Packing and Luggage
A general rule of packing seems to be that it always takes longer than you expect…even when you expect it to take longer than you expect.
I plan to make a future post on packing and some of the essential items that have made their way into our packing list, but for now I’ll limit the discussion to luggage.
Yuling and I have both come to prefer the duo of a small backpack and a carry-on sized, hard-sided suitcase. Because Eva Air has a carry on weight limit of 7 kg (or 15 lbs), our carry-ons won’t actually be carried on, but when it comes to train travel, we found we like the hard-sided suitcases because they stand better on their own. This means they don’t have the tendency to tip over when you take your eyes off of them.
So what made the cut for carry on?
- A change of clothes. (Useful not only if your bag is delayed, but also if you spill a drink on yourself).
- Travel pillow. I really prefer this style of pillow, compared to the traditional neck pillows.
- Charging cables and lithium-ion battery.
- Medication
- Extra jacket
- Kindle
Unexpected Delays
We left home via a Lyft at about 10:30 pm for a 1:20 am flight. What is normally less than a 30 min drive dragged on for about an hour and 10 minutes. A traffic accident near the terminal caused a 30 minute delay between the freeway and the curb-side drop off.
Thankfully there was no line at the check in counter or at the security checkpoint. Yuling and I are now sleepily waiting in the South Satellite gates for the flight to begin boarding.
The flight is serviced by a Boeing 777 in a 3-3-3 seating configuration in Economy. Yuling and I have an aisle/middle combo. Despite booking this flight so close to the day of departure, we had no problems selecting seats near each other.
I was hoping to get in a movie before falling asleep on the 13 hour flight, but at this rate I’m not sure I’ll make it to takeoff.
