i traveled with a friend to india last month, and wanted to share a few pictures.
i packed in an aeronaut. inside was my synapse backpack for use at my destination.
my friend hadn't traveled to india since he was a kid, so this was a big trip for him. we talked about what to pack in - we talked about the aeronaut. he liked the idea, but had difficulty letting go of the thought that a roll aboard would be easier. i even pointed him to the beyond the smooth blog that tom wrote. but he decided that a roll aboard was best for him, which is totally fine.
the day we were traveling was a bit crazy. we are having a home constructed, and the framing walk through was scheduled for that afternoon. i had budgeted an hour, and it went two hours. my wife headed back early from the walk through, and i must have gotten home around 3:30pm after picking up some trail mix and larabars from the grocery store.
my friend had come over to our place with his wife and kids and we were going to go to the airport together from here.
the morning was also crazy, as i was trying to get some things done for work. so i hadn't packed - which isn't a big deal. i do these trips to india 2 or 3 times a year, and i know what i'm going to pack.
but my friend looked very worried when he saw that i hadn't packed.
i also usually check in and print boarding passes at home the day before the flight. austrian's check in process wasn't working. i had tried in the morning and it was erroring out. then i tried again when i came back home, and much to my surprise, they showed us on a lufthansa (LH) flight via FRA. but it still wouldn't let us check in.
so at about 4pm, we head to the airport. the austrian (OS) flight was supposed to leave at 5:30pm, and the LH flight was leaving at 5:50pm. i'm okay with this. my friend is very concerned.
we arrived at IAD and went to the OS/LH counter to check in and both got aisle seats. they didn't have our vegetarian meal requests - i guess it was too late when OS passed us over to LH. we weren't sure what would happen with the meals, so we grabbed some chipotle before boarding our flight.
the person checking us in asked if we had checked bags, and we said that we only had carry ons. i had my aeronaut, and a wandering monk meditation chair. i decided to take this instead of the crazy creek camping chair behind this time. she asked me to turn so she could see aeronaut and was fine with its size.
she saw my friend's roll aboard and wanted to weigh it. i think it weighed 13 kg, and she wouldn't let him take it on board. i felt so bad for him! our trip was so short - we would be in india for just 9 days. and dealing with lost luggage in india is a big hassle, that you really want to stick with carry on luggage.
the thing is, he packed basically what i did - 3 changes of clothes, a couple of wamer tops, toiletries, some snacks, and a book or two. he also had a crazy creek hexalite chair in there, but that only weighs 419 g. he also had a backpack, and we suggested he could transfer some stuff into the backpack to make the roll aboard lighter, but she said that the total weight of the carry ons couldn't exceed 8 kg.
i don't know what my aeronaut weighed, and i wasn't going to volunteer weighing it after what had happened. but given that he packed items similar to those that i packed, any significant difference in weight between his stuff and my stuff would have been attributable primarily to the difference in the weight of the bags. the thing is, you're more likely going to get asked to weigh and size your roll aboard whereas a bag like the aeronaut that you have on your back is less likely to be questioned - if you're wearing it on your back, and it looks about the size of the maximum carry on limit, it can't be that heavy is the thought that runs through their head.
so, he moved stuff he needed for the flight and stuff that he didn't want to risk losing / getting delayed, including a change of clothes, into the backpack, and had to check the roll aboard.
she was kind enough to put a priority tag on the bag, meaning that it would be more likely to come out earlier on the baggage carousel when we arrived in DEL.
fortunately, his bag did arrive in DEL!
for quite some time, the same driver always picks me up at DEL. the LH flight arrived on time, and was scheduled to arrive only 15 minutes later than the OS flight. so i didn't bother communicating the change in flights to him. but he said we took a long time to come out :o. with no checked bags, i usually come right out after clearing immigration...
he's made a list of things he wants to have for his next trip. the aeronaut is one of the things on that list. :)
i felt so bad for him. he was upset that he had to check his roll aboard. and it didn't help when we went up some stairs or down some stairs in india that he'd have to stop and pick up his suitcase.
but, experiencing the advantages of the aeronaut over a roll aboard helps you understand those advantages in a way that really stays with you...
