The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1916-1920, 1919-08-13
FAR EAST TRAVEL
IS QUITE AN ART
Selection of Trunks, for Ex-
ample, Is Not the Least
Important Thing.

Far Eastern travel complexities bag
gage requirements because Of the tre-
mendous distances and the changes of
climate. AS a general rule, however.
for either man or woman one case or
ono bag and two steamer wardrobe
trunks for each individual are suffi-
Gent with the certain addition for
women CT hat box. Oh, those hat
boxes! Women must have their mill
linery whether man has room for an
extra pipe or not.
Baggage is either a bother or bless
ing. As a matter of fact most baggage
troubles are caused by accumulation of
articles purchased en- route. being of
course chiefly books and curios. Books
concerning a country lose their interest
as soon as another country Is rSached,
so II Is good policy to send them home
as soon as they have been read or thor
usefulness as guides has been lost Gu
Iios are queer things. Most pople show
the same amount of discrimination In
picking up curios on their first trip as
was shown by our country friend who
got weighed three times for excitement
during his first visit to Coney Island.
The other passengers on the boat are
never interested in them because most
of them have duplicates, or did have,
and the passengers who tote out these
acquired reminders OF places visited to
show to fellow travellers are no less
pests than the traveller who reads his
latest poetical effusion to indulgent lis
teners.
One trunk should contain the light
weight clothing and the other the warm
clothing. The wardrobe trunk. steamer
size, has q remarkable capacity for so
small a box, and II is far less trying to
the patience to divide the clothing equip
ment as suggested.
One of the most irritating phases OF
travel is the clearing of baggage
through the many customs departments
encountered on such n trip, and the
fewer the number OF pieces of course the
more quickly this can be accomplished.
The construction Of trunks Is mat
ter of tremendous Importance. One
traveller thought Of the bright idea OF
having his baggage specially made from
sheet steel. thinking that this would
eliminate all danger OF damage. but the
salt air, moisture and exposure caused
the steel to rust despite a thick coat
before the eight months trip was half
over.
Trunks made Of vulcanized fibre over
a wood foundation, with solid trim
mings, give the best satisfaction. These
metal corners and fasteners are called
trimmings" by the trunk people, and
the pressed metal trimmings are GER
tainly nothing more than the technical
name implies. For the strenuous work
OF long ocean voyages solid metal corners
and fasteners are imperative.
Nowadays very few trunks call for
straps. with the new trunk OF excep-
tionally good construction straps may
not be needed for the first trip, but they
are really baggage insurance and a me-
dunn priced trunk of only fair quality
WILL II we'll strapped. give much longer
service than the unstrapped trunk OF ex-
ceptional quality. Trunk straps should
be applied through loops and either
screwed or riveted at some point through
the main body of the trunk, because
trunk straps. especially leather ones. ara
most attractive to baggage handlers and
native truckmen, and when readily re-
movable are certain to be removed.
Experience shows that strain and the
tendency of wardrobe trunks to become
rickety so that drawers no longer Mt Is
very largely prevented Dy the applica-
tion of corner irons to the inside OF the
trunk wherever strain is liable to occur.
The lock on trunks for ocean travel
should be flush with the edge of the
trunk to prevent its being ripped of
when the baggage is shot down the slide
ways from the steamer.
One great convenience is to have the
baggage readily identified. and for this
reason experienced travellers usually
have their baggage painted some dis
tinctive color or have wide stripe of
some highly visible color painted around
the various pieces. This is a great con-
venience In ports where baggage porters
are natives. for II is very easy to show
these porters the Identifying color or
stripe and then indicate to them how
many more pieces Of the same color are
to be rounded up.