India, Aug. 6 -- Airport baggage handling and I have never had the best relationship. Over the years, I have collected suitcases with scratched shells, chipped corners, stiff wheels and handles that suddenly developed a wobble after just a handful of flights. At this point, I almost expect checked luggage to come back looking a little worse for wear. It is one of the reasons I have never been particularly attached to a suitcase, no matter how impressive it looked on the day I bought it.

So, for my recent holiday from Bhopal to Delhi, onward to Singapore for the Disney Adventure cruise and back home again, I decided not to baby my luggage. No protective cover. No wrapping it in plastic. I wanted to know how the Swiss Military Lithane woul...