This week I traveled from Maryland to Madrid returning from my annual Christmas pilgrimage. And my trips back to Spain generally have one thing in common: too much luggage.
I typically spend the last two days of my trip trying to pack it all in and incessantly weighing the bags to make sure that I can get them on the plane without paying astronomical fees. And then, there’s the reshuffling from back to bag and inevitably all of the things that are really heavy end up in my carry-on. My wheelie bag carries all the books, a huge bag of brown sugar, my technological devices, and more. And when that gets overflowed, the backpack gets filled next. More books, more snacks, more technology.
But that means that for the next 16 hours I’m carrying that load on my literal back as well as pulling it behind me, straining my arm muscles in an effort to drag with me all the things that I believe to be “necessities.”