Thoughts After Coming Back from China (3 weeks)

Just came back from a 3-week trip to China with the Tom Bihn Western Flyer as my only piece of luggage.


Flew into Shanghai, then participated in a bus tour covering Shanghai, Wuxi, Suzhou, Huangshan, and Hangzhou. Took a train to Beijing, flew back to Shanghai, and finally flew back home.


I packed two extra pieces of warmer (read: bulkier) clothing, since Huangshan and Beijing were expected to be cold. This definitely paid off, as it was cold and raining at Huangshan and windchill was crazy in Beijing.


However I did learn some things:


1) My iGo Green Charge Anywhere battery charger that I brought along as a backup battery for my iPhone 4 nullified the need for me to also bring along the standard Apple USB Power Adapter that came with the iPhone.


-1 ounce


2) Recycling is good, when it isn't unreasonable: I brought along an old Motorola phone that was still locked to T-Mobile even though the contract expired ages ago, with the hopes of unlocking it cheaply in China and getting a local SIM card for it for cheap calls. Unlocking is apparently not done cheaply in China anymore (if they even know what you're talking about, since it's only something foreigners have to worry about) and it turned out it wasn't worth it to pay to unlock the current phone which required a transformer to charge the battery, vs. buying a new phone in China at the same or cheaper price. In the end, we ended up not doing either.


-11 ounces


Those were two things I learned regarding my own luggage.


My mother, whose luggage I also had to schlep, had a 50-pound behemoth on wheels that I had to lift and carry up and down about 50 different sets of stairs (no exaggeration - most of the subway and train stations do not have escalators or elevators) and onto and off of multiple buses, subways, taxis, and trains; as well as two other suitcases also weighing in similarly. Thankfully, those other two suitcases stayed put in Shanghai while I only had to lug the one across China.


The basic lesson from that portion is this: If you cannot afford to travel lightly, you need to be able to afford to NOT travel cheaply. Plane->expensive cab ride->hotel with elevator and porter->expensive cab ride->plane. Don't forget those luggage fees. My mother would not have been able to manage all three of those bags alone, nor would the airline have let her check the third without a fee.