A Leap of Faith

Back at the end of March, as I was passing through the states on my return to the caribbean, a certain chain of events led me to a luggage store in Miami airport. I wasn’t looking for new luggage, but was simply drawn in by these amazing looking suitcases – works of art, quite literally.

I chatted to Aziz, the sales guy, about the kit – genuinely interested in it’s creation. It was designed by a Miami-based Brazillian artist – Romero Britto. I don’t often get really hooked by material things these days, but these items were special. It was the kind of artwork I love, high quality production, and with a 7yr warranty, a long term investment. I much prefer buying quality goods when I can, rather than buying cheap and then having to dispose of it, knowing it’s going to landfill. As I stood there marvelling at them I decided that once the first book is published I would return and invest in something.

Very quickly my vision changed – I wanted to invest in it much sooner. And I wanted to play the game of ‘act like it’s already happening’ – in other words, think, feel, act as if you’re already living in your desired reality. I had a flight back to Miami 5 weeks later so I decided to stopover there and pick one up then.

Plans changed and in the end I was looking for a flight to LA from St Lucia. Turned out they all went via Miami and required an overnight stop. I did a bit of research online to check prices and discovered the particular design I was after was called Landscape. Some places were offering it cheaper than retail, but if I was going to invest in it soon, it needed to be now. I was in St Lucia to collect some belongings I’d left there and basically, I needed bigger luggage and better quality.

I called the store to check the price. Aziz happened to be there – only one Landscape suitcase remained and he knocked the price down for me. Interesting that I phoned when I did as he wasn’t going to be working when I was due to pass through. That connection got me the discount.

I decided this would be a gift to myself – to celebrate my birthday and completing the first year of the experiment. It felt like a worthy and symbolic gift  - combining travel and creativity, exactly what I was doing with this venture.

I then realised how the theme of the design was significant also. In my work I use the terms Portrait (being your inner world) and Landscape (your outer world). Throughout this past year I’d been exploring different landscapes, different realities. Not only that, the design is like a patchwork of different colours and patterns – representing the different experiences I’ve encountered. No wonder I was so drawn to this thing…

Checking in at Miami to fly to LA was a pleasant experience. The woman complimented me on the case and was really reasonable about the weight restriction helping me avoid a $60 charge. Not only that, she inadvertently helped me avoid a $25 charge for checking the luggage in the first place. Now if I can do that say another 12 times the item would’ve paid for itself! So not only is my symbolic gift a suitcase, it also turns out to be a marvelous tool of distraction. Now that is a work of art!