Wikipedia:Reference desk/Archives/Miscellaneous/2019 January 7

= January 7 =

Travel stickers on luggage
On older shows, I just saw an example on Monty Python's Flying Circus and I seem to recall them on Looney Tunes, you can sometimes see luggage with stickers with country or city names on them. Were these actually used for something? Or were they just souvenirs? Or an attempt at looking wordly? Thanks, † dismas †|(talk) 01:22, 7 January 2019 (UTC)
 * I'm not seeing an answer on Google, but it could be any of the above. Also, it might help you find your particular suitcase in a sea of luggage. ←Baseball Bugs What's up, Doc? carrots→ 02:15, 7 January 2019 (UTC)
 * A passenger's suitcase on cruise ships and on international trains was commonly marked by a sticker for identification and to indicate whether it would be needed from storage during the voyage. Examples here. Often colourful, such stickers continued to serve as a memento afterwards. DroneB (talk) 09:16, 7 January 2019 (UTC)
 * It was common for high-class hotels to issue these as well. Looking up "hotel travel stickers" will bring up many examples. This helped to identify luggage belonging to hotel guests (they were often brought in separately from a railroad station or port, and not carried in by the guests themselves), but they were kept afterwards as they showed that the luggage's owner had the means to stay in such places. --Xuxl (talk) 14:40, 7 January 2019 (UTC)
 * Were these Bag tags? Does that article help any?  It has some history. -- Jayron 32 17:10, 7 January 2019 (UTC)
 * Different than bag tags. They were actual stickers, affixed to the luggage itself, and included strong design elements. Bag tags tend to be functional and entirely disposable (although I'm sure there are some persons who collect them). --Xuxl (talk) 18:32, 7 January 2019 (UTC)
 * I've always believed that they originated as a form of bag tag (if the same suitcase was used for more than one trip, the new sticker would be pasted over the old one) but at some time mutated into something that could be a souvenir. But that's just because this makes sense as a possible origin.  I have no evidence to cite. --76.69.46.228 (talk) 10:32, 8 January 2019 (UTC)

This is a sample. The one I saw last night on Monty Python was simply the word Zurich. And the stickers in that image are more colorful but still the same idea. † dismas †|(talk) 21:44, 7 January 2019 (UTC)
 * The caption under this image reads "This car thinks it’s a suitcase with all those travel stickers." In case you wonder where Dullstroom is, we have an article on it. Bus stop (talk) 22:12, 7 January 2019 (UTC)

Decades ago, hotels commonly handed out stickers for cases to advertise for a hotel or a touristic region. Many travellers collected them as a show-off how far in the world they have travelled. --AFBorchert (talk) 07:46, 10 January 2019 (UTC)