the lousy bag from Carpisa!

Thanks to you both..Samir=pretty clever!! Crapisa, indeed!!

I will be in Madrid next month so will take a look if I am near the store, or else look back in NYC...great info, as usual, RainyCityGirl!

You're welcome! My wife says I'm punny. :lol:

Just to update..I am now in Munich and went to Rimowa yesterday. I think I am going to buy the cabin-size bag in their "limited edition" green color. There were a LOT of fans in that store..one guy said he had six Rimowa bags at home and he was trying to decide on the Cabin or the Cabin plus. I would like the Cabin Plus but its seems as if it will not fit in the overhead compartments on all airlines.......

There are lines in front of all the designer-type stores, as they let in only a certain amount of people at one time.

Prices in the upscale stores seem abut the same as they are in the US..the savings is in the 12% VAT refund. For example, the price on a Loewe handbag is the exact price as I paid in Madrid.....so no longer any savings buying in the home country.......

So did you buy the bag ekscrunchy? I just returned home yesterday from the south of France, with my beloved Rimowa Cabin bag, still love it and I had it crammed full on the return but could still lift it into the bin. (yay for my personal trainer)
I know you love food so off topic but my six pounds of French butter arrived home safe and sound as well. My husband was laughing at me as I unpacked but saw the value as soon as he tried some.
Please report back on which bag you purchased!

YES!!!!! I bought the "limited color" green cabin bag and I LOVE it!!!!!!!!!!!!
It glides!!!!!!!

I put more info about the bag (easy to get the VAT refund at Munich airport) on my current thread about five nights in Munich..thank you, thank you for helping me to decide to buy that bag!!!
We need to discuss further, as I may now be a convert!

Will take a photo later and post it, but you already know what it looks like.....and I got the LAST green one in the Munich store!

Six pounds of butter!! Very impressive!! I probably brought about 6 kilo of cheese from Sicily. But the JFK beagle sniffed out the passion fruit and the peach I had forgotten about and brought into US.... I never thought about bringing butter...does it not melt all that way, in the cabin?????? That butter was fabulous in Munich but I think most if not all came from France.

So glad you bought the bag, the way it glides is just next level. I have bought a few of their stickers to decorate mine with. (really getting into the whole Rimowa thing lol) I look forward to a photo of your green bag.
I just read your whole trip report about Munich-sounds great and now I want to go there and also stay in that hotel! Did you do a report on Catania as well?
Sorry the airport beagle got your fruit! You can google "bring butter back from France" for all kinds of ideas. Apparently in Paris if you go to the Grand Epicerie at the Bon Marche' they will vacuum seal your butter for 1 euro and they have 2 aisles full of different butter-the mind boggles.
I was in Nice and the Carrefours didn't offer vacuum sealing and there was no freezer in our apartment. The advice is to vacuum seal (or put in Zip loc bags and then freeze). I brought zip loc bags from home so I bought ice at the store and put the butter on ice all day and night, then in the morning before our flight I wrapped each one in paper towel, put them in the zip loc bags and put in the outside pocket of my checked bag. It is cold in the hold where the bags are so I wasn't too worried. It all arrived perfectly fine, one or two of the blocks were slightly soft but nothing terrible.
I promised my brother butter from France so I am reluctantly parting with a couple of them lol.

I meant to say I put the butter on ice IN the refrigerator. There was no freezer but there was a fridge.