Travelling light? Carry-on baggage: overseas travel

[Marquise]

I will say one thing: when they say to pack light when you go to Venice, they mean it. Every block connected by stone bridges means there are no carts and the wheels on your luggage don't work. What you carry, you carry for several blocks between your hotel and the nearest vaporetto stop.

My husband and I went to Italy a few years ago when I had a business meeting in Rome, and the first week we walked many, many miles up and down the hills of Rome. I'd been to Italy before but my husband hadn't. On the train to Venice he said he was looking forward to Venice being flat and I didn't have the heart to tell him we'd be climbing up and down stairs every time we crossed a canal. I had to have a computer and business clothes for work but otherwise we'd packed pretty light. It was an unseasonably cold March and we had to layer what we had to stay warm.

We got royally lost one night in Venice, walked in a great circle and found ourselves back where we'd been when we first realized we were lost. A tiny woman in a fur coat saw us peering at a map by the light of a shop window and asked "Can I help you?" but after that all she had was Italian. I came up with hotel (albergo?) and when she asked "Dove?" I initially blanked on the hotel name. Then it came to me and she walked with us three or four blocks and pointed us to the stairway leading to our hotel.

Navigating Venice in the rain was fun, with constant maneuvering of umbrellas up and down in narrow walkways so as not to hit those of people walking in the opposite direction. Fortunately, we had packed an umbrella.

[OakLeaf]

Fortunately, we had packed an umbrella.

Now see? That's an item I always save space on the outbound trip. If I don't need one, then space is saved in both directions. And if I do...

Just this very afternoon I got a compliment on the umbrella I bought in Valencia. And the ones I bought in Vienna and in Amsterdam always bring a smile to my face.

A lighter packer could just buy a cheap umbrella at the destination and give it to a homeless person or "forget" it at a train station before they leave.

[salsabike]

Now see? That's an item I always save space on the outbound trip. If I don't need one, then space is saved in both directions. And if I do...

Just this very afternoon I got a compliment on the umbrella I bought in Valencia. And the ones I bought in Vienna and in Amsterdam always bring a smile to my face.

Oh, I like that. Umbrellas from around the world with memories attached...Nice.