in the air: Atlanta to Milan

It is four hours later than I should be writing this, but there were multiple flight delays, as sometimes happen with international flights. At the moment, I don’t particularly mind. I fell in love with flying at night when I was seven years old. The world becomes a thing of magic, removed from the hustle and bustle by 30,000 feet. No run-down strip malls or red clay construction projects; from my window, everything is dark velvet with a spill of gold and silver glitter. Like I said. Magic. 

Enough of me having a main-character moment here. Looking out plane windows always does that to me.

Rather than focus on the negatives of today (insufficient overhead bin space, gate-checking my carryon, multiple delays, the likelihood of missing our first tour of the trip, etc etc), I want to focus on the positive: something that went very right today and something that I am thoroughly enjoying. I won’t even circle back to the window situation. Probably. 

ONE THING THAT WENT RIGHT: I packed well for gate-checking 

My plan going into this was to pack as light as possible (for me. I do know some are absolute pros at this, and I am not them). Traveling around Europe, as I learned in college, involves a lot of hauling your luggage through uncomfortable situations, unless you have the money to ease your way with private cars and drivers and such. 

[Flashback to me, a junior in college abroad for a month in France, arriving to Paris with a massive suitcase only to find that after dragging it through airports, train stations, and city sidewalks, our hostel for the first night had no elevator. Oh, and also there’s this little thing where they count the ground floor as “zero” and the second floor “first.” Aaaaand my room is on the sixth floor, by French counting. Lessons were learned, let’s just say.] 

Back to the present: I’ve been working on traveling lighter ever since that fateful climb, and over the years have traveled with less and less. However, we are staying in Italy for two weeks. My plan was to pack seven outfits at most and rewear them each, with laundry partway through thanks to our AirBNB lodgings. We’ll see if I hate it or not in a few days, but I managed to fit everything into a good backpack and a slim & light carryon. 

Now for the patting on the back part. 

Knowing that it’s common for airplanes to run out of overhead space, but wanting to try to manage with only carry-ons anyways, I chose to carry both items onboard. Inevitably, we were in the last boarding group and forced to gate-check our larger item to be reclaimed at our final destination, which wasMilan. But because I was prepared for the possibility, being separated from half of my things for 15 hours was not an issue.

In my backpack: 

- essential toiletries

- medications 

- outfit for the next day, including shoes and underwear 

- the most difficult clothing items to replace, such as particular favorites and those that fit just right 

- electronics to keep me entertained during the flights, of course 

- battery power bank & a charger cable 

- favorite sweater to represent the warm layers and also double as an extra pillow

- my alternate shoes (a pair of very comfortable flats that look dressy) 

- raincoat 

In my suitcase: 

- pjs (not essential because I wore comfy leggings and layers for the flight that could do if needed)  

- Less essential toiletries (razors, makeup, etc) (yes, makeup is preferred but not essential for me)

- Camisoles, tank tops, socks, etc. 

- Warmer layers 

- Power strip with international plug adapter 

- A tiny umbrella 

- 75% of my clothes 

When the announcement was made to gate-check our bags, there was no stress or last-minute shuffling around. I could simply hand over my bag and walk away. 

(For bonus points, I keep an AirTag in my luggage, so I was able to see when it made it to our plane during our layover; that was a comfort.) 

ONE THING I’M ENJOYING TODAY: My iPad Pro 

I don’t have a job that requires me to bring a computer on vacation for the first time in many years, so I sacrificed some of the more powerful processing to bring just my iPad. I have a lightweight Bluetooth keyboard and a tiny travel controller for gaming, but that’s it. The iPad serves as my all-in-one device for trip research, writing and posting blogs, journaling, gaming, reading, and watching TV shows. The main thing I’m missing out on actually is video editing software for making content, but it’s worth it to save those extra pounds.