Scrolling through Hulu one day, I stumbled upon If It’s Tuesday, It’s Murder, a Spanish-language mystery-comedy set in Lisbon, Portugal. I highly recommend it if you like cozy murder mysteries and don’t mind the English dubbing because, whew, those voices. Think Only Murders in the Building but without all the cussing. And it’s set in Lisbon — my most loved European city.
But the real reason I watched the show is that, in the preview, the opening scene featured a yellow carry-on. So, yes, I basically started watching this show to get a closer look at a suitcase the same color as Lisbon’s Tram 28. If this isn’t the most perfect tourism advertisement, I don’t know what is.
I paused the show, took a screenshot of the bag and figured I’d find it with a quick Google Lens search. Well, yeah, more fool me. I went down so many rabbit holes of Spanish brands, Portuguese brands, American brands. And let me tell you, there are a lot of yellow suitcases out there. Just not this one. I couldn’t find it anywhere. I even briefly considered creating an LLM agent to assist with the search.
But then I pulled back and asked myself, why do I want this bag so badly?
I was reminded of a poem I read many years ago. I’m sorry to say I don’t remember the name of the poem or the poet, but there’s a line that has stayed with me: “‘Who had wanted release from her own life?’ And heard her name like the driving rain.”
My life has been so decidedly not fun these past couple of years that somehow I’ve convinced myself a yellow suitcase would change it. And, frankly, I’m willing to gamble on that.
This golden yellow carry-on suitcase by the Australian brand Globite is my top pick aesthetically. It’s the closest I’ve found to the suitcase in the show, but I do prefer luggage with a pocket for a laptop and smaller electronics, so I don’t have to carry a laptop bag as my personal item. I’d much rather carry a tote, like the Tory Burch Racer Tote in tan, which is a pretty good Goyard dupe.
The American Tourister Bon Air Dlx was my second runner-up, but I couldn’t find this color for sale stateside. And after looking at it more closely, it does feel a little old-fashioned. My other picks, the American Tourister Air Move Carry On in Sunset Yellow and the Ricardo Cambria Hardside Carry-On Spinner in Mango Tango, felt like good compromises, but neither one was exactly happy-inducing.
So, I ended up purchasing the B|Y by Bric’s Expandable Carry-On with Pocket in Mango. It’s such a departure from my all-black Antler and Away luggage sets, but It does make me happy even if it isn’t life changing.
What’s making you happy today? Comment below.
Notes from Aruba
Christmas night. The presents unwrapped. The food and desserts devoured. I sat down to rewatch season one of Death In Paradise while searching for flights to Aruba. I wanted to book four nights between Christmas and New Year’s, but it was high season and airfare from New York was four figures.