Blogs

I haven't always travelled light. The first time I went overseas I brought two large suitcases with me. I have no idea why I thought I needed to go abroad anchored down by 80 kilos of shoes, shirts, skirts, scarves and earrings. But nevertheless, I was prepared for everything from a flood to a gala at Parliament House.

It took me all of 12 minutes to realize this was a bad idea and I haven't looked back since. Now I travel light. No matter where I go, I go with a backpack. My mom and sister-in-law and I went to London with backpacks and I just returned from a seven-states-in-nine-days' journey with a backpack. Seriously, I wanted for nothing that wasn't in my meager sidesaddle and have learned to be a really industrious packer.

Which is why, as you might have guessed, I am now a very judgmental airport person. For instance, during my recent journey I was squished into a United Airlines Airbus with a guy who boarded with golf clubs, two infant seats and a trophy. I'm not making this up. How he got past Joan Crawford at the gate is totally beyond me, because she took my backpack away from me claiming it wouldn't fit in the overhead bin.

Now what I know about golf you could stack on a postage stamp and still have room for what I know about baseball, but this guy had like 18 clubs. How many clubs does it take to hit a little ball around?

The real kicker was when a gal that resembled and talked just like Fran Drescher from "The Nanny" came on board with a pink bag the size of the District of Columbia and tried to jam it under the seat. The flight attendant graciously moved Fran over to an empty seat, next to . . . me. The lady across the aisle tucked her tiny wallet into the seat pocket in front of her and smirked.

With an exasperated sigh, Fran began telling me about her trip, how she left LA and missed another connecting flight because hers was delayed because they had to return to the gate so maintenance could fix an empty seat that would not recoil to the upright position. She began her journey at 4 a.m. and would end it in Milwaukee at around midnight. She told me about a guy she fell in love with, her career aspirations, how she really wanted to be a wife and mother more than anything else and about her parents who had been together since they were 15.

For about the first 30 seconds I hated her for her big pink bag. I had categorized her as "Selfish Pink Bag Lady" who was filed in the same column as "Golf Buffoon with Clubs."

As I listened she finally told me that when she went to check her bag they decided she shouldn't have her laptop and several other items in there and that really, she was trying NOT to bring stuff on board. They said it weighed too much and threatened to charge her $100, so she whipped out her big pink bag (everyone has one right?) and started jamming things in it to bring on board. The plane weighed exactly the same with her stuff split between cargo-hold and economy, but there are important rules made up by these people who won't let you carry on a nail file, but allow scalding coffee to be served at 30,000 feet.

In the end I found myself liking Fran. She was young and sweet and funny and seemed to enjoy my oldness and wisdom. We hugged goodbye and I later received a lovely message from her thanking me for my encouragement and advice (even though she wasn't going to take it.)

As I stood at the luggage carousel I noted a small older lady attempting to hoist her extra large suitcase off the belt. Instantly, I judged her, but offered to help anyway.

"Toys for the grandkids," she muttered, almost embarrassed at the girth of her cargo. "I only see them once a year."

I stood and took in my moment of shame and reminded myself that my habit of judging people by their luggage was rather silly. Some people have backpacks, some people have neat little wallets they can tuck in the seat pocket in front of them and others have jumbo American Touristers stashed in the cargo hold.

But this much is for sure, we all have baggage . . .

- Holly Kelsey-Henry

Holly Kelsey-Henry is the owner of DownWrite Creative in Wisconsin and makes her living as a writer - some days more profitably than others. She is a former award-winning journalist and still writes for newspapers and magazines.