Packing Light

Carry On Baggage Limits –New ways to take money from your pocket.

This year, for the first time flying Fiji Airways, and the last time flying Fiji Airways. Although they appeared to be a bit less expensive than Air New Zealand, I found that they have a new way to charge extra for people who travel light and only use a carry on bag and a personal bag.

In general, even if we travel for 2 weeks or a month, we do it with a carry on bag and a personal bag. My carry on bag for a month long stay may weigh 12 kg (26 pounds) and the personal bag may weigh in at 5 kg (10 pounds).

Now, although the still have the size limits for your carry on bag, they have added new weight limits. ONLY 7 kg for your carry on bag and 4 kg for a personal item that will fit under your seat. It is ok to have a cabin full of 100 kg passengers, but you cannot have a 12 kg carry on bag. They make you check it if it weighs more than 7 kg. I will be over the limit with my backpack carry on bag, with a tablet computer, my dop kit, 2 changes of clothes and a light jacket. Forget about three or four changes clothes you might want to carry for a month long trip. I guess that they want to force you to check your bags, and for that they can charge an extra fee.

I understand that if you are flying using the cheapest fare that they may charge you for carry on bags, checked bags, water, food, etc… But at least let me fill my bag with clothes and a dop kit. By the way, their checked bag is limited to 30 kg which is about 66 pounds and way more than I want to carry, but since  they charge for each bag, it may be better to only check one bag for the two of us and have to fight with the heavier bag if flying those airlines.

We found the same issue with Jetstar Airways to fly from Melbourne to Queenstown.

When compared to Air New Zealand, for flying economy, they have the same limits but for regular economy or business or various alliance partnership levels, the weight limit is 14 kg which is about 30 pounds plus you can have a personal bag or laptop or purse.

Quantas allows you to bring 14 kg of stuff onto the plane with the carryon bag being 10 kg and the 4 additional kg being in a personal bag or computer bag.

When I checked American Airlines and United Airlines, they both provided size limits for carry on bags as well as a personal bag to place under the seat, but no weight limits.

When we flew down under 5 years ago and again 2 years ago on Air New Zealand, our carry on bags weren’t an issue. The next time I fly down under, I know which airlines I won’t book with.

Thinking About a Self-Guided Trip to Europe?

Picture of Parliament at night in Budapest
Thinking About a
Self-Guided Trip To Europe?

If you are planning a trip to Europe where you will be traveling via airplanes, trains and the metro and you have never done it here at home, you may be in for a rude awakening.

Most of our trips had been by car or by car to the airport followed with a rental car or a shuttle to the hotel or resort.

Each one of us almost always had one 24″-26″ roller bag that was checked plus a 22″ carry on plus a personal bag like a purse or computer case or book bag style backpack for personal stuff that you wanted to have handy at all times.

We were not ready for the challenge of hauling all of our suitcases up and down 2-3 flights of stairs to get from one metro train to another, nor were we really familiar with how to navigate the metro system with all of those bags.

If you are planning such a trip, I suggest that you do what I heard Rick Steves say in one of his videos(that you will find on this page). He said to pack your bags, take a short trip via train, bus and subway or metro and spend the night and return home one or two days later. You will be ready to trade in your big suitcase and learn to pack light so that you are not lugging 80 – 100 pounds of stuff with you on your European trip. You will enjoy that trim much more if you can learn to travel light.

ebags Backpack

On this trip we will start in Sacramento and spend a couple of nights in San Francisco. First, we will have a friend drop us at the Amtrack train station in Sacramento. From there we will travel to Richmond, take the BART(our version of the Metro) to San Francisco, then walk to our hotel. We will do the Hop on-Hop off bus tour of the city, just like we were tourists, to get the lay of the land. On Saturday we will visit the great farmer’s market at the Ferry Building, then return home on Sunday.

You can try the same thing wherever you live. Do it or you will hate your self and be miserable on your European Vacation.

 

Packing Light – More Options

ebags Backpack

Whenever we travel, I like to travel light. I also like to plan on having some space in my suitcase so that I can pick up a few things to give as gifts and to remember my trip. I almost always pick up flat items, maybe a table cloth, table runner, lace, etc… that does not take up much room. Maybe a hat or two that can be packed easily.

In fact, I like to take a maximum of about a week’s worth of clothes no matter how long the trip. I like to keep my suitcase down to less than 30 pounds; it is a backpack suitcase and I want to be able to hop on or off a train or the metro without an issue.

A pair of pants or shorts don’t take up too much space in my suitcase, but enough underwear to last 7 days without laundry facilities will take up much more space than an extra shirt or an extra pair of pants. I don’t mind wearing the same pair of pants or shorts for a few days, but I don’t like to wear underwear for multiple days.

Generally, if we are staying in hotel rooms, I would bring my light weight, quick drying, underwear and wash them in my room. On our next trip, my wife and I will spend a week in London followed by a 2 week photo safari in Africa. The first week is not really an issue since we have access to a sink every night in our hotel room. On the safari, we are not sure of our accommodations yet, but we could be staying in tents and moving every day.  It is not like I can leave wet underwear hanging in the tent or even in our room while we are on safari since we will be at a different camp the next day. With fast drying polyester based underwear, they dry overnight, but not cotton briefs. Yes, TMI, but you have to think about those things when you travel.

