My XL Longchamp Saga
So, there I was, bagless. Well, not entirely bagless, but my go-to carryall, the one that had seen better days (and probably a few too many accidental coffee spills), finally decided to retire. The main zipper just gave up the ghost. Poof. Done. And of course, this happened right when I suddenly needed to lug a ton of stuff around for a weekend. You know how it is.
Everyone kept raving about Longchamp bags. “Get a Le Pliage! The XL one! It fits EVERYTHING!” they said. Sounded good, right? Durable, foldable, supposedly chic. I figured, okay, let’s do this. I needed something, and fast. So, the hunt for an XL Longchamp began. Honestly, it felt like a quest. Everyone seemed to have one, yet finding the specific color I wanted in the XL size? Not as simple as I thought. I didn’t want black – too boring. Didn’t want some neon monstrosity either.
Eventually, I snagged one. A nice, sensible navy. Brought it home, feeling pretty pleased. It was HUGE. Like, seriously cavernous. “Perfect!” I thought. “This will solve all my problems!”
Oh, the naivety. Little did I know, I’d just acquired a portable black hole.
- My keys? Gone. Swallowed into the depths.
- My phone? Playing hide and seek, probably snuggled next to a rogue sock I’d packed “just in case.”
- That important document? Definitely in there… somewhere. Eventually.
And the sheer volume of it? It was a blessing and a curse. Because it could fit everything, I did fit everything. My weekend trips started looking like I was permanently relocating. I’d pack three extra outfits, a hairdryer (even if the hotel had one), seven books, and enough snacks to survive a small apocalypse. My shoulder was not thanking me, let me tell you.
I thought I’d look all sophisticated, swanning about with my fancy French bag. Instead, I usually looked like I was struggling with a very unwieldy duffel. More pack mule than Parisian chic, if you catch my drift. It’s amazing how something so simple could be so… much.
Don’t get me wrong, the thing is tough. It’s survived being overstuffed, chucked in car trunks, and probably a rain shower or two. It does its job. But the organization? Non-existent. It’s just one giant pit. I even bought one of those fancy bag organizers to go inside. That helped a bit, I guess. Turned one black hole into several, slightly smaller, organized black holes. Progress?
So, do I still use it? Yeah, sometimes. When I genuinely need to transport a ludicrous amount of stuff and don’t care about finding anything quickly. It’s become the “oh god, I have to move this much stuff?” bag. It’s not the elegant solution I envisioned, more like a workhorse with a stubborn streak. It taught me a lesson, though. Sometimes, too much space is just… too much space. And an XL Longchamp will definitely prove that to you.
Anyone else have one of these bottomless pits? Or am I the only one wrestling with my XL Longchamp on a regular basis? Let me know your own war stories.