Luggage Scale

Several years ago I bought a suitcase scale, after having to move a couple pounds of stuff from my suitcase to my carry on in Hawaii it seemed like a wise investment.  It has come in handy on several occasions.  You know, when you buy way too much stuff at the Wizarding World of Harry Potter, true story. 

Mine is one of the larger ones, while it takes up more room, it's easier to pick up luggage with.

Back to the cars and planes...

So my flights to Knoxville and Pittsburgh were relatively uneventful. My first pair of flights was NY to DC, DC to Knoxville. I did figure out that Reagan Airport (DCA) is not the best place to have to spend a layover, not much shopping or food there. Knoxville's airport was cute - 10 gates and the place was totally shut down (even the security lines) when my flight got in around 9pm. As in the area was gated off for the night. I didn't know airports shut down at night, it was kinda weird.

Then I flew from Knoxville to Charlotte to Pittsburgh. Charlotte is a much more interesting place to spend a layover; however, it's a dangerous place. My flight came in at terminal E and my next flight was from terminal C. There are tons of food places and shopping places, though I didn't partake in too much of that since it took so long to get between terminals, that was exercise enough! To top it off it's like a slalom course trying to avoid the golf carts for the handicapped people. What is going on in Charlotte? There were more people being driven around on carts then there were walking around. The theory I came up with is that there were always a higher number of handicapped people there and then they built the airport and started running people over with the carts creating a larger number of handicapped people. These are the theories you come up with when you spend too much time in an airport...

These flights to Pittsburgh were the more interesting pair. First we got NO service flying to Charlotte, I got service in Egypt on a 30 minute flight, US Airways Express is a bunch of weenies. I finally learned why it is that on some flights you can gate check a larger carry-on and why on others you don't. I flew US Airways - US Airways does not do gate checking, if you're on a smaller plane either it fits or it goes as checked baggage. On US Airways Express the planes are smaller so they will gate check larger carry-on. Finally, a mystery solved! I still didn't figure out how come the smaller plane that US Airways uses, which held a similar number of people as the US Airways Express plane, had so much more room in the overhead bins and why the seats seemed roomier too. But I did meet a nice girl on the flight into Pittsburgh, we talked the whole trip which made us not notice that our flight got in a little late.

Flying home from Pittsburgh was with Jetblue. I love Jetblue - I've only had one delayed flight with them, the staff is nice, you actually get a snack and you have a TV. When I got in the airport I had to check to see if my carry-on was still carry-on size. My friend in Pittsburgh had a large present for me and I had to expand my carry-on. It turned out to be too big for the smaller plane, though they did offer to let me try to take it on as a carry-on since there weren't a lot of people on the flight. I decided since it was free to check my bag and I didn't feel like dragging the thing around if I was going to end up checking it that I would just check it there. That worked out fine since the suitcase made it to NY. Also my flight got in 40 minutes early and I had to wait for my ride anyway, why not wait the extra 2 minutes to get the suitcase. Which reminds me, they had our suitcases at baggage claim super quick, I don't ever remember getting my bag that quick before!

My rental car... I rented from Thrifty at Knoxville for 3 days. I rented an economy car since it's just me and I don't need more then that. The girl kept trying to up-sell me a bigger car, saying the mountains down by Pigeon Forge were so big I might need more power. I didn't take her offer. I got a Toyota Camry, which is the first rental car I've had that I actually liked, and it had plenty of power for what I was doing. They probably ran out of economy cars and wanted to get me to pay for the upgrade. When I dropped it off, Thrifty was closed so I just dropped the keys in a box, I haven't heard anything since so I'm assuming everything was fine. One thing I didn't like about Thrifty at the Knoxville Airport is that their cars were parked the furthest away from the terminal. But then the airport was so small that it wasn't that big of a deal.