The other problem is that we will spend summer days in London and winter days in Africa. Different types of clothes for the very different climates.

I could ship my Africa wardrobe to London and carry the clothes that I want to wear in London in my suitcase. Before we leave, I could ship my London clothes home and carry my Africa wardrobe for the rest of the trip. That is an extra expense but it would be a solution. As noted above, the other option will be doing laundry every night or two.  I don’t want to do laundry every couple days for the whole 3 weeks. I have another idea in mind that will give me the space in my suitcase for gifts and cut down on laundry.

I remember that mom always said to wear clean underwear just in case I get into an accident; but I have seen enough of those TV shows where they just cut off your clothes to get to your injuries. So, I figured that I would set aside old and almost worn out underwear throughout the year and take them on my trip. Rather than washing them in the evening, I can just toss them out along the way. So, instead of bringing 7 sets of underwear, I will bring 14 sets of underwear and by the end of the first week, I will have room in my suitcase for gifts.

Starting on week two of the trip, all of the worn out underwear will be in the trash. The 7 sets that I go to Africa with will be the ones that are easy to wash and that are quick trying. I can easily wash them out each night and they should be dry by the morning. The issue isn’t just with underwear. If you are wearing hiking boots, you need to carry extra socks or have a plan for bring 2 or 3 pairs and a plan for washing and drying them every two or three days.

Here is how we plan to take care of the socks issue.  When we are located in a facility that has electricity, even if it is only for part of the day, I will use the blow dryer to dry out my socks.

What do you think of this plan?

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Turning Dreams into Memories,
One Vacation at a Time.
Bon Voyage!!!

As you might guess, this document is a compilation of information from our travels as well as from other travelers. I hope it has been of value to you.  Check out the important links below.

Don’t hesitate to email us when you return from your trip with any suggestions that will make this document better for you and your fellow travelers!

You may also want to visit our Facebook page, www.Facebook.com/TeamEdwardsTravel

Planning a Trip to Africa

African Elephant photo South Africa 2015

We are planning another trip to Africa for July 2018.  This will be a 12 day photo safari in Kenya and Tanzania to see the great migration in the Masai Mara that we have seen on TV on the National Geographic Channel.

The best time is between July and August. If it is a warm year, then July is great. If not, you may want to wait until August. Of course, to plan ahead, you must decide before you really know what the weather will be, so plan it and hope for the best weather, but enjoy it either way.

Just a few dozen years ago, this would have been a very dangerous trip because of the rampant poaching. Thanks to the Mara Triangle Conservancy, that is no longer the case and we are looking forward to an exciting, but not a dangerous, trip.

For this trip, we want to do the safari during the beginning of the migration, rather than in the middle of it. We will not see as many animals, but that just means that we will see a few thousand animals rather than hundreds of thousands of animals. That being said, it will be summer in the northern hemisphere at home in California, but winter in the southern hemisphere in Africa.

Of course, we cannot fly to straight to Nairobi from the U.S. yet. Just in case you are interested, there will be a direct flight from JFK to Nairobi starting in October 2018 on Kenya Airways. It would be a very long flight, about 15 hours or so. We prefer to break our flights up into flights of 10 hours or less. Also, since we will be flying into Nairobi to start our photo safari, we need to find the best routing to and from there. Based upon my research, the best option is to fly round trip from London to Nairobi. Therefore, we will fly from California to London, and then on to Nairobi. With that in mind, we plan to add a week long visit to London on the way to Africa. We would have preferred to do 3-4 days in London on the way to and from Africa to break up the flight both ways, but it did not fit our schedule. So it will be a very long, long trip home. Probably about 36 hours of travel time. Drive from Arusha Tanzania to Nairobi, Kenya, then fly Nairobi to London, layover, London to Dallas, layover, and finally Dallas to Sacramento.

Now that you have seen our general plans, what should you be doing to get ready if this was your trip. You could call your travel agent and describe the trip you wish to take and let the agent gather the appropriate information that is needed to set up the trip. Keep in mind that you should plan on paying the agent for doing all the work to put the trip together.  If you don’t want to do that, then it is time for you to do some work to gather all of the info needed to set up your timeline for the various steps along the way.

My first step would be to check with the State Department and the Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) to find out what requirements the countries require of a visitor. Things like a visa, shots, passport, etc…

What about shots??? Depending upon where in Kenya or Tanzania you will be visiting, the shot requirement is different. Make sure to talk with your travel nurse for updated info.

You are probably are thinking that you have a passport and don’t need to worry about that. Did you know that some countries won’t let you visit if you have only a couple of months left on your passport? Did you know that some countries won’t let you enter if you have a brand new passport? Did you know that some countries require you to have several blank passport and visa pages available for them to use. So, do your homework. I could tell you what I found for Kenya and Tanzania, but since that information does change and I have no idea when you will be reading this post, I suggest that you do your own research.

