Twenty years ago we invested in a full Rimowa aluminum set: 2 large, 2 medium, 2 small, and 1 carry-on.

At the time it felt like a very expensive purchase, but it has turned out to be one of our best investments. We haven’t bought a single suitcase since.

The only extra cost has been sending the large and medium suitcases to Germany once for lock adjustments — airlines are not exactly gentle with luggage.

We’ve always added stickers from the places we’ve visited, so our bags are now covered with memories from all over the world. This actually saved one of them once.

At Suvarnabhumi Airport (BKK) in Bangkok, the Thai Airways representative forgot to tag one of our suitcases and sent it off without a label. We were heading to Phuket for 7 days.

Luckily, the woman at the desk noticed and took our details immediately. Three days later, a Thai Airways representative showed up at our hotel with the missing bag.

Rimowa — still going strong after 20 years.