The Suitcase: an Old Friend
It is the ultimate travelling companion: made of coarse brown leather, its seams splitting from too much use, tied shut with a piece of rope. It sits in an attic as a reminder of the traveller's life, and in particular the adventures that have unfolded over many years.

While it may not appear to contain much (just a few old maps, numbers of train tickets, and odd bits and pieces), we should not forget this is much more than a suitcase. It is a repository of memories, experiences and treasures from journeys taken far away, now held in an old suitcase and secured with a thin piece of rope.

And what a rich metaphor for our innermost desire to experience life, to create memories and hold on to them forever, even though the luggage of travel may only represent a miniscule proportion of the vast quantities of emotions, experiences and places we can visit. It encapsulates our shared yearning to explore, and to connect our lives over endless miles and oceans with others, but, most importantly, to stay connected to the value of our shared humanity, regardless of our distance apart.

The Suitcase as a Memory Bank
The crumpled condition of the suitcase alone depicts a life that has exceeded its design limits; its bulging belly is formed from the thousands of photographs, treasures, stories, and dreams contained within.

To have the suitcase so full means the traveller has had to push him or herself beyond their limits to hold onto all of the things he or she has seen, heard, touched, tasted, smelled, or even imagined in all the years of travel. All of those things are still with the traveller, even though he or she may never experience them again.While humble in function and construction, this simple container represents a realization that the journey itself was of greater importance than the comfort of the experience. The outwardly simple design serves as an introduction to what lies inside and is a metaphor for the exploration of adventures where the traditional norms have been set aside and replaced with non-traditional, raw, authentic, or straightforward experiences of discovery.

With the opening of the box comes a unique and identifiable aromatic essence - the characteristic combination of aged paper, fine dust, maybe the hint of spice from a marketplace faraway, or perhaps the saltiness from a sea breeze. This olfactory recognition (the first sense to arrive) will also be associated with the sensory recall of the other four senses. As the box is opened, the visual presentation of the contents will be perceived through the lens of the previous olfactory sensations. Instead of neatly folded clothes, the contents of the box present themselves as a disorganized and treasured collection. As a result, the contents move from a simple representation of physical items to symbolic representations of personal history complete with each item representing another key to unlock another door into the palace of memory.

Maps are Among the Most Moving Objects
The maps, whether they are found in eBook format (on laptops/computers or phones) or are printed on actual paper, represent perhaps the most stirring examples of items that were used for wayfinding. Unlike what is today considered to be 'maps' (i.e., glowing lines on screens), the maps contained within this box were created by hand, have been used many, many times, and have been gently mauled (a.k.a. folded) to the point that they feel and look soft at the folds. Because of the many times these maps were made usable, they have unique characteristics to the ink's fading — there are marks left behind where people spread them across a table in a café; people have used their finger(s) to trace a route on the map while under the soft light of a hostel, and there are many additional hand-drawn marks on maps, some that were made and subsequently removed for various reasons. Maps of the winding streets of the medina in Fez have water stains on them that were caused by spilled mint tea; whereas some topographic maps from the Himalayas contain smudges from trekking boots. Each of these imperfections are not a flaw but rather a part of the historical record associated with the maps and should be treated as such.Each of the folds in this map represents an actual decision to be made (i.e., figurative crossroads) and provide a visual representation of more than just actual places on Earth's surface but also reflect the emotional and psychological condition of the person travelling. The heavily creased area indicating the route through Italy indicates a more leisurely paced journey than the relatively blank section indicating a route through a large desert where the traveller is in a state of abandon/following people's leads or instincts versus actually making plans. The creased maps are the framework for the corporeal body of memory, enabling the conversion of an abstract area into an area that is personally significant.