While you are on the State Department’s website, you will see links for Travel Advisories, passports and international travel. We will start on the International Travel page. On that page, click on the Traveler’s Checklist link and go through their checklist. The first thing they say to do is to research the entry/exit requirements for the countries you will be visiting.  For example, we will visit Kenya and Tanzania.  You can click on them to see what issues to be concerned about. Another thing to remember is that you may need to bring along your children’s birth certificates in some parts of Africa because of issues of child trafficing. So, bring their passports but bring valid copies of their birth certificates too, just in case.

Of course, the State Department recommends that you register for the Smart Traveler Enrollment Program (STEP) to receive updates if there are problems in the country where you plan to visit.

Why is this important? Because if civil war breaks out, you may want to cancel your trip. That brings up another issue, which is travel insurance. In fact, that is almost as important as the entry and exit rules for where you plan to visit. You need to talk to your travel agent about your travel insurance needs before you make any reservations. Especially if you want to be able to purchase a policy to cover you if you have pre-existing health conditions that may cause you to have to cancel the trip. Please take the time to learn more about travel insurance here. When you are ready to purchase a policy, your travel agent will handle it for you. If you are doing your own trip planning, click here to order a policy.

Now that I have done some of the needed research, I need to double check our passports to make sure that we have at least 6 months on our passports beyond the time we will be in England and Africa and that we have at least 2 empty pages for passport stamps and visa stamps. Along those same lines, we need to go online to order our mulit-visit visa for Kenya since we fly into Kenya, drive into Tanzania then back into Kenya before flying home. ***In 2024 the laws have been changed to travel to Kenya. Now they require an eVisa also called an ETA which stands for an Electronic Travel Authority. We are seeing thes popup throughout the world these days.

We will not be getting our Tanzania visa before we leave home. We don’t want to send them our passports and hope we get them back. Also, there is more than one type of visa to visit Tanzania. There is one for people who are transiting the country. At the time of this writing, that is about $30. For those who are visiting Tanzania, the fee is about $100. Also, they want newer, clean, crisp $20 dollar bills, or in the case of the transit visa, a couple of $5 dollar bills to go with your $20. Also, if you are with a guide, they won’t believe that you are transiting the country so make sure to have the $100 in clean cash.

While waiting for the visa, it is time to get started on shots. When we went a couple of years ago, we had to get a series of shots, some before the trip and a final one after we got home. So, I called Kaiser to set the appointment with the Travel Nurse to discuss what shots and meds that we may need for our trip.

Don’t forget that you need to consider the re-entry process when we return to the U.S. The first choice would be to get the Global Entry paperwork done before hand, but that means going to San Francisco to do the interview. A pain in the back side. Also, after you fill out the documents and pay the fee, you can still end up waiting months before you get your conditional approval. Additionally, after you get the conditional approval, you need that to sign up for the interview, but it could be several more months before you can go in for your interview. You can get an interview on the fly if you return from an international trip and land at one of the several dozen airports that allow it, you can do your interview there after you disembark, but before you leave the passport control area. Check with the folks at Global Entry for more info. Also, since our Pre-Check was expiring, we had to renew it because of the long delay in getting Global Entry.

The second option is using the app on your phone called Mobile Passport.  I wrote about it earlier and did an uppdate here.  We chose the Mobil Passport. ***This is now called the CBP-MPC which stands for Customs and Border Protection’s Mobil Passport Control. Learn more about it here from the CBP website. It is an App that you install on your phone. 

Once all of that is in process, we can finally book the trip and buy the travel insurance. I will talk more about that part of it in a follow-up blog post.

Just in case you were wondering about why we are going to Kenya and Tanzania, it is so that we can see the great migration.  You know, the migration of hundreds of thousands of animals that you have seen on the National Geographic Channel.

The bottom line is that we are turning more dreams into memories. You should be doing the same.

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Turning Dreams into Memories,
One Vacation at a Time.
Bon Voyage!!!

As you might guess, this document is a compilation of information from our travels as well as from other travelers. I hope it has been of value to you.  Check out the important links below.

Don’t hesitate to email us when you return from your trip with any suggestions that will make this document better for you and your fellow travelers!

You may also want to visit our Facebook page, www.Facebook.com/TeamEdwardsTravel

What Do You Have in Your Essential Cruising Carry-on Bag?

Picture of small back pack

Although men and women may see this list differently, I believe this list will meet the needs of both, especially when you consider what they each may already have in their pockets, purse or fanny pack.  Everything noted here would easily fit into a lightweight backpack (day-pack), like the kids use for their book bag in school these days.  And, to make things easier for all, I will suggest that everything that you both need is laid out on the bed, then packed into the two backpacks so that each of you is carrying an equal amount of weight; maybe the guy will carry a little extra.  Yes, I am over 60 and I am a gentleman. 🙂

The essential carry-on bag –

travel documents toothbrush/toothpaste
book or Kindle/deck of cards hand lotion (3 oz or less in Ziploc bag)
smart phone or cell phone germicidal hand cleaner (in Ziploc bag)
lightweight jacket/windbreaker bottle of water
medicines camera/memory cards/batteries/
ear plugs MP3 player
sunglasses/reading glasses if needed Ziploc bags
shorts, shirt/blouse, sandals watch/jewelry
mini flashlight/binoculars folding tote bag/fanny pack
pen and notepad sun screen (3 oz or less in Ziploc bag)
international diver’s strobe light  (if you are worried about falling overboard)
your money, except for a few small bills, should be in your money belt.

