Travelling with Chris Pratt and Tumi's Creative Director Victor Sanz

39-year-old American hunk, actor Chris Pratt, recently travelled to Hong Kong for the first time to grace us with his presence at the new TUMI loft in Pacific Place. Yay! 

The loft, which is open until 6 May 2019, features a Style Corner, an interactive Chris Pratt avatar animation and much more. During the trip, Pratt unveiled his TUMI campaign for Asia Pacific and the Middle East. The short film revealed how he hilariously packed his sleek TUMI Alpha 3 and Alpha Bravo bags before jetting off to the airport to catch his long-haul flight to Hong Kong. #welove.  

Pratt has starred in hit box office films such as Guardians of the Galaxy, Jurassic World and Avengers: Endgame. He’s also voiced characters in The Lego Movie instalments. 

Read the Q&A below with Pratt himself and TUMI’s talented Creative Director Victor Sanz.

How much of Hong Kong have you seen so far?

Chris Pratt: Miraculously all of it. I’ve been in the hotel for a while but we got to go out and have an amazing meal last night. We’ve got some more sightseeing to do. 

What did you eat? Did you have Chinese food?

CP: Of course. We went to a great Chinese restaurant called Burger King. It’s really good. No, we had some Chinese food. We had bao, duck, chicken and great soups. It was really great. It was fantastic. 

I know Chris is the perfect candidate. Tell us, Victor, how did this campaign come about?

Victor Sanz: We’ve had a huge year for TUMI. We’ve launched our core collection called Alpha 3. As we were thinking about how to push out that collection we were like, ‘We need someone who’s dynamic, embraces the brand, that’s loyal, fun, relatable and could be handsome-ish.’ On the shortlist, Chris was obviously there and we said, ‘Hey, what a great opportunity to work with someone that loves the brand, knows the brand and that’s a true TUMI customer.’ It became like working with a friend or a family member. The rest is history.

You’re the right man for the brand. How did you feel when TUMI approached you?

CP: You know, it was a very organic fit for me. I’ve never really been a guy who’s jumped on board to a brand in any commercial aspect. I’m an actor and I’m very careful about the roles that I select. I want them to be organic and real for me. I happen to be a TUMI user and I’ve used their luggage for ten years so when the opportunity came across my desk it made perfect sense. I use TUMI so to run around the world and tell people how much I love it is very authentic to me.

What do you most appreciate about TUMI?

CP: I’m a fan of durability. I don’t like having to replace something every year. I think if you buy something, it should last you a life time and the TUMI brand luggage is durable. Victor has done an amazing job just really thinking of everything down to the finest detail. Everything is stylish, sleek, beautiful and durable. You feel proud walking around with it because it’s the best luggage ever.

You make packing look so easy. You make coming to Hong Kong look so easy. Is that normal?

CP: That’s slightly fictionalized. The truth is I am getting much better at packing but I’ve not always been great at packing. It helps that my fiancée is really great with packing. She helps me pack. One thing she’s really excited about are the TUMI packing cubes. I’m a roller of clothes not a folder like you saw in the video. I roll my clothes up i.e. Katherine rolls my clothes up. You can have one cube for your pants, one for shirts, one for workout clothes, one for socks and underwear and then one for your dirty laundry. You can stack all this stuff up in your bag. It’s really organized and sleek. I like the way it works. I’ll fit an entire week’s worth of clothes in two carry-on bags so I don’t have to check in any bags.

Is there anything that you cannot travel without?

CP: Oh my gosh. Yes. I’ve got a few customs. I travel a lot. I spend about, I think, half the year on the road and I have for several years now. My luggage is really important to me. I live out of my suitcase. It has to be TUMI. I like to take a note with me that I carry around that my son will give me so I have a little piece of him. Like a note or a toy of his. I bring a Bible, my necklace that I wear everywhere, a Rubix cube and I bring my laptop.

Statistics say that a loyal TUMI user owns about five TUMI products. Is that true?

VS: Should be more.

Chris, how many do you have?

