I’m obsessing over luggage.

I don’t have as much to take in terms of workshop supplies as I did the past two years, when I was teaching soap-making, but I have to take a few more clothes due to the fact that it gets cold overnight. The trouble is that we will not be checking our baggage all the way to Cochabamba; we will fly American Airlines from Nashville to La Paz, claim our baggage and go through customs, and then check in all over again so that we can fly Aerosur, a Bolivian airline, from La Paz to Cochabamba. Aerosur has stricter baggage limits.

Aerosur is in the process of revamping its web site; I found what appeared to be some baggage guidelines, but I’m not sure whether they are part of the old site or the new site, and they differ from what the travel agent told Debra. What I found was a 20 kg (44 pound) limit for checked baggage. That was total baggage, not the allowed weight for each bag. But the travel agent told Debra that as long as you had no more than two bags, you were OK.

I have just stumbled across a blog entry from someone who recently flew to Cochabamba, and I’ve left her a comment hoping to see if she can shed some light on the situation.

I am trying to pack lightly, which is a good idea on any such trip, but even so I worry that I will get to La Paz with two bags and then only be able to take one to Cochabamba. If that happens, we would probably be able to find some way to ship the excess bag separately, and have it arrive in two or three days. Since we’ll arrive in country on Friday, and our workshops won’t start until Monday, this might not be that much of an inconvenience. But I want to make sure that everything I need personally is in one bag.

I am probably making a mountain out of a molehill. Last year, I thought that the bag with my soapmaking and ministry supplies was right at the allowed 50 pounds. I weighed it at my parents’ house and it came in right at 48 or 49 pounds. Then, I had to switch one or two things out and I worried that it might be overweight. When I got to the airport, it came in at 38 pounds on the Northwest Airlines scale. Mountain out of a molehill.

I discovered today that the plastic inner sleeve to my smallest overnight bag has crumbled, and I’m not sure I should count on it for the trip. My other small bag, which has lots of pockets and storage spaces, is definitely going, although I’m not sure whether it will be my clothing bag or my ministry bag. I have a big black suitcase I could take, but I think instead I will borrow a cloth duffel from my parents. I took it last year and it worked out fine. It’s also easier to stuff into a tight spot for our ground transportation.

On a trip like this, you realize just how materialistic you are as an American. Your belongings are a link with home, and a security blanket of sorts, but in some cases you’re traveling with more than the people with whom you’re working own.