anywho, sorry for the long narrative. on to the pictures!
i packed in an aeronaut. inside was my synapse backpack for use at my destination.
my friend hadn't traveled to india since he was a kid, so this was a big trip for him. we talked about what to pack in - we talked about the aeronaut. he liked the idea, but had difficulty letting go of the thought that a roll aboard would be easier. i even pointed him to the beyond the smooth blog that tom wrote. but he decided that a roll aboard was best for him, which is totally fine.
the day we were traveling was a bit crazy. we are having a home constructed, and the framing walk through was scheduled for that afternoon. i had budgeted an hour, and it went two hours. my wife headed back early from the walk through, and i must have gotten home around 3:30pm after picking up some trail mix and larabars from the grocery store.
my friend had come over to our place with his wife and kids and we were going to go to the airport together from here.
the morning was also crazy, as i was trying to get some things done for work. so i hadn't packed - which isn't a big deal. i do these trips to india 2 or 3 times a year, and i know what i'm going to pack.
but my friend looked very worried when he saw that i hadn't packed.
i also usually check in and print boarding passes at home the day before the flight. austrian's check in process wasn't working. i had tried in the morning and it was erroring out. then i tried again when i came back home, and much to my surprise, they showed us on a lufthansa (LH) flight via FRA. but it still wouldn't let us check in.
so at about 4pm, we head to the airport. the austrian (OS) flight was supposed to leave at 5:30pm, and the LH flight was leaving at 5:50pm. i'm okay with this. my friend is very concerned.
we arrived at IAD and went to the OS/LH counter to check in and both got aisle seats. they didn't have our vegetarian meal requests - i guess it was too late when OS passed us over to LH. we weren't sure what would happen with the meals, so we grabbed some chipotle before boarding our flight.
the person checking us in asked if we had checked bags, and we said that we only had carry ons. i had my aeronaut, and a wandering monk meditation chair. i decided to take this instead of the crazy creek camping chair behind this time. she asked me to turn so she could see aeronaut and was fine with its size.
she saw my friend's roll aboard and wanted to weigh it. i think it weighed 13 kg, and she wouldn't let him take it on board. i felt so bad for him! our trip was so short - we would be in india for just 9 days. and dealing with lost luggage in india is a big hassle, that you really want to stick with carry on luggage.
the thing is, he packed basically what i did - 3 changes of clothes, a couple of wamer tops, toiletries, some snacks, and a book or two. he also had a crazy creek hexalite chair in there, but that only weighs 419 g. he also had a backpack, and we suggested he could transfer some stuff into the backpack to make the roll aboard lighter, but she said that the total weight of the carry ons couldn't exceed 8 kg.
i don't know what my aeronaut weighed, and i wasn't going to volunteer weighing it after what had happened. but given that he packed items similar to those that i packed, any significant difference in weight between his stuff and my stuff would have been attributable primarily to the difference in the weight of the bags. the thing is, you're more likely going to get asked to weigh and size your roll aboard whereas a bag like the aeronaut that you have on your back is less likely to be questioned - if you're wearing it on your back, and it looks about the size of the maximum carry on limit, it can't be that heavy is the thought that runs through their head.
so, he moved stuff he needed for the flight and stuff that he didn't want to risk losing / getting delayed, including a change of clothes, into the backpack, and had to check the roll aboard.
she was kind enough to put a priority tag on the bag, meaning that it would be more likely to come out earlier on the baggage carousel when we arrived in DEL.
fortunately, his bag did arrive in DEL!
for quite some time, the same driver always picks me up at DEL. the LH flight arrived on time, and was scheduled to arrive only 15 minutes later than the OS flight. so i didn't bother communicating the change in flights to him. but he said we took a long time to come out :o. with no checked bags, i usually come right out after clearing immigration...
he's made a list of things he wants to have for his next trip. the aeronaut is one of the things on that list. :)
i felt so bad for him. he was upset that he had to check his roll aboard. and it didn't help when we went up some stairs or down some stairs in india that he'd have to stop and pick up his suitcase.
but, experiencing the advantages of the aeronaut over a roll aboard helps you understand those advantages in a way that really stays with you...
anywho, sorry for the long narrative. on to the pictures!
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