Each person should have his or her own passport, identification, money, etc… in their own carry-on bag. In fact, the money, except for a few small bills should be in your money belt. Don’t include aerosols; use pump sprays in your carry-on bag.

If you stayed the night before departure in a hotel, then you may want to transfer some stuff from your luggage to your carry-on bag and vice versa.  Depending upon the flight and the amount of time I expected to be sitting in the airport, I may have had my phone chargers and even a portable DVD player or mp3 player and charger in my carry-on bag for the flight.  On the other hand, my pocket-knife or mini-Leatherman would have been in my luggage.  I will put the chargers and DVD player back in the luggage and the pocket-knife in my pocket so that my carry-on is lighter and only has what I will need until my luggage has arrived at my cabin.

When I get on the ship and find my cabin, I will change into my shorts, short sleeve shirt and sandals, maybe grab a book, and head up on deck to enjoy the departure.  Only when it is time to dress for dinner, will I actually wonder if my luggage is in my cabin. If it’s not, then it will be casual dress for dinner, with a quick check with the cabin steward to ask about the luggage.

You will see that the laptop is not on the above list.  If I do have to bring it, it will be in my backpack.  I am trying to leave it at home.  I can do most everything I need to do on the smart phone, except easily update my websites.  I can even update my blog with my smart phone. If I save enough money, maybe I will add a tablet or notebook to the list.  Have I missed anything? Is there something you would add to this checklist?

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Turning Dreams into Memories,
One Vacation at a Time.
Bon Voyage!!!

As you might guess, this document is a compilation of information from our travels as well as from other travelers. I hope it has been of value to you.  Check out the important links below.

Don’t hesitate to email us when you return from your trip with any suggestions that will make this document better for you and your fellow travelers!

You may also want to visit our Facebook page, www.Facebook.com/TeamEdwardsTravel

Taking a Test Run on Your European Vacation

BART Ticket Machine

Just a few weeks ago, a friend was asking about our wedding anniversary trip to Europe back in 2014. Said that he wanted to take his wife on a similar trip in the fall of 2016 for their 25th wedding anniversary. I told him that I would be happy to help them put together a trip, but that I expected him to do a test run before that.

What, a test run? Yes, since we learned so much from our first trip to Europe in 2013 which made out trip in 2014 so much better, I realized that my friend needed to really experience traveling the way we did so that he could avoid the pain of hauling 2 large roller bags and 2 carry on bags and 2 personal bags like we did in 2013. I even remember watching a Rick Steves video where he suggested loading you bags and taking short weekend trip to get the feel of how much a pain the excess baggage can be. (Here is a link to the Rick Steves video as well as other packing light videos.)

It does not make sense to most of us because we generally travel in the US and are only hauling bags from the baggage claim area to the rental car bus and from the bus to the rental car and from there to the hotel room.  When we traveled to Europe, we used public transit, not rental cars. When you take trains, some of which are double deckers, and take metro lines some of which are three flights of long stairs below ground, without an elevator, you learn quickly what a pain in the back it is to haul those heavy 50 pound roller bags up and down stairs.

So, I told him that he should take a test run of a trip that uses the same type of transportation that he would use in Europe, and of course, to load their suitcases as if they were headed to Europe. First of all, they will take the Capital Corridor train from Sacramento to Richmond, transfer to the BART Metro Train from Richmond to San Francisco. Depending upon which hotel they staying at, they can get off at Embarcadero, Montgomery, Powell or Civic Center, etc… From there, they walk to their hotel, hauling their suitcases.

Then, while in San Francisco, they should spend a day on one of the hop-on hop-off buses to take a tour of the city. Get off and enjoy the various stops just like they might do in Paris. This is a great way to get the feel for a city that you have never visited before. You get to get a look at all of the main sights so that you can decide which ones you want to visit and spend more time exploring.  I think they enjoy food as much as we do and they should check out the great Farmer’s Market at the Ferry Building.

Of course, he should plan for a nice 24th anniversary dinner with his wife and enjoy a wonderful test run visit to San Francisco.

eBagsWeekender

eBags TLS Mother Lode Weekender Convertible

 

How much do you want to bet that they will lighten the load before they take their big trip in 2016. As I mentioned earlier, we went from 2 large roller bags and 2 carry on bags and 2 personal bags to 2 backpack style carry on bags and 2 small backpacks like our kids use for their books in high school. Take a look at my earlier post about suitcases.

If you have not tired this trip, you should do it if you live anywhere within a hundred miles or so of San Francisco. We just did a similar trip. We spent 5 days at our timeshare in Napa and did two day trips into San Francisco. We drove from Napa to the El Cerrito BART station and took the train into the Embarcadero station in San Francisco. Spent the day at the Farmer’s Market on Saturday. On Sunday, we made a return trip and got on the hop-on hop-off bus for a day trip throughout the city. We hopped off and on, did a lot of walking through Chinatown and various other areas. A great trip. No downtown SF parking challenges either. Of course, since we were staying in Napa, we only had our small backpacks because you always want to carry a jacket with you, maybe some snacks for a little picnic lunch as well.

