The title of this post is borrowed from a chapter title in Rick Steve's Europe Through the Backdoor 2009, a book which I picked up from Barnes and Nobles two weeks before we left Seattle. At the time, I dismissed this piece of advice because I felt our trip is different from the type of trips the book's target audience would be taking. I mean - we're traveling for 8 months through different seasons and J needs to bring everything to set up an office remotely! Hence, we left Seattle with 4 pieces of checked luggage.
In the 2 months we traveled through Europe our luggage became more and more annoying. It was hard to manuever our huge luggage pieces along small European balconies and elevators. Our duffle was really hard to carry because of the weight and lack of wheels. And, we were almost forced to pay nearly 300 USD for checking in two pieces of luggage per person instead of the usual one piece because the airline representatives at the check-in counters aren't familiar with the rules of the OneWorld Explorer Fare.
Therefore, while we were in Boston J and I decided to shed and repack our stuff into just two pieces of check-in luggage - one per person with a maximum weight of 23 kgs per piece. All of our winter clothes got cut, which was the plan anyhow, and all of our backup and "what if" items got left behind too.
In the end, we did it! It's pretty amazing if you think it. We still have in there 3 laptops, a shoebox of electronics, a huge 220V power strip and two cooking pots!
1. Luggage on Day 0 vs. Day 62
2. The stuff we left behind in my parents' basement - 3 boxes and a small suitcase worth.
