Why Kiek and her suitcase are inseparably

connected to each other

“Are you going on a trip?” I get this question thrown at me at least once a day. And: “Oh, how nice, on vacation!” on a really good day maybe even five times. But what do you expect when you always walk around like a pack mule with a suitcase behind you? Dear people, I just always carry a suitcase with me for practical reasons. Is that really so hard to understand?

I fly from here to there, always have a MacBook in my bag, and as a tic, I also always carry a couple of extra shoes with me. You never know what happens, right? Additionally, I carry a half-liter of water, a hairbrush, chargers, a – okay, quite large – makeup bag, and other food items and knick-knacks to get through the day. When a friend saw me struggling with two exploded bags years ago, he suggested buying a small suitcase. Man, it was like a world opened up for me. Why hadn’t I thought of that before? So said, so done. And now I already have several: a bright pink one, a simple black one, and a complicated one with flowers. For every situation a different suitcase in the name of fashion, that’s how I convince myself.

Man, it was like a world opened up for me. Why hadn’t I thought of that before?

But despite the fact that I couldn’t live without my suitcases, they can also be quite annoying in some situations. Every week I have to transfer at Schiphol, and when I walk there, everyone really thinks I’m going on vacation. Including myself. What a disappointment. Or when I get on the bus/train/metro/helicopter (just kidding) and people look at me with a gaze that says: ‘How annoying, go away with that thing.’ Or even better: clomping around Amsterdam in high heels with a suitcase over the cobblestones. Thank god for taxis. Or when I go away for one night and ‘normal’ people pack a small bag, but I roll in with that exaggerated suitcase and feel the stares in my back. But being ashamed of my always exaggerated diva luggage? Nah, we passed that station long ago. My suitcases are my saviors, every day, through thick and thin. And twice a year I surprise them when we finally really go on vacation. Good deal.

Written by Kiki Düren