If you have never used public transit, or BART or other types of metro train systems, you really do want to try those things out here in the US where at least you can read the signs. Don’t wait until you get to Europe to learn. Most transit systems are organized by the names of the stops at each end of the line. For example, the BART train that I noted here today is the Richmond-Daly City line. When you are looking for the right train, because several different trains use the same underground tracks, look for the name of the town at the end of the line in the direction you are traveling. I think BART has 5 or 6 lines. Some are not in use on weekends so you have to be ready to use a different line to get where you are going. Also, you put your ticket in the slot to get into the station and you put it in the slot again to exit. If you did not put enough $ when you bought the ticket, you will have to add $ to it to get out of the station. For example, currently the cost from the El Cerrito station to the Civic Center is $5.40. If you bought 2 $5 tickets because you were in a rush, you will get into the station and get to the Civic Center station, but you have to take each ticket to the machine on the wall to add an extra $.40 to each one to exit the station.

Check out this video on how to buy BART tickets.

I recently created a page on this topic with several videos for you. Check it out.

Remember, life is short, vacation today. You can always rest later. Don’t wait until “sometime” to see the world. If you wait until then, you may not be able to do it. Do it while your health is good.

———————————————————————-

Turning Dreams into Memories,
One Vacation at a Time.
Bon Voyage!!!

As you might guess, this document is a compilation of information from our travels as well as from other travelers. I hope it has been of value to you.  Check out the important links below.

Don’t hesitate to email us when you return from your trip with any suggestions that will make this document better for you and your fellow travelers!

You may also want to visit our Facebook page, www.Facebook.com/TeamEdwardsTravel

Suitcases — Update

ebags Backpack

As I said in my earlier post about going with the backpack style carry-on bags, I would do a follow-up story to tell you how it went.

First, a little more background on my efforts. I did a sample pack with enough clothes to make up 20+ outfits. Packed it and left it for 3 weeks then opened it up to check to see how wrinkled the clothes were. I packed 8 short sleeved shirts, two long pants, 2 shorts, underwear for a week and my DOP kit. I used the techniques shown on RickSteves.com.  Best of all, the total weight was about 22 pounds. I can carry that and it will fit in the overhead of any airline that we planned to use during our trip to Europe in the spring of 2014.

Since we planned a week in Malta and a couple of days in Barcelona, prior to our 12 day cruise on the Mediterranean, we split our packing into two parts. First of all, we packed a 24″ roller bag with our cruise clothes. Both my clothes and my wife’s clothes. I pre-ordered the rental of my tux on the ship so that I did not have to pack a suit or sportcoat and slacks. All of my wife’s dresses would take up less space and weight  less than one sportcoat, so I figured that it would be well worth the cost. Since it was a 12 day cruise, we needed enough clothes for a dozen outfits for each of us and a pair of dress shoes in addition to the shoes that I would wear to Malta. Also, since we had our carry-on backpacks from the week in Malta, we would have some extra clothes there as well. The roller only weighed in at about 35 pounds. Quite a drastic reduction from two 48 pound roller bags the year earlier.

We were not going to be using the “cruise clothes” in Malta and since we did not want to haul the roller bag to Malta and back, we made arrangements to drop the roller bag off at Citadines, the hotel we were using when we returned to Barcelona the following week.  I planned a 6 hour layover in Barcelona before heading to Malta so that we had time to put our carry-on bags in the locker at the airport, take the R2 train into downtown and the L3 metro to our hotel to drop off the roller bag. The staff at the Citadines locked our bag in their secure storage room and it was there waiting for us when we returned a week later. We even had time to walk the La Rambla and enjoy some tapas and a cold beer before heading back to the airport.

As many of you know, most timeshare condos have a laundry room or a washer and dryer in the room. The place in Malta had a laundry room, so, on the night before the last day at the condo in Malta, I put on my bathing suit, and went to the laundry room and washed everything else. That meant that we would have week’s worth of clean clothes to add to what we packed in the roller bag and left in Barcelona.

I know you are just waiting to hear how it went. It went great but I know that we can go lighter next year. I still had too many shirts and pants and not enough underwear. My wife had a couple of outfits that she didn’t wear as well. Doing the week in the timeshare before the cruise worked out well because we had access to a washer and dryer which meant that we could get along with fewer clothes.  The other thing that worked out well is that by sharing one checked bag and having a week’s worth of clothes in our carry-on bags, we did not have to worry about a lost bag. Fortunately we did not have a lost bag and could change clothes as often as we wanted during the cruise.

Already looking forward to next year’s vacation, especially since we will be going to Africa for a couple of weeks before we spend a week in Myrtle Beach for a family re-union. That means that we will need one set of clothes for the safari and an entirely different set of clothes for a week on the beach because it will be winter in South Africa and summer in Myrtle Beach.

———————————————————————-

Turning Dreams into Memories,
One Vacation at a Time.
Bon Voyage!!!

