travel light
After so many years of backpacking and budget travel I should know better, but it's the mantra that try as I might, I've never really been able to follow.
TRAVEL LIGHT.
I started out with good intentions. Before I left home, my new, ultralight, pink-with-hibiscus-flowers suitcase was only half-full. I spent an entire evening weeding out half of what I planned to take. Even with gifts for oveseas friends, I was well under the weight allowance, plus one small carry-on backpack for the plane.
Once I arrived, it all went awry. Travel Light is not something you worry about on a road-trip in a roomy Toyota. So many irresistible markets, so many delightful vineyards!
On our arrival back in Munich, 4634 km and 6 countries later, it took 3 trips to unload all our stuff out of the car.
Yikes.
The next morning, after an hour of carefully packing and deciding what to leave behind ("Kat, do you think you'll want these 3 jars of plum jam? How about 7 bottles of Cotes de Bergerac?"), I was still over the weight allowance for my flight to London.
Take 2.5 kg out, or pay 15 Euros.
Well, I didn't have 15 Euros left, so in the middle of the airport, I popped open the big pink suitcase and started pulling out wine bottles, battery chargers, camera gear. After some rearrangement and sitting on the suitcase to close it, and thanks to the Munich airport allowing wine in carry-on bags, I managed to shave off 2.1 kg and get my bag checked.
I estimate I'm dragging around close to 70 pounds of stuff. Manouevering through the London Underground at rush hour with a 30 pound backpack and gigantic rolling suitcase is a travel experience I never want to repeat - although I'll have to tomorrow morning, as I'll be lugging it all again from Christa and Craig's place in Wandsworth Common to Gatwick Airport.
I don't think I'll be doing any shopping in London. And the next trip, I really will be a minimalist.
Then again, there's always the option of posting parcels home...
TRAVEL LIGHT.
I started out with good intentions. Before I left home, my new, ultralight, pink-with-hibiscus-flowers suitcase was only half-full. I spent an entire evening weeding out half of what I planned to take. Even with gifts for oveseas friends, I was well under the weight allowance, plus one small carry-on backpack for the plane.
Once I arrived, it all went awry. Travel Light is not something you worry about on a road-trip in a roomy Toyota. So many irresistible markets, so many delightful vineyards!
On our arrival back in Munich, 4634 km and 6 countries later, it took 3 trips to unload all our stuff out of the car.
Yikes.
The next morning, after an hour of carefully packing and deciding what to leave behind ("Kat, do you think you'll want these 3 jars of plum jam? How about 7 bottles of Cotes de Bergerac?"), I was still over the weight allowance for my flight to London.
Take 2.5 kg out, or pay 15 Euros.
Well, I didn't have 15 Euros left, so in the middle of the airport, I popped open the big pink suitcase and started pulling out wine bottles, battery chargers, camera gear. After some rearrangement and sitting on the suitcase to close it, and thanks to the Munich airport allowing wine in carry-on bags, I managed to shave off 2.1 kg and get my bag checked.
I estimate I'm dragging around close to 70 pounds of stuff. Manouevering through the London Underground at rush hour with a 30 pound backpack and gigantic rolling suitcase is a travel experience I never want to repeat - although I'll have to tomorrow morning, as I'll be lugging it all again from Christa and Craig's place in Wandsworth Common to Gatwick Airport.
I don't think I'll be doing any shopping in London. And the next trip, I really will be a minimalist.
Then again, there's always the option of posting parcels home...
posted by soobee at 1:43 AM
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