A lifetime of weekends away and I never wrote a word about a bag. This is the exception
Six things the Wildvana gets right that weekend bags get wrong, from a woman who does not review luggage.
Maggie Whitfield · Customer · Sydney · 5 min read
Let me be plain about who is talking. I am Maggie, I am 62, I live in Sydney, and I have never once sat down to write about a bag. What I have done is pack for a lifetime of weekends away, out of holdalls that sagged, cases that scuffed, and one wheeled thing we do not discuss. So this is not a review. It is a woman who was wrong about a bag, saying so.
The one I am writing about is called the Wildvana, from Perth Boutique, a small Australian boutique that has been quietly making the ordinary things a bit lovelier for years now. I first saw it on the luggage rack of the train up to Katoomba, and when the boutique later asked if they could put my letter up for others to read, I said yes, on the condition I could be completely honest in it.
A quilted bag with a camper van driving across the front of it, peace signs and all, under a stitched orange sunset. On the 8:12 to the mountains. Read on.
Here is what a lifetime of packing taught me. Weekend bags come in two piles. The sensible pile, black nylon holdalls that sag like disappointment and all look alike on a luggage rack, which is how coats get put in the wrong car. And the smart pile, stiff little cases that scuff, weigh a tonne empty, and hold less than they promise.
Saggy and invisible, or stiff and heavy. Those were the weekend options, and I had done my years in both.
The Wildvana is the first bag I have owned that is neither, and having taken it on one train, a coach and a Tuesday overnight, I can tell you it comes down to six things.
The day it came. I ordered it expecting a flimsy novelty. I apologised to it within the week.
It does not look like luggage
It looks like somewhere nice to be going. The whole scene is quilted and stitched across the bag, the camper van with its peace-sign nose, an orange sunset, daisies, little toadstools, purple mountains round the back. On a rack of black holdalls it is the only bag anybody smiles at, and the only one nobody picks up by mistake.
The van up close. The peace sign on the nose is the detail that finished me.
Everyone at the caravan park wanted to know where I got it, and not one person walked off with it by accident. My old black holdall could never.
Denise M. · Toowoomba QLDIt swallows a proper weekend
Two outfits, spare shoes, a wash bag, a book and the cardigan I pretend I will not need. It all goes in without wrestling, and the wide opening means I can see everything at once instead of excavating. Packing stopped being the worst part of going away.
Packed three days into the larger one, clothes and shoes and all, and still zipped it without sitting on it. The wide opening means you see everything at once.
Robyn K. · Ballarat VICThe quilting is the clever part
Soft outside, so it squashes into a train rack or under a seat without argument, then springs back to shape looking unbothered. And the padding works both ways, what is inside travels cushioned. My reading glasses have survived two trips they would not have survived in the old holdall.
Threw it in the boot under everything else and it came out looking brand new. The padding kept my bits and pieces from getting knocked about.
Cheryl A. · Newcastle NSWThe handles are part of the show
The straps wrap right round the body of the bag, so the weight is carried by the whole bag rather than a few stitches, and they are covered in little embroidered-look daisies so even the practical bits are pretty. They sit comfortably in the hand or over the forearm, and there is nothing to dig in.
The daisy straps. Even the load-bearing parts got dressed up.
Two honest sizes, measurements included
The 40 centimetre one does an overnight, the gym, or a cabin bag. The 46 centimetre one does two to three days with room for shoes and a towel. The boutique prints the measurements plainly and even tells you most women are happier with the bigger one, which matches my experience of weekends and of life.
Took their advice and got the 46cm. Perfect for a weekend with room to spare. So glad I didn't talk myself into the smaller one.
Lorraine T. · Bunbury WAIt earns its keep between trips
This is the part I did not expect. It does the gym on Wednesdays, the overnight at my daughter's, and it carried a hospital-visit care package last month with more cheer than the occasion had any right to. The old holdall lived in a cupboard between outings. This one barely gets put away.
Packed for a Tuesday overnight. The van faces the door, ready.
The Wildvana, against the weekend bags you have been buying
You can find a weekend bag for thirty-odd dollars anywhere. I know, because I own the evidence. Here is the difference, laid out plainly.
Black nylon that sags like disappointment
Identical to every other bag on the rack
Thin walls, contents arrive rattled
Handles that dig in by the car park
One vague size, no measurements
Quilted and structured, springs back to shape
A stitched camper-van scene nobody mistakes
Padded walls that cushion what is inside
Wrap-round daisy straps, comfortable in hand
Two honest sizes, measurements printed
About the price
The Wildvana is $59.99 for either size, down from $119.99.
I will pass on what the boutique told me, which is that they are made in runs, and once a run is gone, it is gone. Their words, not mine. What I can tell you from my side is that half price is usually where I start asking what is wrong with something, and three trips in I have not found it.
And I do not trust perfect scores, so I read the reviews before I ordered. There were eight hundred and sixty of them, sitting at 4.5 stars, which sounded like real people rather than robots, so I read on. The same six things I have just walked you through come up in them, over and over, in other women's words.
By the door, packed for the mountains round two. The thermos is coming.
If you have a train trip, a weekend, a grandchild's sports day or a Tuesday overnight anywhere in your future, and your current bag is a black nylon apology, this is the one I would put in your hands myself, while your size is still there. Stop dithering and go and look.
Maggie
WILDVANA | Quilted Travel Duffle Bag
- Stitched camper-van scene, quilted all over
- Swallows a proper weekend without wrestling
- Soft quilted walls that cushion and spring back
- Wrap-round daisy handles, comfortable in hand
- Two honest sizes: 40cm and 46cm, both $59.99
- Part of a whole collection of designs
- Free Australia-wide delivery
Made in runs. Once a run is gone, it is gone.