As you might guess, this document is a compilation of information from our travels as well as from other travelers. I hope it has been of value to you.  Check out the important links below.

Don’t hesitate to email us when you return from your trip with any suggestions that will make this document better for you and your fellow travelers!

You may also want to visit our Facebook page, www.Facebook.com/TeamEdwardsTravel

Suitcases and Travel

ebags Backpack

I don’t know about you, but after our trip to Europe last year where we hauled our suitcases on and off the metro and the trains and airplanes, and up and down three flights of stairs in the metro, I don’t want to have to go through that again.

At the time, I did not think that we had really over-packed by too much.  We were going to be gone for about 21 days and even planned to stop to do laundry about 10 to 12 days into the trip.  We each had one checked bag and one carry-on bag and one personal bag.  The personal bag had our medicine, travel docs, one change of clothes, my kindle and snacks. Nothing was over-weight; but when you figure that the checked bags were close to 48 pounds each and the carry-on bags were about 20 pounds each, that added up to a lot of stuff to carry. The three flights up from the metro station to the street was the final straw. We were going to pack lighter next time.

I bet you would think about what you needed to bring with you if you went through something similar. In fact, I challenge you to experiment before you leave home. Pack your bags, get on a bus or a train or the metro locally, haul your things to a hotel in a town a hundred miles or so away from home, carry your stuff to your room and then decide it it was too much.

Well, it is almost time for the next trip to Europe. We spent many hours over the past few months studying and watching seminars.  I really liked the RickSteves.com video on packing light. I also looked at one from PackingLight.com that demonstrated how to travel with the equivalent of enough clothes for 60 outfits that will fit into a carry-on.  Unfortunately the video from PackingLight.com is no longer available online. In both cases you would have to wash underwear and sox every couple of days to make their packing plans work. Well, I only needed to have 20-30 outfits for our trip, which meant that I could bring extra underwear and sox and not have to hand wash them every night or two, so that looked pretty good to me. Still need to find out if my existing carry-on bags would work or if I wanted to buy  a new convertable bag that could be used as a backpack or hand carried luggage so that my hands were free when we hopped on and off the metro.

Before spending any money on a new carry-on bag, I also looked at what airlines allowed in the way of carry-on bags since it seemed that every airline had their own rules, especially the smaller airlines in Europe. So, to save you from having to do the same research, here is the results of our research. What you will see is a summary of several airlines rules followed by a summary of luggage that you own then a table showing examples of replacement carry-on luggage. I deleted the specifics of my luggage to leave you space to print out this article and to enter your info so that you can do your own survey. Click here for more on Packing Light.

American Airlines

Type of Bag

Size

Weight
Checked Bag Max of 62” HWD 50#
Carry On Max of 45” 22x14x9 40#
Personal Bag Max of 36”

British Airways

Type of Bag

Size

Weight
Checked Bag Max of 35.5×29.5×16 50# or 23kg
Carry On 22x18x10 or a total of 50” 50# or 23kg
Personal Bag 16x12x6 or a total of 34”  50# or 23kg

Veuling Airlines

Type of Bag

Size

Weight
Checked Bag Max of 62” HWD 50# or 23kg
Carry On 21.65×15.78×7.87 22# or 10kg for carry on and personal bags combined.
Personal Bag purse/briefcase/laptop

As of January 2018, Ryanair’s cabin baggage policy will change. Only priority boarding passengers will be permitted to take one small bag (35 x 20 x 20cm), plus a larger cabin bag (55 x 40 x 20cm) with a maximum weight allowance of 10kg into the cabin.

Alaska Airlines

Type of Bag

Size

Weight
Checked Bag Max of 62” HWD 50#
Carry On 24x17x10=51” 25#
Personal Bag purse/briefcase/laptop/daypack

 

Fill in Your Currently Used Wheeled & Non Wheeled Bags
Description of Bag Size in Height, Width and Depth  Total Size

 

Convertible Backpack Style Carry-on Bags

Name

Size

Weight

Wheels

Price
eBags eTech 2.0 Weekender- *3091 cubic inches 22x14x9 2#12oz No $75
eBags Motherlode Weekender Expandable-*3299 to 3651 22x14x9 4# No $80
Rick Steves Classic Back Door Bag *2500 cubic inches 21x14x9 3# No $80
Rick Steves Convertible Carry On (expandable)*2500-3000 21x14x9 3# No $100
Rick Steves Rolling Backpack *1960 cubic inches 20x14x7 5.5# Yes $160
Eagle Creek EC Weekender *2500 cubic inches 20x13x8 2#9oz No $150
 *The numbers above with the asterisk is advertised cubic inches of space within the suitcase.

You should know that if you go for wheels, you will give up about 20% of the total carrying capacity.  Also, most airlines have a restriction on how long wheeled bags can be for carry-on purposes because the wheels stick out beyond the end of the bag. EBags have lifetime warranty. They also have shoulder strap at no extra cost. It is $10 extra for Rick Steves Bags. Eagle Creek has a “no excuses” warranty. External compression straps cover bottom half of case with Rick Steves bags and the whole bag with eBags. This last item is important if you are trying to squash the bag down to fit in the overhead. Prices were online prices in March 2014.

