For virtually the past 25 years my rule of thumb to judge if a suitcase was too heavy for air travel was to pick it up. If I could manage 2 inches off the floor, it was fine. However, as with everything else in the world, things have changed! And I don’t think the fact that I am 25 years older has anything to do with it!
Airlines now are much stricter on luggage weight and now it is a stroke of luck if you are allowed one bag at no charge. If you combine these restrictions with my love of shopping, I think you can see the problem. So Alan and I have begun to exchange the lifetime supply of suitcases for lighter and easier to handle bags. This current story began about a month ago when we innocently walked by Domo in Silverburn Shopping Centre….they have an amazing selection of suitcases in all shapes and sizes and we agreed to go back nearer the time of the cruise.
We had not factored in babysitting Corbyn when we returned though! Corbyn is a very sweet 2 ½ year old and it is fun to take him places. But this day, he had a bit of a cold and instead of slowing him down, it caused him to be a bit busier than normal. Hence, we both made very poor choices of new cases.
Alan and I realized before leaving that these new cases were not going to work and made other arrangements (and we can return these new ones). Once the painful process of packing was done though, it was apparent that there was no shopping space left, even though we were well below the weight restriction. Oh well, we thought, too late now.
On Thursday, October 27, we flew with FlyBe to Southampton. This is a day earlier than necessary, but we did not want to take any chances of missing the cruise through bad weather or anything else Mother Nature could throw at us. Unfortunately, this gave us time to shop! There are at least 2 shopping centres in the downtown area of Southampton and in one of them was a Domo! Decisions, decisions……To make a long story short – I got another case! Not at Domo though, but one found at a cheap shoe shop - a big holdall marked down 25%. Alan decided to keep what he brought. After transferring all my things, there is plenty of shopping space, but the risk that everything I had so carefully packed would be horribly wrinkled when we unpacked. (this did not happen though). And we had time in the morning to wander down to a charity shop and give them the perfectly fine and light suitcase I had rejected! (it had been a bit damaged on the flight down, but nothing really awful.)
Even with the soul searching problems of do we are don’t we change suitcases, we managed to enjoy Southampton, including eating dinner at a pub Alan had spotted on Google Earth when he was looking around the hotel we were staying in! The hotel was Jury’s Inn and the pub was Alexander’s Beer Emporium.
When we woke up in the morning – our ship was sitting just outside our window, well, if you had a good camera lens like Alan’s it looked like it was just outside!
“It’s not the finishing point, but the act of travelling which is important.”
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