I am 68 years old, and I’ve never owned a suitcase in my life. What little air travel I’ve done has been with either a duffel bag or backpack; yea, I’m one classy world traveler.

But this is about to change. I just placed an order for a suitcase, one of those snazzy hard-shell babies with spinny wheels. I mean, sure, they have all spinny wheels now, and most are snazzy hard-shell babies. But, damn; I will soon own one of my own.

I didn’t over-research this. I wanted to have a good idea of the product field, but realistically, I won’t be using a suitcase all that much. My goal is for future travel to be by bicycle, so a suitcase isn’t terribly useful. So I didn’t buy the most expensive, but I did get one with lots of good reviews.

This is it:

The Samsonite Freeform, large size. Expandable. I like the design a lot, too; the parallel lines that curve inward. It’s got all the standard features: TSA lock, expandable handle, spinny wheels, expandable zipper. It’s also got fewer mod cons: few pockets, no headlights, and a total lack of a minibar inside.

I picked this color over the purple.

I am on a bit of a green kick right now. My new stand mixer, an Ankarsrum (dropping a name few of you will recognize) is also forest green. Well, I am an Oregonian, after all. (I wonder if a classic “ORYGUN” bumpersticker would adhere?)

The large is only a few inches bigger than the medium; I don’t really need it. But bringing back souvenirs last year (お土産) was a hassle, and an extra expense. I’m counting on the larger capacity to make that part of the travel easier.

What did I learn from my research into luggage?

You have to specify “check-in” for the search engines to get past carry-on baggage posts. I don’t need a carry-on, but apparently that’s what the vast majority of people searching for baggages are looking for.

It’s not clear that paying another $150 or more buys you a lot. A few more features, yes, but the reviews I went through seemed to indicate that in terms of quality, a sub-$200 Samsonite is every bit as good as a $375 Away or Béis. However, if I was going to be flying a lot, I might have opted for a pricier model. I do think you do buy more quality – within reasonable limits. It’s possible another $200 would buy a sturdier, most useful suitcase. I certainly believe that spending more for kitchen ware and accessories is almost always the best long-term investment.

It helped that this Samsonite has a look I like. To me, Samsonite is a name from the old days. I’m only 68; I want hip and cool and snaaaaazzy. But the cool new suitcases being advertised online were more than I need. The Solsgard would be great for someone doing a lot of travel; for me, this Samsonite is the bag I need.