After watching the webinars and doing the reading and re-thinking what I really needed to bring on my trip, it was time to decide to either stay with my existing roller type carry-on or buy a new convertible carry-on.  I bit the bullet and bought the convertible carry-on because I knew that it would be much easier when we were on and off the metro trains.

But, will it all really fit like they showed on the videos?  It was time to pack my carry-on suitcase to verify what I had learned. I also wanted to see how wrinkled everything got when things were scrunched down with the compression straps. So, I decided to try out the packing method showed on the Packing Light video. I was able to pack 4 pants, 7 shirts, 1 sport coat, 7 sets of underwear, my DOP kit and a few other items. Total weight was only 20 pounds, including the carry-on bag. I did not put in an extra pair of shoes or sox, but I will probably put the DOP kit in my personal bag and replace it with the shoes and sox and the weight will be about the same. Now I need to follow the advise on Rick Steves’ website and go downtown and walk around for a while. Better yet, take the bus or the metro to town, do some window shopping and come home. I bet I will be taking out some things when I get home.

I will get back with you after I take a test run with the new bag.

———————————————————————-

Turning Dreams into Memories,
One Vacation at a Time.
Bon Voyage!!!

As you might guess, this document is a compilation of information from our travels as well as from other travelers. I hope it has been of value to you.  Check out the important links below.

Don’t hesitate to email us when you return from your trip with any suggestions that will make this document better for you and your fellow travelers!

You may also want to visit our Facebook page, www.Facebook.com/TeamEdwardsTravel

Your Personal First Aid Kit — Over-the-Counter Meds

meds

You are on vacation, in a foreign country, enjoying a walking tour of a new city. You grabbed a quick and tasty lunch from a sidewalk vendor. But, as the afternoon progresses, you feel the onset of an upset stomach and you just know that you will soon be dealing with a bad case of diarrhea! Your dream vacation is quickly turning into the vacation from you-know-where.

If you were at home, you might just call your doctor; but more-than-likely, you would just go to the medicine cabinet or run down to the local pharmacy and buy an over-the-counter remedy such as Pepto-Bismol to deal with the problem. Even if you were traveling in the US, you would still feel comfortable dealing with the problem. Of course, if the symptoms persisted, you would surely call your doctor.

But, you are not in the US. You are in Mexico or Germany or France, etc…  You cannot read or speak the language other than to say, “¿Dónde está el baño, por favor?” or “Wo ist die Toilette, bitte?” or “Où est la toilette, s’il vous plaît?”.

Did you bring your trusted over-the-counter meds with you on this trip? If not, do you know how to find something locally to take care of your problem? Does your travel first aid kit contain something besides bandaids, Neosporin or Bactine and your favorite sun block to keep from getting a sun burn?

For our discussion today, I will only be discussing how you might be better prepared to deal with common problems that you have always treated with available over-the-counter meds. I am not a doctor and I am not giving medical advice; just sharing some common sense thoughts with you. I am just reminding you that in addition to the prescription drugs that you are sure to bring on your trip, in the original containers with the prescription info label still intact, have you thought about how you will deal with life’s daily problems of cuts, bruises, insect bites, sunburn, headaches, sleepless nights, or nausea, because it may be very difficult to find what you need in Timbucktu.

Before I get completely into this discussion, please keep a few very important things in mind.

 

  1. Have you used these meds at home? Being on vacation in a foreign country is not the time or place to be trying out something new. I am sure you have seen the commercials on TV about this new drug or that new drug. You know what I mean. The one that says it will cure your depression, but the side effects are thoughts of suicide, etc… Over-the-counter drugs can have side effects too. Many of the anti-itch preparations can cause contact dermatitis which can be worse that the itching you started with. If you have not tried it at home, don’t take it on the trip. An allergic reaction could be much worse than your original problem.
  2. Have you read the labels of your commonly used over-the-counter drugs? It is too easy to overdose on something if you take more than one medication for what may appear to be two different symptoms.

 

For example, let’s say that it is the end of a very long day of viewing the tulips and all the other beautiful flowers at Keukenhof Gardens in Amsterdam.  You are developing a slight rash on your arm where you brushed up against some prickly plants earlier in the day, you have a splitting head ache, maybe from the wine at dinner, compounded by your allergies to all the pollen at the Gardens.

2013-05-13 11.09.06

 

You rub on some generic anti-itch cream to stop the itching. Now, all you really want to do is to take a Benadryl for your allergy symptoms and get some sleep so you will quit scratching your arm. You take a couple of Generic Tylenol PM and go off to bed.

Guess what, you just took three doses of the same medication.  You took a 25mg capsule of Benadryl for the allergy symptoms. You also rubbed the same thing on the hives on your arm with the anti-itch cream. Your anti-itch cream contains as it’s active ingredient, Diphenhydramine Hydrocloride.  That is Benadryl, too. And, if that is not enough, you should know that the sleep aid in the Tylenol PM is another 25mg of Benadryl in each caplet. If you had read the package for any of the three products, they all say that they contain Diphenhydramine Hydrocloride and that you should not use it if you are taking any other product that contains the same ingredient, topically or orally.

