First, this made me laugh out loud... through the whole thing. It's like a train wreck. You know what's coming, but you have to keep reading. You laugh because you get it. You feel her pain. You've felt that pain. You hope to never feel that pain again... but you know you will.
Packing is always so much fun. This time around, I was really glad to be alone in my room! Most hotels have a vacuum I can borrow to suck the air out of my Space Bags. I like taking smaller suitcases. =) This hotel? Nope. They just have those vacuums that are all one piece with no hose. =( Crap. I had all that yarn to pack! So... I filled one of the bags with the yarn, zipped the top nearly closed... and laid down on it, rolling around a little. haha Worked fairly well, actually. Stacked my clothes in the other and sat on that one and wiggled around. =) Not quite as good as a vacuum, but worked well enough in a pinch and I got everything into the two bags... and my two carry-ons. We won't talk about those balls of yarn stuffed into my coat pockets. I'll be the first to admit that I'm cheap. I could have mailed some stuff home. I even had a box. I didn't want pay for it. Or go to the post office. It was gonna work... and it did! Sure, I left a few shirt and a pair of evil heels behind, but that was totally by choice. =) I did realize one thing yesterday. I really need to start working out again! I was sure that large bag was close to (or over) the 50-lb limit. What did it weight in at? 40. OMG. I'm such a wimp.
I got in late last night/early this morning. I'm pretty used to traveling, what with the round trip flights every 2-3 weeks or so for the past 8 1/2 months. My only issue this trip was that I had to connect in Phoenix... and change airlines. That meant changing terminals. That meant going outside (way too hot for February!), finding the right bus and going through security again... where they hand-searched one of my bags because they couldn't figure out what that odd-shaped thing in there was. It was this, btw. Don't buy one and pack it in your carry-on if you'll be running short on time. You'll mess with the minds of the TSA people. =) Did I mention that my first flight got in a little late? And I only had an hour between flights to begin with? ANd both gates were just about as far from the exit/entrance as possible? haha Yeah, my bags so didn't make it on that plane. Unlike Seattle though, they don't page you. No, Indy (at least US Air at Indy) lets you stand there like an idiot, wasting your time in the middle of the night when you'd rather go home and say, go to bed, while everyone else gets their bags and no more come out and you go find the customer service people who initially ignore the fact that you've walked into their tiny 10x10 room as if they could possibly not see you and ask where your bags are so they can ask if you were sure they weren't on the carousel. Hmm, I'm pretty sure my two black roller bags aren't that little tiger print thing riding round and round unclaimed (really? that person didn't recognize their bag?!). Have I mentioned how much I love Indiana? And how happy I am to be stuck here for awhile... *sigh* At least I found a group that has a knit night twice a month here! Yay, Ravelry!
Just on the off-chance it happens again you can usually squeeze the air out of those bags by rolling them up like a swiss roll. In fact, there are some called Pack-mate that have a one-way valve in the end so you just zip and roll. They're waterproof too.
ReplyDeleteYeah, rolling works great for the smaller space bags. These are pretty big though. The yarn filled my suitcase before squishing the air out. haha I'll have to stick with my sit and wiggle method. =)
ReplyDelete