9 Days Left
8.08.2009
I'm taking two suitcases with me back to China. With weight restrictions, that means just 100 pounds of stuff. What would you take?
Clothes and shoes are an obvious choice, but not really a wise one. You can get everything you need there: pants, shirts (ok, not all graphic tees, but besides that), hats, socks, jackets, shoes, etc. After all, if you were to check your wardrobe you'd probably find that 80% of what you wear is made there in the first place. No sense in having it make two trips. It's cheaper there anyways.
So in terms of clothes, I'm down to the basics. Undies, a few of my favorite tees, some pants, my favorite shoes and a few other accessories. That gets me to only about 25 pounds. What else?
Art supplies. Although they've got it there, if I want the good brands like Prismacolor and Sharpie, I'm gonna pay a hefty fee, resulting in a price tag at about 10% more than what I'd pay in the states. So markers, pens, pencils, highlighters, and some paints are going back with me, too. Another 20 pounds. After some other digital stuff--my wacom tablet, mouse, cables--I'm at 50 pounds, the limit for the first suitcase. My second piece of luggage is still fully empty. Hm.
And then I remember: books. Good English reading material. Just about impossible to find in China. I get on Amazon, on Half.com, go visit all the nearby Goodwills. For the next month, I'm getting packages every day in the mail, towers of paperbacks piling up on my nightstands. I packed it all up a few nights ago; now I've got an entire suitcase of books. Novels, business and marketing books, travelogues, short story compilations, history books. Packed so tight that the zipper struggles to keep it all together.
Awesome.
posted by Mr. Linty @ 11:45 AM,
2 Comments:
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At 12:34 AM,
Alan said...
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This is one of those so-obvious-it-need-not-be-stated things, but something i did indeed forget: out of your 100 lb limit (as I was crunching the numbers myself), each bag EMPTY might weigh as much as ten pounds if it's a rolly one. That means your total take is down to EIGHTY pounds (40lbs x 2). That is a huge amount when you're throwing pairs of socks out to make it in under the limit. Just something to keep in mind
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At 6:19 PM,
Mr. Linty said...
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Yeah, I got light suitcases, about 5lbs each I think. Still, I'm half-empty on my check-in bag. It's crazy. I haven't put all my clothes in it yet so that'll take up weight, but it's still funny to me that I'm taking back so little.