Now that you know that generic Tylenol PM contains Benadryl, maybe you don’t even need to bring the generic Tylenol PM along on the trip. If you are already packing Benadryl and generic Tylenol, you are all set.

Before I leave the topic of Benadryl, keep in mind that in Amsterdam it may still be considered a controlled substance. Many countries have different rules on drugs than we do in the USA. Check with your doctor to be sure you can take it with you.

So, rather than to tell you what you should bring along, I will talk about what I bring along when I travel.

As you might have guessed, I always travel with Pepto-Bismol. I take the caplets rather than the liquid or chewables. Of course, I always have Excedrin and Tylenol or generic replacements.

101_0694

Catching a cold or dealing with allergies when you are on vacation is a real pain in the back side, so I always bring along the meds I am used to using.

101_0697

Based upon the second scenario above, you could also guess that I bring along Benadryl or a generic copy of it and the anti itch Benadryl cream.

101_0693
101_0690

I usually carry two types of anti-itch cream. One is the Benadryl cream above and the other will be the Hydrocortizone cream such as Cortizone 10 in the photo below.  In Europe, I found that you can only get a 0.5% cortisone cream over-the-counter, but here in the US, it is a 1% cream. Below you will see what we picked up in Germany and France as well as the US brand that we usually bring.

101_0689

If you don’t use Cortizone or Benadryl creams, maybe you use the aloe vera products. Here is what I bring along, especially if I am going to be enjoying time in the sun. I find that I want to have some aloe gel after a long day in the sun or wind.

With that background in mind, what do you look for when you are in a foreign country and you didn’t bring along your personal over-the-counter first aid kit?  Well, first of all, if you are still in Amsterdam suffering from allergies, forget about finding Benadryl in the local pharmacy as an over-the-counter medication. I read recently that you cannot get it without a doctor’s prescription. You can buy pot over-the-counter in Amsterdam, but not Benadryl. You will need to ask for a generic antihistamine for your allergy problem.

Fortunately for you, most pharmacies have someone working there who can speak a little English so you can still go in and ask for an antihistamine, or a cold medicine or an allergy medicine.  I have no idea about what you will get, but it won’t be what you are used to taking. The best plan here would be to have brought some along on the trip.  I have read that in parts of Europe you might ask for or look for Benocten or Nautamine as a substitute, but I suggest that you ask your personal physician about these products to make sure.

The best solution is to have planned ahead. I would always recommend that before you travel you set up an appointment with your doctor.  Tell your doctor what you take in the way of over-the-counter meds and ask for recommendations for similar products in the countries where you will be traveling.  As noted above, make sure you know the active ingredients on the products you use and I would suggest that you even write them down so that you can share that info with a pharmacy if it is necessary. There is also a website that you can use, http://www.drugs.com/international/ that will allow you to type in the name of the medicine you are looking for and will provide info about what to look for in another country.

When you meet with your personal doctor to make sure that you are up-to-date with any needed shots; he may refer you to the Travel Clinic in the hospital. You can download a list of required shots from the Department of State website for the countries you will be visiting.

I would also make sure to get my doctor’s phone number and email address so that I could make contact if necessary.  It is amazing how easy it is to take a photo, of the hives for example, and email it directly to your doctor so that he or she can see what you are dealing with when you make contact from your smart phone while on vacation in Germany or France or wherever you are visiting.

The bottom line here is to plan ahead. Do your homework so that you really know what over-the-counter meds you are currently taking so that you can determine if there are generic equivalents available and exactly what is in each of them. Yes, I know that the names of the drugs are long, complicated and difficult to say, but they are easy enough to write out so that you can see if you are accidentally putting yourself into an overdose situation by taking what you thought were safe over-the-counter meds. They may have been safe when taken individually, but in combination, there could be issues.

One final comment about medical issues while traveling abroad. If you are on a cruise, and you have a medical issue that causes you to break out in hives or some other malady so that you look like you may be contagious and you could infect the rest of the passengers, don’t be surprised if they confine you and your family to your cabin and ultimately put you off the boat in the next port and refuse to let you back on.

Did you check to see if your medical insurance covered you while in a foreign country? Probably not. Most of us don’t think to do that. Can you just imagine being in that situation?

Here you are, stranded in a foreign country, you don’t speak the language, you are ill, don’t know how to find a doctor or hospital. You don’t have any extra money to cover your hospital or medical expenses or a hotel room and meals for the rest of the family. Hopefully, you did buy trip insurance that will cover your medical issues in a foreign country as well as get you back home when you have recovered.  Think about that the next time your travel agent asks you if you want to buy trip insurance. If you don’t have an extra few thousand dollars in the bank, you could be up the creek without the paddle.

———————————————————————-

Turning Dreams into Memories,
One Vacation at a Time.
Bon Voyage!!!

As you might guess, this document is a compilation of information from our travels as well as from other travelers. I hope it has been of value to you.  Check out the important links below.

Don’t hesitate to email us when you return from your trip with any suggestions that will make this document better for you and your fellow travelers!

You may also want to visit our Facebook page, www.Facebook.com/TeamEdwardsTravel