Who Ever Said I Have Too Much Baggage??

Hostel booked for the first night in Milan: check. Bus route to get from the airport to the central train station: check. Metro route to get to our hostel: check. Luggage storage for 1 week while we romp around in Rome: major fail.

For those who may ever run into this problem, through various research I have discovered that the Central train station in Milan does in fact have a luggage storage. It is open daily from 6am to 12pm. However, it costs about 3.80 Euro for the first 5 hours, 0.60 Euro for each additional hour from the 6th-12th, and from the 12th hour on, only 0.20 Euro....let's see, one week would add up to how many hours again?? Not only this but it's per bag--Shane and I were planning on having 3-4 bags to store, and they are massive bags. I read somewhere else that they only allow a max. of 20 kg per bag. That is somewhere around 44 pounds. How annoying that they only allow 44 pounds when the airlines will let us take at least 50. Why can't everyone just keep it the same? Are we supposed to unpack 6 pounds? What a nuisance.

This is about where Shane's persuasion skills came in. Previously we planned to each take 2 checked bags and two small carry-ons (it's 3 months ok!). Alas, we discovered that these days only 1 free bag is allowed; every bag after that is $50. One way. Two extra bags=$200 round trip. Boo. So Shane convinced me to try taking only 1 checked bag for myself, and we would split a third. A few days after stressing over this I finally confessed that I really didn't think that was possible! If it weren't for my shoes....! Just kidding...sorta. I blame it on the bulky winter clothing. In all honesty I thought I was doing pretty good; I was bringing a lot less than I had the first trek around Europe. So we decided to go back to Plan A and each take 2 bags. Whew! What a relief for me! (But not for moneyman Shane.) But then last night he worked his convincing magic on me again (it was one of those times where you think it's your idea but it's really not) and somehow I began to believe that I could do without a lot of what I had planned to bring, and that we could each only bring one checked bag = free!! So I excitedly put on my "roughing it" mindset and ditched about half of my clothes and a third of my shoes...Viola! One checked bag! It's really still quite a lot of stuff, once you think about the two carry-ons I will have. Shane also helped convince me to bring my hiking backpack instead of my classy red crocodile skin bag. I wouldn't have wanted to carry it around with no wheels anyways.

So I rest a little bit more peacefully at night, knowing that in worst case scenarios, we will either store 2 large bags for a week or bring them with us...after all it's better than 4 each! I remember the days when Lydia and I struggled up the cobblestone streets of Paris lugging 2 huge suitcases whose wheels were doing the splits, 2 (rather large) carry-on types, and a humongous bag of food. Oooh that food bag! It's still occasionally the topic of discussion, usually in the "remember how horrible that was" category. Sweat and tempers skyrocketed during those terrible luggage-hauling days. Never again!

So to Shane, I thank you, for keeping me happier and less stressed in the long run! :)