I have a dilemma bordering on OCD. In comparison, Shakespeare’s “To be or not to be” is as simple as choosing coffee instead of tea. The dilemma I face every time I travel somewhere is multi layered: how much clothes should I pack; how many socks, shirts, which shoes, shall I take my sports kit to go to the hotel gym, how many razors, is this toothpaste over or under the legal limit, what is the legal limit for liquid toiletries? All of these questions are inextricably linked to the biggest question of them all: shall I use a carry on suitcase or check my luggage in? I hate checking-in my luggage because it creates the possibility of it being sent to the opposite corner of the planet from where I am heading. It also means wasting time at the destination airport waiting for the carousel to carouse and maybe deliver my luggage to me so, given half a choice, I prefer the carry on alternative. On the other hand, manoeuvring a medium-sized suitcase around a large airport concourse (AirportsMadeSimple make a note please), is quite a drag; excuse the unintended pun.
What to do?
I came up with an ingenious idea that will make all my worries disappear. I am in the advanced stages of developing this clever 4-wheel suitcase that has built-in miniature motors, which are automatically activated by a synchronised tiny remote control I keep in my pocket. When I move, the suitcase moves in the same direction and speed I am doing, maintaining a distance of say, no more than 50cm from me. Should my suitcase and I, for whatever reason, be separated by more than 2 meters, the suitcase sends out an alarm and the transmitter in my pocket vibrates giving me a double alert of the impending loss.
Some of you will ask: what about stairs, power source issues and such like? These questions are but minor technical details to be ironed out. My hands are free to browse in shops, I don’t feel exhausted walking around huge airports carrying or pulling my luggage added to which, I have a pet-like possession that happily and faithfully follows me around. How amazing is that?
I am also at the early stages of negotiations with shopping trolley manufacturers who love the idea of customers taking a remote-control trolley, inserting $5 in a slot to release the remote control which they stick in their pocket or bag, thus activating the trolley to follow them around as they choose their groceries. The challenge here is marshalling the entire Western mechanical engineering brains to finally resolve the problem of the rogue trolley wheel, which insists on moving out of synch with the other three!
Oh, my apologies, I meant to post this blog yesterday! Never mind, come back in 364 days and read it again.
