Jackie Wells-Fauth
It is a fact, and I have admitted it before, that Roy and I differ greatly on how to pack for a trip. He’s concerned with mass; while I’m concerned that I get all my brushes and bottles and hats and shirts on the trip.
Now this problem isn’t so big when we are taking a road trip. If it fits in the car, it goes. However, when we take an airplane trip, things are a little different. Roy becomes the man who wants to take as little as possible so that he doesn’t have to carry too much and he doesn’t have to pay the exorbitant prices to check bags.
“What are you doing?” I walked into the laundry room where we store our luggage to find Roy nearly upside down with a tape measure wrapped around a bag.
“I got the measurements for the suitcase that we can carry on and I don’t know if this suitcase makes it. Do these measurements include the wheels on the suitcase or not?”
I couldn’t answer that question, but before I took the wheels off of the suitcase, I’d carry my vacation clothes dragged along behind me in a gunny sack. We have learned the hard way to never travel with any kind of bag that doesn’t have wheels.
On a recent trip to Denver, we decided we could go with a smaller case and not have to mess with a larger one with wheels. About halfway through the massive Denver airport, Roy stopped and dropped the bag to the floor, indicating we were going to rest.
“What’s in this suitcase anyway,” he panted, red-faced and breathing hard. “Surely two changes of clothing don’t weigh that much.”
“Two changes of clothing?” I laughed. “Surely, you’re kidding. I have at least five outfit changes because I never know what I will feel like wearing. Then there are the books.”
“Books?” he questioned (a little sharply, I thought.) “What books?”
“I have four books in the bag, of course. I have one for mornings, one I prefer to read at bedtime and two for spare.”
It was at this point, a helpful woman stopped beside us. “It’s so much better if you use a suitcase with wheels.” She waved a little and went on down the aisle, rolling her bag and having no idea how close she came to being hit with a bag full of books.
So, now Roy is measuring our suitcases with the wheels and trying to determine what will meet the dimensions set out and what won’t. At the same time, I am trying to estimate how much I could cram into the “carry-on” bag that was to fit under the seat in front of me.
“Okay, we are going to go with this bag,” Roy announced. “Hopefully, it will meet the dimensions. How are you coming with the carry-on bag. Remember, no books.”
I gave him a steady stare.
“All right. Two books. What else?” he gave in with ill-grace. “What else have you got in there?”
“Well, just all my medications and supplements. And then my heating pad and back brace; you never know when you might need those. Then, I have lotion, because a lot of times those hotel showers dry out the skin. I also have two hats and sunscreen for hot weather and a jacket for cold weather.”
“That’s all?”
“Yes, except for several magazines—they’re not books–and then I have some extra underwear, cause you never know.”
“Fine,” he grumbled. “But if we run into Mrs. Helpful and her wheeled suitcase again, she may find out that we pack our suitcases with a punch.”
dropsinthewell 