This weekend, my husband and I are taking my mother and are going on a 7-day Alaskan cruise with a huge group of friends.
What gets me all giddy? My mom, on her own without my prodding, has figured out how to pack lightly and not check any luggage! Even though it will be pretty chilly, she is doing a lot of layering to adjust to various weather conditions.
Now, unbeknownst to me (because I honestly don't keep up with social media as much as many of my friends), my husband has apparently been doing a bit of "neener-neenering" with our friends because they are all packing lots of check-in bags.
OK, so most of them are also getting on the ship from an earlier port and will be on the cruise for a total of 13 days.
But you know that that shouldn't make a difference, right? The cruise ships come with full laundromats, and everybody's packing sheets of Purex 3-1-1 laundry sheets (Purex Complete 3-in-1 Laundry Sheets. Laundry Simplified®.).
My husband and I have done a lot of 2-week (or longer) trips with just our Tom Bihn carry-ons. Honestly, once you get beyond packing for 4 days, you just change up the mix-and-match outfits, and wash some of your clothes. No biggie, right?
Well, I made the mistake of posting a mini neener-neener the other day, and I get no fewer than four replies back from my friends... and it's pretty clear that they are pretty fed up with my carry-on attitude, and they all went on the defensive about how many more days they are traveling than us, and how that justifies their big honkin' suitcases.
My husband pulls me aside and says, "We probably shouldn't gloat to our friends about our ability to pack lightly!"
I just replied, "Let's hope they don't lose their luggage!"
Seriously. Have YOU ever had your friends get defensive about not being able to pack lightly?!?