I wish I’d taken pictures of all my bags piled onto the luggage carts at the airport, or even stacked up in the car, but I was too stressed to think about any of that. Plus, I was still recovering from what I suspect was the flu. I was waking up so congested that I barely felt like eating, and add to that the weird stomach feelings that come with anxiety… and though my family got Panda Express (one of my favorites) for our last lunch together, I wasn’t able to finish it. I was running around clearing the last things out of my room, stuffing the last few items in suitcases, knowing I was wayyyy closer to the weight limit than I wanted to be on several of them, and not really wanting to process the emotions of saying goodbye to my family for two years. Somehow I didn’t cry (even when my Dad got choked up saying goodbye at the airport), all my bags got through (even the one that ended up being one pound over), and I made it through TSA with the only hiccup being the lose of a pin off my hat when it fell out of the bin and got stuck in the belt. I sat in the airport and tried to breathe through my stuffy nose and my mask, tried not to cry as I watched a MarcoPolo message from a friend, and in an hour, I was boarding the plane. I even sat next to a friendly couple who made polite conversation but didn’t expect to talk to me the whole time, and the wife had an awful sounding cough which normally would have been bad, but recovering from illness myself, I felt less bad when I had to blow my nose repeatedly.
Here’s what I brought with me:
Four checked bags – You get one for free flying International with Delta, I got an additional one for being a gold card member, and a third one for booking with a travel agent. I paid $285 for the fourth one, and was able to do this when I checked in online 24 hours before my flight. I had to put in a return date when I did this, or else it wouldn’t let me complete the check in process, but when I dropped off my bags at the airport I had to check in again anyway, and at that point the agent put in my student visa information and that I didn’t have a return date because I was going to school.
Anyways. I had two large hardshell cases, one medium hardshell, and one medium sized soft case. I’d read that it might be better to use medium cases because they don’t get heavy as fast as the big ones, but I really struggled to fit enough in the medium hardshell to get up to 50 lbs. In fact, it was the one and only suitcase I was able to keep at my goal of 48 lbs. The advantage of the soft case is that you can stuff it full of more things, and it’s deeper, since it doesn’t open in two halves. This is also the case in which I packed clothes normally, instead of trying to use vacuum pack bags, like I did in the others. Never did I realize how heavy clothes are until I weighed those vacuum bags. I think they were nice in that I knew then that the clothes were my weight problem when I was trying to pack my bags (which I did at least twice, and then had to continue to fiddle with all of them), but they’re awkward to pack around and, even though they saved on space, I kept going over weight and struggled to find enough light weight stuff to pack on the other side. So in some ways, it was nice to be able to pack bulky things like sweaters down, but in hindsight I don’t know that I should have tried to do so many of my clothes that way. I had to go back through and pull out some clothes, and over all just was amazed at how little I could take per bag at 50 lbs. I don’t think I really had the right idea of what a pound is in my mind. It seems like more weight than it is. Plus, you have to figure in how much the suitcase itself weighs… thankfully my mom saw how stressed I was and offered to ship what I couldn’t fit, which ended up being most my books (I fit about ten), some art supplies, my hats, a few card games, and some shoes. I also wasn’t able to fit all my mugs, but I don’t want her to try to ship those.
I will say that I was impressed that nothing broke! I haven’t been able to completely unpack yet, since I’m staying with a friend while I find my own place to live, but I’ve been through my suitcases several times as I look for different things I need, and I haven’t noticed anything broken. I think it helps that it was a direct flight from Atlanta to Athens, so that minimizes some of the throwing around.
Carry on and personal item: I packed all my electronics, along with their cords, in my backpack (which was my personal item), which meant it was very, very heavy. I strapped it to my carry on suitcase while I was walking through the airport, so I didn’t have to wear it the whole time. I packed my record collection, my PS4 and it’s controllers, and some last minute items in my carry on suitcase. I made sure my records were packed in cardboard and bubblewrap and that the suitcase always got laid down so that the records were on top. I’ve yet to unwrap them, but I’m hoping for the best. I also had my oversized leather coat with me, which I know must have looked strange in the 80-some degree weather, had my headphones around my neck with other stuff stuffed into the case in my backpack, and my current read in a book sleeve. I also wore my heaviest shoes and my favorite hat, which is the only hat I was able to bring. I had a window seat, thankfully, so I was able to stuff my coat beside me instead of trying to fit it under the seat with my backpack.