CP: Oh my gosh. More than five. I’ve probably got over a dozen. If you count the packing cubes then over 20. Right now I’m using the Alpha 3 carry-on and brief pack. They go together. It’s really nice. It’s like a sleek backpack and you can actually charge your phone off of it. It’s so dope because my phone is always dying and then you have to like sit somewhere and plug it into a wall. Now, you can just plug it into your backpack and keep on walking around and charge your phone which is really helpful. I’ve got a TUMI briefcase that I’ve had for ten years. This black standard briefcase. I’ve got a bunch of TUMI stuff. 

You’ve been a TUMI lover for ten years now. How does it differ from other bags that you’ve used before?

CP: Well, they’re very specific. I think you look at a TUMI bag and you go it’s a TUMI bag. A lot of other bags are not distinct like this. I think the logo, bag tag and feel is very specific. The durability factor, I think that’s it. They [luggage handlers] can drop it off a building and all your stuff is going to be safe.

VS: Where we specialize is in is really understanding the customer, how people are travelling and how to perfect that journey. 

Is this going to be a one-off campaign or is there going to be more to come?

CP: The video that you saw was something that we shot in Los Angeles. We’re here to shoot part two of that video. So you’re actually going to see that. I hope to do more in the future. We’ll just have to see. 

What’s the strangest place you’ve ever travelled to?

CP: I’ve been to many strange places. I went and saw these amazing pyramids in Mexico – San Miguel de Allende – and it blew my mind.

What’s the best piece of travel advice you’ve ever received?

VS: Don’t stress out and a smile will get you a lot farther than a fist. 

What was your favourite trip and why?

CP: This one right now!

Who is your favourite travel companion?

VS: Any member of my family and another designer named Peter Wu because he eats anything and he only eats local. So good.

Best advice for getting over jetlag? Are you jet-lagged now?

CP: No, I’m not jet-lagged. You just got to roll with it. It’s going to make you foggy-brained and a little loopy. Just remember a lot of people spend good money on drugs to feel that way. You get to do it for free! The practical advice is actually get a really good workout in. Sweat really hard and try to stay up until it’s bedtime. Don’t take a nap.

Are you a light or heavy packer?

VS: Light packer. It makes more room for buying things.

How do you pass time on the plane?

VS: I design and I watch horror flicks because I can’t watch them at home with my family.

What’s the best souvenir you’ve brought back from a trip?

CP: Oh my gosh. On every single trip, I save space in my bag to bring something home for my son so I’ve got a whole shelf of amazing souvenirs from around the world for him. I don’t know how to pick just one but something for him. I need something from Hong Kong. 

Three things you can’t travel without?

VS: Music, definitely TUMI, my phone and my sketchpad.

Chris, do you have a lucky item that you must travel with?

CP: Yeah, I think my necklace that I’m wearing right now. I have to have that.

What’s your first memory of TUMI?

CP: My first memory of TUMI was being told by a girlfriend that I was too old to carry around a backpack that I was wearing and that I needed to upgrade, become a man and carry a briefcase. 

How old were you then?

CP: Too old to be carrying a backpack. Also, it was a very childish backpack and she said, ‘We’re going to get rid of that. It’s time for you to get a briefcase.’ It happened to be a TUMI one.

Do you normally pack before your flight or in advance?

CP: If there wasn’t a last minute I wouldn’t get anything done so I usually wait until the very last minute which is why I often forget a lot of things.

If you could have any new feature or design element on a TUMI bag, what would it be?

CP: I go to the gym and I get all my clothes really sweaty so maybe a compartment that would prevent my sweaty clothes from touching everything else.

VS: For me, it would be a bag that packs itself. I would love that.

TUMI is all about perfecting the journey. How do you ensure that you have a perfect journey everywhere you go?

CP: The truth is perfection is probably unattainable so just rolling with the punches. Understand that sometimes you can plan your journey and choose your journey and sometimes your journey is going to choose you. So understanding the difference and rolling with the punches when you have to.  

What was the most memorable movie location you’ve shot in?

CP: I got to shoot a film in Jordan and that was pretty amazing. I got to go see Petra and one of the Wonders of the World. That was really remarkable to be in that region of the world for the first time.

You spoke about the durability of TUMI bags. I was wondering how confident you would be that TUMI would survive a Velociraptor attack?

CP: Wow. Very confident. I think I would not survive. They would be like, ‘His remains are over there by that perfectly unscathed TUMI Alpha 3 backpack.’