The ticket stubs represent the passage from one place to another. The collection of these ticket stubs represents a tube-like diary, or timeline, of your travels, written using paper that has been pierced by the reader, or a stamp from the publisher, and components of colour which have dulled over time. An example is the ticket stub for a third-class train from Jaipur to Jaisalmer, which encapsulates a memory of a full carriage, the sound of clattering wheels, and the conversations between you and your fellow travellers. Another stub is a midnight ferry ticket for an Aegean Sea crossing, which evokes the smells of night air blowing coolly across your face and reflections of moonlight against the surface of the water. A ticket stub from a museum entrance in Paris or a ticket stub from a vendor selling you a bowl of pho near a street corner in Hanoi — they are your individual visits through time. These ticket stubs are a testament to the fact that you have been where they are, but more significantly, they are reminders of the experiences you had while visiting that location.As a result of traveling with the items in your suitcase, you create memories that cannot be quantified or expressed through a ticket stub or a photograph. A ticket stub confirms your presence; a photograph captures "what" you saw, but a ticket stub shows you have actually taken that step at that moment(s). As small as they are and taken for granted, tickets along with photographs create the foundation for remembering the places we visited and the reasons for going there, as well as how we experienced those places.

In addition to the tangible contents of a suitcase, the most meaningful content is also weightless and invisible: memories. Maps and ticket stubs may be tangible pieces used to trigger and generate a lifetime of experiences; maps and ticket stubs themselves do not have the vast array of recollections associated with them, nor do ticket stubs or maps actually hold memories; rather, ticket stubs and maps are physical representations of the access keys to memories.

A ticket stub can trigger a recollection of a time spent with another person, such as kindness received during a wandering journey through Budapest. A dried flower pressed inside a puddle map, under glass, will bring forth memories of the fragrance of spring from the temple garden in Kyoto.

The accumulated memories generated by these experiences, and the joy of being in that moment and in connection to others, form the basis of our true personal treasures. The collections of memories are byproducts of other people's kindness, beauty and history and provide us with an ability to share.

Through the collection of these scattered memories, we create a type of storage that allows us to revisit and share the memories and experiences with others, whether they happen to be friends, family, coworkers, or strangers. A suitcase creates and maintains the ability for a traveler to visit and relive their adventures, by maintaining the means for future journeys. These memories may help shape a person, in the sense of how they think or view things. The suitcase provides an opportunity for opening the suitcase again and continuing to relive past experiences, while being able to experience new and different places in different ways.The experience of traveling with your luggage is creating a catalogue of experiences that are impossible to describe or measure through ticket stubs or photographs. Ticket stubs confirm that you were there and that ticket stubs are the only physical evidence of you being there at a specific point in time that you have actually taken that action. Ticket stubs along with photographs are just a small aspect of the process of recalling where we have been and the reasons why we went there, as well as how we remember those places.

Along with the physical objects that are inside of a suitcase, one of the main components of your suitcase is the weightless and unseen component, Memories. Maps and ticket stubs may be material objects that serve as catalysts for the generation of a lifetime of experiences. Maps and ticket stubs are not the physical medium or carriers of the numerous memories that will be associated with maps and ticket stubs, they do not hold the memories of experience as they have been lived and will continue to be lived. They are merely physical forms or carriers of the keys that allow you access to a multitude of memories.

For example, a ticket stub can trigger a memory of a time that you have shared with another person like an act of kindness that you experienced from a stranger while traveling through Budapest. A dried flower that has been pressed into a location map under glass will trigger a memory about the scent of the spring blooms of the temple of a temple garden located in Kyoto.

All of the memories created by these experiences as well as the joy of the act of being in the moment as well as the experience of being connected to other people form the base of the true treasures of every individual. The collection of memories is created from the kindness, beauty, and history of others; as a result, it allows you to share your experiences with others.

By creating a collection of scattered memories, you are creating a collection of storage for your own benefit to allow you to return to your past memories and will allow you to revisit and share those memories and experiences with others. Friends, family members, co-workers, and even strangers will all have access to those collections of memories due to the benefit of the suitcase. The suitcase creates and maintains the capability of the traveler to have access to their travels and provide the ability to maintain their ability to have future travels. The memories created by your travels have a great deal to do with how you think and perceive your life and how you experience life itself. The suitcase will provide you the opportunity to have access to the same collections of memory and through access to the same collections of memory create additional experiences at different places in different formats.