The Great Amazing Trip! (Of stupidity...)
Brought to you after a few days of having no ability to communicate AT ALL....
The Joys of Packing
I will honestly say that I’m not really a big fan of carry on luggage. This probably has largely to do with the fact that I am usually at the airport hours early and/or have long layovers and when you are traveling by yourself that just means that you can’t explore the airport without dragging all the luggage around with you. So, if I could do with just my laptop bag, I’d be super happy. Except this is for five weeks. Roaming around the streets in the summer. And a ROME summer is nothing like a HOUSTON summer (thank god) but it is still summer which guarantees some sort of mucky ickyness born from wandering around in the heat and weather.
And because I’m slightly (understatedly) crazy, I have to have plenty of options. I mean I know everyone else is in the same boat living off of a limited supply of clothing but still, I like to have options. I like to change my clothes as often as I need to, which in summer when I’m dealing with other people, can be frequent. So packing only one suitcase was just not quite enough room. And I didn’t even put that much in the carry on, but enough stuff to make me feel better (plus some changes of clothes in case they lost my luggage, like they did for three people on this trip). So a carry on necessary. But the problem came to what size everything had to be. Because it used to be that you had one piece of carry on ad one personal item and then whatever for checked luggage but recently they have reaaaaally pared back on what can be okay for carry on. As I learned (and as one very upset lady learned in Frankfurt when they wouldn’t let her on the plane. I snuck by while they yelled at her juuust in case.)
I measured two bags before I assumed a third AND was paranoid that my laptop bag wouldn’t measure in (which it did…barely). But the funniest thing is that the TSA people were so extremely blasé about all of it. I was excessively lucky in getting through check in and security and the TSA guys were joking and arguing with me about who was the better super hero (there was a contest between about five of them all in all as I sat around putting my belt shoes and other stuff back on). It was the flight attendants who were more annoyed by it all. Which they would be.
However, they aren’t the ones with the announcement going on ad museum telling you that even JOKES about protocol could get you arrested. Humor is a funny thing.