Packing

Me and my luggage

Overweight luggage is considered above 50 lbs and if your luggage happens to be overweight, you are required to pay some exorbitant fee for being over the limit. However, excessive luggage is over 75 lbs and won't be accepted by the airline for overseas flights... I am near the point of having my luggage being classified as "excessive," unfortunately. It's no longer a question of being overweight, but just hoping that somehow my suitcase weighs less than your average Alaskan Malamute Husky (i.e. 75 lbs). I mean I only have three bags, and I like being prepared. In my defense of the excessiveness, it is difficult packing for two different climates in only three bags. Oh god. I just double checked and it's actually 70 lbs. Not good.


Okay, I have a bigger carry-on bag and am now definitely under 70 lbs, though probably still over 50. We don't have that big of a scale so Tristan had to stand on it and hold my suitcase so we could get an estimate by subtracting his weight. Complex? Perhaps, but at least I know my luggage won't be rejected. Hopefully. Done packing! I hope I didn't forget anything too important...

Side note: my suitcase ended up weighing 65.5 lbs

De-icing the wing

I knew there was a reason I didn't like Philadelphia Airport. It probably stems from our return trip from Italy where they broke my globe keychain off of my suitcase when it had stayed on for the entire trip before our flight back. Well, there ended up being a two-hour (two-hour!) delay because the luggage had not been packed correctly so the weight distribution was off. This required all of the luggage to be taken out of the plane's cargo area and be completely repacked. Two hours! We were supposed to depart at 8:50 PM, but ended up leaving around 11 PM! After they repacked us, our plane had to wait in line to be de-iced as it was snowing at the time and in two hours, a lot of snow is able to accumulate on the wings of a plane. I had a window seat and the whole row to myself: it was not a crowded flight. US Airways doesn't have the roomiest planes though, so a whole row isn't as comfortable as it may sound. Not too many people head up to Manchester for the winter, I'd gather.

The Hogwarts Express

 Customs was a breeze, as was finding "The Station" at Manchester International Airport aka MIA. I managed to get a train from Manchester to Crewe and then Crewe to Cardiff Central. On the second train, it was such a Harry Potter moment because a lady came down the aisle asking "Anything off the trolley?" I almost wanted to say "We'll take the lot!" but I managed to restrain myself. As I travelled through the countryside, transitioning from England to Wales, I couldn't help but notice the increase in the sheer number of sheep! I now understand why the front cover of my Wales guidebook features sheep. Granted, I don't believe there are any where I am in the city. I mean, they just looked so funny because from the train it seemed like they had buried their heads in the snow in some strange form of hibernation, but they were just munching on some grass. From Cardiff Central I took a taxi to Talybont North and voilà! I made it! I wasn't able to communicate this with my parents though due to lack of wifi and no wifi = can't set up my phone to make calls. Apparently, they got a tad worried and security ended up coming to my flat to make sure I was there.