The Challenge - Only a Carry-on

For my trip to Knoxville and Pittsburgh I have challenged myself to take only a carry-on. There are a couple reasons for this, but it's mostly because I have 2 flights for each leg of my trip and am afraid my luggage will get lost. It's also an intriguing challenge for myself as a person who sometimes over packs. I've gotten much better over the years, which is why I think I might be able to do this. I also know that when I get to Pittsburgh I will be able to do laundry if I need to.

Some things I plan to do to get all my stuff in 1 carry-on suitcase. Skip the hairdryer. I have made sure that all my hotels have hairdryers available. I'm also only taking my small point and shoot camera that fits in my pocket instead of my DSLR. I'm going to wear my sneakers and bring a pair of sandals. I'm not sure what clothes I'm bringing but I will check the weather closely to make sure I have the right clothes, I often over pack clothing when I have the space to accommodate for different weather. I wont have that luxury on this trip.

Travel clothing

I found this blog post by Everything-Everywhere. It's a little hardcore about picking travel clothing, but the thought process is good. It's a great article if you're interested in long term travel, an interesting article to get you thinking if you're doing shorter trips. This guys next posts will involve some other packing tips - shoes and accessories.

I don't travel quite so light myself, but I do try to find clothing that will all match. I often take pants that roll up with buttons (the girl version of zip-off pants) that can be worn as pants or capris. If I expect I might have to do laundry while away I try to bring some quicker drying shirts.

Getting ready for Hawaii

Here are some things I've done in the last 2 days to get ready....

Laundry, even changed my sheets so they'll be clean when I get home. I'm going to iron too so that I have clothes to wear when I get back. Also cleaned my kitchen and my bathroom.

Had my mail held by the post office for the days that I'm away, it's a dead giveaway when you don't pick up your mail.

Confirmed my reservations for the hotel and the rental car.

Caught up on my TV shows so that I don't have shows hanging over my head when I get back, except of course what is actually on while I'm away.

Collected some of the money that my sister owes me.

I've also done some packing. My carry-on is packed except for the things that I still need. My shoes and some of my clothes are packed up too.

I have a lot of work to do still, but things are coming together.

Tomorrow I'll get a pedicure and maybe a manicure and finish my packing.

I can't wait!

4 Days to go...

So this weekend I have started to really push forward with getting ready for Hawaii. I have half my stuff for the trip on my living room floor. The only thing in my actual suitcase are two pairs of shoes. I have chosen 6 of my 7 dinner outfits, my shorts, capris pants, PJ's, bathing suits, and gotten most of my toiletries together. I still have to narrow down my shirts a bit more and pick which shoes I'm taking.

I've also been getting my camera stuff together, cleaning up the memory cards and making sure all my batteries are charged up. I'm also picking movies to bring, I don't expect we'll watch many, but since I have my laptop it would be nice to have a couple just in case. It looks like Pearl Harbor, Dirty Dancing, and the Princess Bride. Pearl Harbor since we'll be going there, and the other two are cute little movies we've both seen a bunch of times. I'm also bringing He's Just Not That Into You since I bought that the other day.

What's next, I guess actually putting stuff into my suitcase, I'm just trying to figure out what I will and wont need for our night in Honolulu. I obviously don't want to put stuff that I wont need on the top of my suitcase...

T-Minus 9 days

Since I last posted about getting ready for Hawaii I have "completed" my trip information sheet for my parents. This sheet has all my flight info, hotel info and cruise info, including phone numbers. I'll leave this with my parents along with a copy of my passport and credit card and banking info - incase of emegency.

I also discussed with Tara some packing issues, like what needs to be in the carry-on vs checked baggage. Also trying to consolidate some of our stuff, which isn't really working out all that well since we both seem to have gotten a lot of stuff that we needed anyway. I was working on my packing list today, it still needs a bit of work but it's getting there.

This week I need to work on getting an idea of what type of dinner reservations to make while on the cruise and at what time. I also want to go through my toiletries to make sure I have everything I need. Otherwise I'll end up buying stuff I already have and have too much of it again. I think I have 4 rolls of travel toilet paper, which I've used like once and now it just takes up room in my apartment.