Lord Byron had a lot of luggage

[austin_dern]

My parents are off on their journey to a whole other continent. I mentioned the silliness at the Russian Consulate in New York City. But the visas went through. Since the tour is in part a river cruise my parents will be in a cramped cabin, and so my mother was taking out luggage of sizes to find the right paradox (compact yet spacious). My father waited to the evening before to start figuring out what suitcases were available and to learn that he had in a moment of weakness returned the luggage of my brother and his wife to my brother and his wife. He asked if I had a suitcase as compact as the one my mother got at the Target (the one that otherwise sells me soda and peanut butter cups) a few months ago, which I don't. If I had my way my luggage would possibly fit in a containerized cargo box. The forty-foot units. I offered my canvas-satchel suitcase, though, and emptied that out, which you'd think I might have done in the preceding eight months (there were just a few little things in it, like a Singapore Trix cereal toy, of the Trix Rabbit in tae kwan do garb, which concept worried me), and an hour or so after I turned it over to him he returned it, saying he would use something else.

My mother borrowed my camera, so I spent time showing how to attach the wide-angle lens -- and take it off -- and how to unload photographs and if need be replace the memory card. I hoped she wouldn't ask too many details about the different modes since the truth is I barely know what the camera buttons do. It took me two years to learn how to set manual focus. But as long as I stick to the mode where I control this thing that can be 0.0, 0.3, 0.7, or 1.0 in positive or negative then my photographs are fine except when I need to do something like take a picture in the darkest night. She didn't, though, and she's confident of the work she can do. Now all I have to worry about is the knowledge that a few years ago she lost her whole pocketbook when she made the perfectly ordinary mistake of leaving it unattended at a sidewalk cafe while she went to the bathroom. I'm sure that wouldn't happen again.

Trivia: Two committees of the United States Maritime Administration, the American Standards Association's Materials Handling Sectional Committee 5, and the International Standards Organization's Technical Committee 104 set standards for containerized cargo. Sometimes even working together. Source: The Box, Marc Levinson.

Currently Reading: Doctor to the Stars, Murray Leinster.

Comments

[chefmongoose.livejournal.com]

I have once managed to pack all my luggage into a manageable entirely in carry-on form, for a trip.

Of course, the day prior to my flight. they caught some criminals in Britain, and as I was carrying liquids or gels, I had to check it.

--Chiaroscuro

[austin-dern.livejournal.com]

I actually fit my stuff in carry-on for a week-long trip once, but that was during the height of summer so I could use my shorts for everything (saving a lot of space) and I had assured laundry facilities (saving more). And it was a short flight (pair of flights, actually), maybe four hours in total each way, so the books needed were most compact. And that was even back when the Security Theater was mostly limited to asking people if they were a terrorist before boarding.

[chefmongoose.livejournal.com]

I'm better than I have been; I had the experience last Anthrocon of needing to re-use a single sock, and not needing one shirt and one pair of underwear; That's just about the perfect balance.

I saved space on the way back by losing my camera bag, but I'm only halfway through my con report for this year, and I'll get to that.

[austin-dern.livejournal.com]

See, my packing planning starts with the assumption that I'll need clothes for one or two days more than I'm staying -- and I pack extra underwear and socks on top of that since they get lost easily. And in my carry-on, then, I figure I need one or two days in case my luggage is lost, and so I have to pack with extra clothes for that contingency, and before you know it, there I am, back to packing a forty-foot cargo unit.

[chefmongoose.livejournal.com]

Somewhat the same, except I don't figure on wearing all my clothes, nor plan on delays nor losses. I just have the need to pack potential outfits, which means carrying around a miniature version of my closet.

This year I finally made the mental breakthrough that at Anthrocon, I would be getting a free staff T-shirt, and could reduce my number by one accordingly. It only took 6 years of free staff T-shirts- two of them, one year- to make this leap, too.

--Chiaroscuro

[austin-dern.livejournal.com]

Oh, now, I would never trust in the existence of clothing being there to meet me. My limit was drawn at trusting that in winter my father would bring my jacket to the airport so I wouldn't have to lug it to and back from Singapore. It doesn't help that much of my winter-suitable clothing was stowed away in places nobody thought worth telling me.