What I would have done differently…
I think it’s hard to say at this point if I packed the right things, since I haven’t moved into my own place or really tried to replace anything yet. I will say that, though the hardshell suitcases were annoying to pack, having four wheels to roll around on really helped when I had to pick up all my bags by myself in Athens. I was able to get two big bags and my carry on suitcase on a luggage cart, and roll the other two bags back to back in one hand while I pushed the luggage cart with the other. Thankfully I had help as soon as I walked out into the lobby and met my friends.
As mentioned above, I don’t know how much I would really recommend vacuum bags, other than for plushes, coats, and bulky sweaters. I’ve heard of a lot of people using packing cubes, which would have been nice for being able to weigh things as you go, but on the flip side, would have added weight, which is why I didn’t use them.
I’ll also have to see how expensive it really ends up being to ship things, and what condition they arrive in, because it really didn’t seem like an exorbitant amount when I was looking online, especially considering what I paid for that fourth checked bag. (I paid that much, btw, because that’s the fourth bag price – it gets more expensive with each bag, so even though I got the other ones for free, they still charged me the fourth bag price.)
What I did right:
So far, I’ve been very glad to 1) already have all the toiletries I immediately need. That way I’m not trying to go out and buy something right away, and trying to decipher labels or find comparable things to what I’m used to. I’ll have more time and brain space for that later. 2) European plug converters for my MacBook and phone. I LOVE that the Apple block chargers have an easy pull off-slide on conversion system. Makes things SO easy. I was able to get the converters on Amazon, though you can also get the official multi country set from Apple. 3) Books to read! I’m a huge reader, so having the books with me that I wanted to read next has been huge for me, as this is how I relax. I’ve already been to the local bookstores as well, but new books are even more expensive here than in the US – partly because of the conversion rate, but also because English books are being shipped in from the UK. 3) Foldable storage bins. I had one from IKEA that’s made of felt and lays flat until you wrap it up and snap it together, and another one one that’s like a really stiff paper almost with a wire frame that smashes flat. These have been so nice to be able to pull out and feel a little bit more organized in these days where I’ve been existing in limbo and before buying furniture, and I know they’ll come in handy going back and forth to school as well, since I’ll only be going to campus two weeks at a time. 4) Cold meds. For one, it’s been nice to not have to figure out what to buy when I’m already not feeling well, and for another, according to one of my American friends here, the American meds are just better. Which makes sense; we probably use stronger ones than they’re allowed to give out here, and like she said, this stuff is what my body is already used to. I didn’t bring a massive supply though, so I’ll have to adjust to European meds eventually – or add that to the list of things to have my mom ship.
Flying nonstop was a HUGE bonus. Delta only added the direct route from Atlanta to Athens in the last few years, so this is only the second time I’ve been able to use it. It’s SO nice. It’s a long flight, but so worth it to not have to get off and navigate another airport and sit around even longer waiting for your next plane (or running to catch it, if your flight gets in late). It’s one less thing to worry about, and made it so I could truly relax once I got on the plane.
Here’s something to consider if a direct flight isn’t an option for you though: book an International layover over a domestic one, if possible. Why? Because if you have a domestic layover, you’ll have to fly domestic first, which often means getting to the international terminal once you get to your first destination, and possibly rechecking your bags. The same goes for your trip back, but in reverse order. Even though you’ll have to go through passport check twice with an international layover, for me, it beats the chaos of having to switch from domestic to international.
Final notes:
I’ve now been in Athens six days, and I’ve navigated the train by myself (thankfully it all came back to me), grocery shopped by myself (thankfully everyone here knows English), failed and then succeeded to order my coffee in Greek, got my language classes paid for with the help of a friend and a bank employee, cooked my own food, and tried to find the balance between getting into the swing of things and giving myself space to rest. Jet lag hasn’t hit me too hard, and I think flying over night helped, even though I wasn’t able to really sleep, thanks to not really being able to breathe. Hopefully by next week I’ll feel fully adjusted to the timezone and will no longer be assaulted by random coughing fits, but we’ll see. School starts soon, so I’ve been working on my pre-homework for that, and trying to make the Greek words I already know stick in my brain long enough to use them. I’ll continue to let you know how things go from here!
Γειά σου!