It's always an irksome business trying to juggle overweight luggage when you fly over to Fiji by Qantas or Air Pacific (the same plane anyway). Twenty kilos is the proper limit, though you can usually manage a few more. If you are charged, it is now at least $18A a kilo so you don't want to pay that for a couple of tins of Milo. Because you want to take gifts and lots of stuff for relatives and the village, more than half the luggage isn't for yourself anyway. Those Tongan bags (blue, red and white striped) are a common sight at the check-in, as you stuff them full of op-shop clothes etc. to give away. Coming back from Fiji is different. Some of our relatives come back very light - as everything is given away - even come back shoeless! We usually bring back kava, mats, coconut oil, Fiji Times, and not much else!
A drawing in an Australian paper gives one solution; wear all your clothes on your back. Thanks Simon Letch for the funny picture.
For the story associated with Simon's picture go to this site.
http://www.theage.com.au/news/tips/around-the-world-in-seven-kilos/2008/04/23/1208743038765.html
One time I took all the heavy stuff and packed it really tight into a smart new leather overnight bag I had just bought. I was sauntering up the airbridge trying to pretend it was really light and didn't weigh 20kg (I had already got thru departures using this same method without being stopped...) when the strap broke (!!) and it dropped to the ground and the whole airbridge make this huge metallic bonging sound from the impact!!! My darling husband swooped past and swept it up in his best "it weighs nothing" stance (which nearly made veins stand out on his neck) and we tried to continue like nothing happened... We step onto the plane trying to look nonchalant and there's one of the Denarau Mum's, in business class, perfectly put together and she says "goodness! I just had to pay for 10kg extra weight!" . "Really?" we say as we try to quietly haul our bag past her....
ReplyDeleteThat's really funny Meg! I'm sure there are others who are nearly having a heart attack as they pretend that their little overnight bags (not weighed in) are as light as a feather! Air Pacific has usually been very good to us especially the time Junior had lots of heavy stuff including javelins when he was going to represent Fiji at an aths meet.
ReplyDeletew.
PS One time coming back to Melbourne alone, the customs guy opened my bag and a bottle of pickles had broken. When I touched it my finger got cut and there was blood everywhere as a customs officer searched for a band-aid!