Me duele la espalda: Packing to go to Spain can be painful!

Well, there they are: my two large suitcases, my carry-on, and my two boxes of crap to send to Spain. Just looking at this stuff makes my back start to hurt. I can only imagine what it will be like when I actually get to Spain and have to tote my pile of stuff from the Madrid Airport the whole way to Burgos all by myself. 

I think I’m pretty much packed to go to Spain. As you can see from the picture above, I have two rather large (forty-five pound) suitcases, a carry-on bag, and have also packed a few boxes of things that I don’t need right away which I will mail via the US Postal Service to my house in Burgos. The only thing I have left to pack is my laptop, but it won’t take me very long to get that together.

In case you’re wondering about what you should bring to study abroad in Spain, you may want to read a post that I wrote in January entitled “Packing to study abroad in Spain.” In that post, you’ll find a list of things you should – and shouldn’t – bring to Spain. The post will also help explain some of the TSA regulations that you should keep in mind when preparing your suitcases and it reminds you to check with your airline’s baggage restrictions… it’s worth a read.

One other note: when you’re packing, always try to make your carry-on as heavy as possible. Why? The answer is simple: the airlines weigh your checked baggage and charge you for going over a weight limit… but there is no weight limit on carry-on baggage and airlines generally do not weigh the luggage you’ll be bringing on the plane. If you stuff heavy items in your carry-on rather than putting them in your checked luggage, you’ll be less-likely to go over the weight limit on your checked bags. Pretty logical, right?

Just a few more days and I’ll be leaving for Spain… can’t wait! I hope to post once more before I leave… we’ll see if I get time to or not. In the meantime, if you have any tips to share about packing to go to Spain or want to let me know about anything else in general, leave a comment here.

Hasta luego,
–Chris
http://abroadinspain.com