Packing

We've taken over John's room downstairs as our staging area. We're pretending we are leaving "tomorrow" so we can finalize the packing process way early so as to avoid any last minute hiccups. All the gear we've accumulated these last few months has been put in that room. We've followed the "Sea Bag" guidance posted elsewhere in this blog when gathering our clothes and personal items. Now it's time to pack.

Besides wishing to have the last few days before departure go smoothly, another reason we are packing well ahead of time is to be sure we are not overweight with our airline baggage. Scandinavian Airline System (SAS) allows each international passenger two bags of 50 pounds each to check on, plus one 20 pound carry on. When you add up Jocelyn's, Emily's, and my allowance, you get to 360 pounds. Any amount over that would trigger an exorbitant excess baggage charge. Consequently, the packing "dry run" becomes important.

First, we put together an Excel spreadsheet listing all the items. This is so we can check off each item as it is packed, noting which bag or box it went into. Jocelyn says I have a habit when camping or going on a trip of packing and repacking my stuff to be extra sure I don't forget anything. While this may or may not be true, the checklist helps avoid uncertainty.

The next step was to try to fit everything into four duffel bags and one box. (Our new Rocna anchor will take up our sixth check-on bag allowance.) Only duffel bags are suitable because we have to be able to store the empty baggage efficiently once we arrive on the boat. (We would discard the box.) Hard sided suitcases would never do. After our first attempt, it appeared we would never be able to fit everything. Jocelyn was sure we would end up shipping a box or two to Sweden to await our arrival. I told her we would just have to try harder to pack more efficiently. She said, "there you go again, packing and repacking."

We finally arrived at the idea of abandoning the duffel bag approach in favor of boxes. We reasoned that the duffel bags were difficult to pack efficiently, and boxes would allow us to optimize use of space. In addition to weight, the airline limits the size of the bags you can check on without an additional charge. This limit is a total dimension of 62 inches. That means the length plus width plus height cannot exceed 62 inches. It was very difficult to measure the duffel bag dimensions, and we were pretty sure that at least one of the duffel bags, if stuffed fully, would exceed the limit. But box dimensions would be indisputable.

So I went down to the U-Haul store and bought some boxes that were as close as I could find to the 62 inch limit. They were actually two inches shy, so presumably could not be rejected at check in, assuming the weight restriction was met.

That left us with the task of repacking and then weighing the baggage. We don't own a bathroom scale, so our friends and next door neighbors Paul and Dawn Quaiser loaned us theirs. We then packed each if the four boxes with 49.9 pounds of stuff. We still had quite a bit left over!

The answer of course was to load up Emily's duffel bag with stuff that we would not need until July. We chose a fair amount of heavier items -- a PFD, a few books, the snorkel gear, among others -- and put these in her duffel bag. Ample space remained for her clothes and personal items, and she'll still have her carry on for more gear. Her second "bag" will be the 44 pound Rocna anchor we bought during the West Marine Port Supply friends and family sale.

So, we think we have it licked. Only a few items remain that have not been packed, and these should be able to fit in our carry ons. I am going to take the boxes (and the anchor!) to the airport when I pick up Darlene, my mother-in-law, who is arrivng next week for Emily's high school graduation. I'll weigh them on the SAS scale to make sure they don't exceed the limit. Then, we can rest easy knowing our bags are in order.

I suppose expert outfitters have a system for this kind of thing. We're just figuring it out as we go, and things seem to be working out pretty well so far. Keep your fingers crossed.