Tintin Packs His Bags

As the holiday season approaches, we strongly recommend avoiding dropping your suitcase on a neighbor’s head, tripping over abandoned luggage, or letting an overly curious fox terrier rummage through your belongings. Fortunately, Tintin and his companions provide a perfectly respectable source of experience and a guide to help you deal with almost any situation.

For in Hergé’s albums, a suitcase is never just an accessory. Long before digital boarding passes and wheeled luggage, it accompanied Tintin around the world and often marked the true beginning of an adventure. Before the chases, conspiracies and discoveries, one must first pack one’s bags.

No need to draw you a picture: from the very first albums, Tintin is a perpetual traveler! Train, ocean liner, car, motorcycle or airplane, departures follow one another at a relentless pace, as do the bumps on the head. Before packing your personal belongings, we recommend consulting this guide to help prepare for your journey.

Our first travel tip: if you dream of a friend lost somewhere in the Himalayas, do not burden yourself with unnecessary luggage. Pack your things, rush off to Kathmandu, but be careful not to miss your flight from Willingdon Airport after causing cheerful chaos throughout the city. A prudent traveler will leave the management of bovine traffic jams to the professionals.

Looking for an exotic getaway under a blazing sun? Then spend your holiday in Khemed. Unfortunately, unless your friends are particularly resourceful, you may encounter a few ill-intentioned henchmen who will send you packing sooner than expected. And beware of turbulence: it may introduce your head to the aircraft ceiling faster than anticipated.

Congratulations! You have won a trip to Sydney aboard Qantas Flight 714. Be careful not to leave your luggage lying around in the airport. One careless stumble over a suitcase might just send you crashing into an old friend like Piotr Szut. The good news is that the itinerary is remarkably comprehensive: a hijacking, a low-altitude flight over a yacht and, to conclude, a somewhat rough landing on a sandy airstrip. Your welcoming committee will consist of a criminal wearing a pink shirt and a cowboy hat. In terms of exotic travel experiences, it is hard to do better.

But our famous reporter and his captain are not the only tireless travelers in the series. Castafiore herself roams the world to make her voice heard in every corner of the globe. And when it comes to luggage, she far surpasses Tintin’s modest collection of personal effects. Her arrival at Marlinspike Hall is accompanied by an impressive procession of trunks, suitcases, hatboxes and various accessories essential to any self-respecting diva. But hush... don’t tell the Captain. It’s a surprise!

Is the end of the world arriving at the same time as your holiday? Don’t panic. Do as Tintin does: board the Aurora and enjoy the fresh sea air. Just don’t forget a warm coat. At those latitudes, sunshine and summer holidays are rather relative concepts.

Another important recommendation: avoid crossing America on foot from Chicago whenever possible. The method seems both inefficient and exhausting. Admittedly, if you have just escaped from an automobile after sawing through one of its doors, your options may be limited. Even so, we would still recommend a slightly faster means of transportation.

Many of you also travel with your favorite pets. Should an adventurous and particularly talkative fox terrier join your journey, you will not need a second pair of hands to unpack your luggage. With a little practice, he will gladly stick his nose into everything and lend a helping paw to the overall organization.

And before departing for China, do your best to keep an eye on your faithful companion. Furry little creatures have a remarkable talent for disappearing at the most inconvenient moments, sometimes turning an ordinary travel trunk into the perfect hiding place.

To all our fellow travellers, we wish you a wonderful holiday season!