Hello travellers
My next trip is to Sydney – visiting the Garvan Institute for a symposium. I would usually just go early on the day, but daylight savings has started and we Queenslanders do not assimilate, so I have no desire to get to the airport by 4:30 on a Monday morning. Sheesh – I have about a one hour drive to get to the airport which makes it a diabolical start time for me.
I’ve been a varied packer in the past. As a fairly inexperienced traveller, I used to take a large suitcase with more clothes, shoes, etc than I needed. Years of waiting at carousels and dragging massive suitcases around has made me a champion packer. I generally travel with carry-on baggage only – a small silver Samsonite spinner and a large handbag which also doubles as my laptop bag. This works really well for making a quick escape out of the airport, but it’s a killer on the back and shoulder. The age old problem – save time or save your back!
I own so many suitcases, laptop bags and handbags, it’s the eternal search for the perfect combination. I’ve done a lot of research and haven’t really found the perfect solution. I will confess that I want my luggage to be “pretty” as well as robust and functional. Not gonna happen, right? I am continuing my search however and I’ve recruited a number of fellow female travellers to be on the lookout as well.
At this stage, I’m going to start carrying a toolbox again – I’m able to do some nice user maintenance on my robots when I visit them, so I’d like to have the right tools with me. I have a great little toolbox, but of course it needs to be checked in, so I figure if I have to wait for my toolbox, I may as well pack it in a suitcase and check my baggage as well. I am actually quite excited to try this again – imagine… get off plane, bio-break, grab coffee, check mail/messages THEN swoop in and gracefully retrieve my baggage from the carousel – that works, right?!
Anyway, that’s the plan, I may need to buy a new medium-sized suitcase 😉
Until next time,
xdesleyjane
musingsofafrequentflyingscientist.com 
From a girl who does FIFO for work and is now spending 4 weeks bouncing around USA and 2 weeks in UK the medium size suitcase is fine till you start buying things to take home then space becomes and issue. Also the whole off plan, bio-breake, coffee, swoop and get bags off carousel never works that smoothly but it sounds good in theory.
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Right?! I’m all for theory! 😉
It’s not going to be smooth but those times when I have to wait for my toolbox, I’ll give it the ol’ college try! And I’ll try not to complain too much…
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