Airplane Adventure

So, I have spent the past week in Colorado. It has been a great deal of fun. I got to speak at a conference, hear some wonderful speakers, and visit one of my dearest friends and her family. It has been a nice time.

However, as I arrived at the airport today, I should have realized that things would probably not go quite as smoothly as they had for the week.

On my way out to Colorado at the beginning of the week, when I set my EXTRA-large bag on the scale, it weighed 53 pounds. Yep, it was 3 pounds over the weight limit, so I had to pay an extra $25. On my way back today, I again set my bag up on the scale. I was not sure what the weight of it was going to be because I had shed all of my handouts at the conference. However, NCYM gives out tons of freebies, and so I was loaded up with shirts, mugs, blankets, etc.

When the weight finally flashed on the scale, it read 52.5 pounds. I was hoping desperately that it would either be under 50 pounds or WAY OVER 50 pounds so that I wouldn't feel bad about paying the extra $25. However, I just couldn't justify the cost of the extra 2.5 pounds.

So, I unzipped my bag right there on the scale and pulled out my toiletry bag. I checked the weight, and it was at 48 pounds. Whew...I was good to go. So, I collected my boarding pass and headed to the security check-point.

As I neared the front of the line, I saw something that made my heart sink. It was the 3-1-1 sign--3-ounce containers in 1 bag per 1 person. My toiletry bag busted that rule. As I stopped to go through it and put my 3-ounce containers in the provided ziploc bags, I had to throw out my full tube of Bath and Bodyworks Hand Cream. Then out went my full bottle of face wash. Next was defrizz serum, followed by a tube of toothpaste. Needless to say, it was way more than $25 worth of items. I should have paid for the extra pounds on my luggage.

As I trudged through the security line with a pitiful look on my face, I figured out the lesson in all of this...

...always bring an extra suitcase.