The baggage conundrum - 7/4/2016

At 7.30 a.m there came a faint tap on the hotel door, followed quickly by another as I panicked clumsily around the room trying to get some shorts and a t-shirt on in order save the person on the other side the ignominy of being sick first thing in the morning. I had told the guy on reception that I needed my washing early as I was going to have to leave about 10 in the morning in order to get to the airport in time for scheduled flight to Bangkok. Now, with his well timed delivery, I could get on and prepare.

For reasons I'm at a loss to explain, my baggage had been increasing in weight  in such a way seemingly disproportionate its various additions and deductions. For the last month or so with each item of clothing that had been added, I had been leaving it's retiree behind to keep the wight in check, occasionally leaving extra behind when the item was no longer needed. When I flew down to Vietnam from Hong Kong, my baggage allowance fell a good kilo under the 20 kg checked allowance, even with some of my heavier items also packed in. by the time I flew down to Da Lat, this weight had gone up to 22 kg not including the heavy stuff which had now been accommodated in a larger bag I was using for carry on. On this trip I was able to get away with it only because I was travelling with Lan, with the combined total for 2 people still falling below the maximum allowed.

For the next flight to Saigon though I was back on my own and that morning ended up being a little bit rushed as I went about selecting some non essentials to try and get the weight back down. At the airport weigh in my bag sneaked in at just under the 20kg mark, but now with gifts that Lan had given me to send me on my way ( which this time I was able to carry on as hand luggage), I knew that I would need to discard even more stuff before heading out of the country.  So at 7.30 am on the 7th April,  that task began ernest.

To make things a little bit trickier, I had purchased myself a little vietnamese coffee filter made from a light metal which would easily bend out of shape if I wasn't careful, and also some vietnamese coffee to go with it which was a solid as a stone in it's packet. I thought this would go nicely with a the cold turkey that I'm bound to get when I arrive back in the UK, I was away for Christmas after all. So the coffee and gifts were now the  essential baggage, with nearly everything else falling into the At Risk" category.

Pants, t-shirts, shirts and shorts all got selected in the initial cull, being that they were items that would be easily replaced if decide I needed some more. These were placed to one side of the room along with several items from my first aid kit, ensuring that I still kept hold of a handful of supplies incase of a real emergency. A plastic whistle I deemed essential, as in this part of the world it's easy to get caught up in an unexpected party at some random place and time.

By the end of the operation I had regained on a few items, deciding to keep hold until the time came that they definaately had to go. The gifts were all packed away safely and securely and my priceless coffee filter was padded inside and out with my freshly washed socks and therefor only incurred a minor loss of space over all.

My though felt like it weight a tonne, containing as it did my camera, lenses, laptop, tablet, spare batteries, battery charger and the like, but my main concern was the "Checked Luggage" weight as this was more likely to cause me a problem at the airport. It didn't though. My luggage had come back down to a more carrier and back friendly 19kg, but I'm sure I've chucked away almost as much as that in the last month alone.

As soon as I had settled in Bangkok, I went out and brought some new pants, because as mother never said, "You don't want to be rushed to hospital in rubbish underwear do you!!!"

It was on my mind that the last time I was here, that was exactly where I ended up being.