I know everyone must be going on vacation, holidays, or at least travelling… so I thought I’d do a post on what to look for in a suitcase.

Let me stress that the most important thing is that you go and you physically test/try them out in the store instead of purchasing the prettiest or the most expensive one online. You can do your research online, but try them out in person!

Do some wheelies

This is probably the most important part of everything. Rubber wheels, not plastic, and BIG wheels. They’ll be sturdier, easier to wheel, and roll easier. You can tell as you’re rolling it around, but with no weight inside it’s going to be difficult. You’re going to need to put a lot of weight in there (pack it tight) and then wheel it around to see how sturdy it is.

When you’re running for the gate at the airport to go on your fabulous vacation because the airlines decided to switch terminals, you’re going to thank your lucky stars you picked the best wheels on your luggage.

Size matters

Don’t take a behemoth suitcase that you cannot handle on your own. Don’t rely on others to help you with your luggage. Lift it, handle it by the side straps, lift it up above the stairs, anything. Try any scenario you can imagine.

Of course, common sense prevails and says: Don’t pack too much, but to really limit yourself to pack lighter, just buy a smaller suitcase.

Straps, Straps, Straps

The ones you use to carry the bag with on the sides… they should be sturdy, and properly sewn on, and comfortable to grip as if you’re going to be carrying it for a long time (assume the worst, the wheels break, whatever)..

How are you handling it?

The handle should be aluminum (nice and light) but it should be sturdy and not flimsy. Try twisting the handles to see whether or not they shift. If they shift, that’s not a good sign. You’ll be running for that terminal, and your handles are going to play havoc with your hands as you’re sprinting.. Not fun. You’re going to need a cocktail the minute you get on the plane.

Push and Pull

Try pushing and pulling the bag. Usually pulling is what you do, but you may switch or need to pus for some reason and you don’t want to be caught not being able to push it because the wheels don’t go the other way and it locks up on you.

Put your best hand forward

If the locks and the release buttons are a hassle and difficult to use without two hands, then put it back and look for buttons that are simple to use, and won’t pinch or hurt your fingers when you’re trying to use the release on it. You know what I mean…They also shouldn’t be ridiculously stiff because you’ll be cursing and struggling with the release button and hurting your hands in the process.

Expand your horizons

Look for a bag that has that expandability factor – you know, the hidden zipper so you can release them and make the bag larger to accommodate your purchase of a Tiki statue from your fabulous vacation.

Colour it happy

Please. Don’t buy black. Every bag is black. If you’re going to buy black, make it unique because when it’s on the little luggage wheely thing coming towards you, you’re going to see a sea of black bags and not be able to pick out yours.

You also want to make sure your bag is identifiable and colourful because you want to be able to notice if someone takes your bag by accident (or on purpose :\) and you can scream: “OY HANDS OFF! That’s mine!”

Piggyback if you can

Some suitcases come with a small little matching duffle bag that can piggyback on the top of the suitcase secured by Velcro or some straps. This is handy because this could be your carry-on bag with a change of clothes, the minimal toiletries (if in case your main suitcase goes to La-La Island), and it’s able to be wheeled along instead of carried in another hand. Some suitcases also have the option to put a backpack to piggyback on there (which I think is a great idea).

The thing that irritates me the most about meetings is when people who set the meeting time and place don’t show up on time.

If you’re going to not only ask for the meeting but also set it up at a certain time and place, making sure everyone is available, then show up on time for it.

This has happened more than once as well.. every single time I’m going to a meeting chaired by certain people, I’m waiting for a good 20 minutes before they show up. I understand that everyone is busy, but it makes me feel like my time is not as valued as theirs, because they can show up whenever they feel like it.

It’s also unprofessional, rude and incredibly frustrating. It makes me not ever want to go to meetings chaired by these people on time, but my inner self screams: What are you nuts!? Show up on time, or you’re going to feel really bad all day for acting unprofessionally.

So, a couple of meeting rules that I adhere to are:

If you’re hosting the meeting:

Respect the time

Of course, extenuating circumstances dictate that if you’re stuck holding a meeting at 8 a.m. and you were stuck on the highway even though you left at 7 a.m. to give yourself plenty of time to get there, it’s understandable. But when it becomes a repeated pattern for every single meeting, members attending it are going to be annoyed and think (rightfully so) that you aren’t professional and/or you’re selfish because you don’t care about the value of others’ time.

Set the agenda for the meeting

Make sure you know what you want to cover, and you have the relevant material ready to go.

Of course, this is assuming you show up on time. It’s discourteous to assume that since you’re the one holding the meeting, the meeting starts whenever you show up. No, the meeting starts right when you requested people to book that time slot in their calendars to show up for the meeting.

If you show up even later, then you’re going to have to really hustle because when the meeting time ends, you can be sure everyone is going to leave because they have other things to get done. And it’d be your fault for not only not planning it out properly, but not showing up on time.

Set the room/area for the meeting

I hate how people don’t give a room or a specific area to meet in for the meeting. Even if they give a general area, it’s so huge that you should really specify “East end” or “West end” or SOMETHING. ANYTHING. So people aren’t wandering around trying to figure out where to go.

End the meeting on time

If it gets to 10 a.m. and that’s when your meeting was supposed to end, end it. Don’t try and force the extra 15 minutes to half an hour out of others, because you made a promise when you scheduled that meeting, and you better stick to it. If not, it’s going to get awkward with people having to excuse themselves and leave because you weren’t respectful enough to others to admit that you didn’t cover everything and still have more to go over.

If that’s the case, book another meeting.

Don’t book everyone and their dog

Book one of each key person to come, if they have something relevant and important to add to the meeting. A good meeting is successful with all the minds involved are on the same page, and are actually involved. Too many cooks in the kitchen can ruin a recipe, and it’s the same thing for having too many people in a meeting.

As for people coming to the meeting..

Show up to the meeting

Nothing irks me more than someone accepting a meeting request, and then not showing up for it at all. If you can’t make it, make a quick note in the schedule that you’re declining. You never know, you may be the one person to tie it all in together, and without you, there wouldn’t be a meeting in the first place because they require your specialized knowledge.

And if you cannot make it, and it’s an important meeting, send someone in your place if you can. Just recently, a guy from one of the teams didn’t show up because he was on some sort of business trip somewhere. Fine, but he should’ve informed his backup of his schedule and asked his backup to attend his meetings in his absence.

We ended up having to cut the meeting short because the chair realized that without their specialized knowledge, the meeting was going nowhere.

Show up on time to the meeting

Don’t walk in half an hour late. Unless you have a extraordinary situation, then fine. But if you’re sitting there, chatting away to a co-worker, munching on a candy bar, don’t give me excuses about how you were replying to a special important email that had to be dealt with right away and couldn’t be delayed. That trick may work once, but not all the time. If it was really urgent, people would come and see you face-to-face or call immediately.

The email medium itself, is expecting that there’ll be a delay in a reply and you will get to it when you can.

Be prepared to talk about your piece

If the meeting is about a certain project, show up with your stuff. Period.