Globetrotter Centenary Suitcase

I am a nerd (read obsessive, detailed, committed) when it comes to packing light.  I am motivated by no need to live to live the simple life, but from the desire to have low-weight baggage to pull, push, heave, and carry.  My shoulders are shot from carrying overloaded shoulder bags, my neck crying out in pain, and lately I have discovered bunions.

So I began to investigate packing lists and lightweight suitcases in anticipation of a trip abroad.  If traveling for two weeks, one only needs a week’s worth of clothes.  Bring more money, and don’t forget socks.  All toiletries can be purchases at an airport, or local marts (What better excuse to try that expensive anise-flavored toothpaste your friends rave about?) so you need not lug the bathroom cabinet on board.

So, I selected a bag online, and received the wrong one, and miraculously, the company quickly shipped me the right one practically overnight and threw in a free pouch.

So much better than the hotel switchboard that told me no I could not upgrade to a better room since I purchased one so cheap in advance.  (What does that mean?  Even if I pay the difference?)

And the airline is Wow from Iceland, which seems cheap until you begin adding up the cost of an assigned seat, to start.  What does this mean as well?  If I do not pick a seat, am I seatless though I have a ticket?  I have made terrible literal mistakes in the past before.  My first trip to England, I took a Hovercraft to France, but unknowingly traveled on a Single-Entry Visa.  I was still an Indian citizen then.    My logic was that I was single, not a family, so Single Entry ought to do.  Incredibly, I was not stopped on my way back from France, but by the British.  It worked out fine, and made for a great story which included delicious chips and a hilarious agent who swore the French would pay a fine for neglecting to detain me.   Now I know that when one leaves and re-enters countries, a multiple Visa is necessary.

So I am packing light, keeping copies of various passes and my passport.  The world is upside down now, with the unimaginable happening all the time.  Traveling light seems about the only thing to do.