Weighing In

On Sunday, Hubby and I handed over the keys to our flat, paid all of our final bills, and are now once again officially homeless. Our portable lives have been stuffed into various suitcases and we are counting the passing of time not by phases of the moon but by our access to laundry facilities.

The worst part about carrying our lives around is the fights that it causes. I have brought slightly less than two weeks worth of clothing, one stuffed animal, toiletries, and a few books. Hubby has brought a month worth of clothes, several tonnes of papers (Hubby edit: one notebook) that he simply cannot live without, dozens (Hubby edit: six) of books, two stuffed animals, and a bunch of “stuff” (Hubby edit: read, our bills, taxes, birth certificates, etc.) that really could have gone in one of the shipments (Hubby edit: Yeah, right). Other expats will understand my frustration and are likely already nodding in sympathy. For those of you who live near malls and modern conveniences, allow me to elaborate.

You see, when we go home we do pretty much one thing: shop. We buy a year’s supply of new clothes, deodorant, shampoo, books, and anything else we think we may need whilst we wait for our next trip home. All of these things – new and old – must then be stuffed into suitcases and carry-ons and flown to our new home. And the one truism of home leave is that suitcases that arrived in North America empty will always be overweight on the flight home.

Normally, this wouldn’t be too bad since we like to fly on airlines that love us and give us an excess baggage allowance. (We love you Emirates!) Our trip home to Egypt, however, will take a slightly less happy route – three flights from the US to Cairo all of which are on airlines that don’t think we’re cute and will charge us obscene fees when they see our bulging bags.

So when I gripe that Hubby is over-packing, I’m not simply being selfish and thinking about my future shopping trips which he kindly curtailed by bringing thirty dress shirts and fourteen pairs of pants (Hubby edit: I don’t own that many clothes period!). I’m also thinking about all of the money we will have to pay because of those extra items that are really just taking up space that my new things could have used! See, not selfish at all!