Travel should be inexpensive and Fun

I have watched people at the airports and train stations, waiting to depart on their trips.  Most of the time what I see is stress.  It starts with what the traveler is trying to take with him/her.  It is not uncommon to see a couple travel with four large suitcases, not to mention the carry on bags.  Not only does that get expensive, these days (often $50 per suitcase), but the burden of having to carry, so much, keep track of it all, and risk not having something show up on the other end, is more effort and stress than it is worth.

On our first trip, together, it was our intent to make a one way trip and stay indefinitely.  That meant taking pretty much everything we had.  As a result, we each had one large suitcase, one medium case and our carry on bags.  Since that was our first trip, we had little to compare it to.  While in Germany, for the four years we stayed there, we did a lot of traveling.  Many of our excursions were relatively local, which means inside Germany.  We also made numerous trips to the surrounding countries and went as far as the Mediterranean.

There are many types of carry-ons

Each time we went on a new trip, it became easier and easier.  The reason for that is, we learned we could make the trip quite comfortably while spending less and carrying less.  Today, when we travel regardless of how long we are traveling, we each have our carry on suitcases and a small bag or small back pack.  That includes a laptop computer I take with me wherever we go.  It further means we might have to wear some articles of clothing a little longer than we are accustomed to.  It also means, if the stay is long enough (and it is not uncommon for us to go to a destination for as long as a month), we might have to find a local facility to do laundry.

In our case, it is my great fortune to have a wife who is organized enough to know the most important items to take with us and how to pack them for the best result.  Not only do we not have to pay for checked luggage, but our carry on luggage is light enough that if she can't get assistance in putting it into overhead bins, she can manage it on her own. 

To show the difficulties that accompany taking large suitcases, we returned to America in May of 1974.  When we left Berlin, we checked out larger pieces in and expected them to meet us in San Francisco.  Not only did we experience the loss of some luggage; the only things we had with us when we arrived was what we had taken on the plane with us.  We went through the long process of reporting the luggage missing, but the bottom line is, we didn't receive our luggage for almost three months after arriving.  Needless to say, we ended up having to purchase a lot of new clothing.  The consolation prize, we received an extra suitcase that was an exact match to the ones Evelyn owned.  We tried to find out who it belonged to, but the airlines didn't know and there were no clues in the suitcase.  All we know is, it was a woman's suitcase, judging by the clothing in it, and not much of it was suitable for Evelyn. 

In my next post, I will start telling of some of the interesting and yet inexpensive travel we did in Europe.