Peter_S_Aus

Sojourntraveller takes no luggage.

He only travels in his imagination.

thursdaysd

NYC - in general I agree with your post, but I take issue with the notion that you can't find luggage that weighs less than 11 lbs. My current case, with wheels, weighed in at 23 lbs for my last flight, and that's with winter clothes I can assure you that the case isn't half the weight. I think I weighed it at around 7 lbs empty, and the back pack I carried until a couple of years ago was about 4 lbs.

Peter_S_Aus

Anne, I would need five kilos of credit cards to stay there, let alone luggage.

IMDonehere

We haven't a good conversation about luggage between the elitists and the Communists since the Bolsheviks told Tsar Nicholas, "You won't be needing that."

NYCFoodSnob

<i><font color=#555555>"I take issue with the notion that you can't find luggage that weighs less than 11 lbs."</font></i>

I did not say "you can't find luggage that weighs less than 11 lbs."

<i><font color=#555555>"we do not know anything for sure yet"</font></i>

With Venice, who the hell knows what "for sure" means. However, Venice Prefect Vittorio Zappalorto is on record with certain denials:

<i>'I want to most firmly deny that the Municipality of Venice had ever thought of banning (wheeled suitcases) in the historic centre,' Prefect Vittorio Zappalorto said in a statement on Friday.

He said the local authority was only considering introducing the compulsory use of air-filled wheels for commercial carts, such as those used for deliveries to shops and street markets, and insisted that no final decision had been taken on the issue.

Noting that wheeled suitcases did represent a problem, Zappalorto said he hoped that the 'false scoop' on their prohibition could encourage luggage manufacturers to develop new products that could be less harmful to Venice's pavements.</i>

I'm all for saving Venice's pavements. I'm sure the stone is taking a beating, given the rising popularity with these types of bags and the varied quality of wheels. It would be great if some Italian company designed a fabulous product for Venice lovers. What a great status symbol, too. "My bags were designed exclusively for my visits to Venice." The perfect condescending snub for any travel snob.

As for early morning quiet, you've got to be kidding me. The vast majority of tourists are not up at the crack of dawn. However, Venetians are notorious early risers and commuters. I'm often out at 5 AM, and it's easy to see the locals in their windows doing their thing.

First, waking up to those high-pitched squeaky laundry lines are far worse than nails on a chalkboard. And I mean steel nails, the kind you hammer.

Second, the street-sweepers sweeping glass bottles and metal cans from one corner to the other provide Venice's version of Jacks on steroids.

Third, if your apartment or hotel room is near a school, good luck sleeping through the amplified sound of screaming kids.

Fourth, emphysema is chronic in Venice. There are a lot smokers who are at that age, and their favorite time to cough non-stop, usually starts around 4:30 AM. And, yes, I'm talking about the split-your-lung-open type of cough.

Fifth, the working women of Venice like to look sexy. Anyone know what high heels can sound like in an echo chamber?

Saving the pavement is a valuable cause, but losing sleep due to luggage wheels is someone's idea of a joke.

annhig

my most recent suitcase purchase weighs in at only 2kgs, I bought it deliberately to be light and easy to manoeuvre in and out of trains etc. it doesn't however provide much protection for the contents, which is a worry when it comes to air travel.

And it depends where you're going and when - you need far less for a week [or even 2 weeks] on a beach compared with the same time in a city in winter, let alone a month or two. and then, as you intimate Peter, there's the DJ and dress shoes!

IMDonehere

As usual here, there is more emotional luggage than those for carrying clothes.

Peter_S_Aus

Anne, so low rent. A dinner jacket? Almost as bad as the Tuxedo, named for some country club in the USA.

White tie, if you please!

annhig

oops, sorry, Peter. I should have known that you were above what is called in Italy a 'smoking".

lavandula

>I'm sure that you know that we have a tradition of surnames that reflect the professions of the >father [never the mother, as I suppose they didn't work - that's a joke!] or place names.

Only partly true - surnames ending with -ster are based on feminine lines of employment (Webster = female weaver, Baxter (bak-ster) = female baker). There are also the male counterparts (Webber, Baker). So women are not totally unrepresented ...

Lavandula

Peter_S_Aus

Thanks for that insight, Lavandula. We have named our cats for occupations, hence Fletcher and Weaver. You have opened a whole new range for us. But Webster for a female cat might be a bit strange, also Baxter.

I never knew the relationship between web and the loom...

annhig

that's most interesting, Lavendula. Never knew that.

do you know any more about the etymology of those "female" names?

chartley

There is also "Brewster", but I suppose "Spinster" is not one that would normally be passed to another generation.

Sojourntraveller

Highly amusing NYFood. You are right though that the vast majority of tourists are not experienced travellers. Obviously, with a statement like, " I don't believe it, and I find the statement ridiculous and silly.", you yourself are one of those inexperienced tourists.

To follow that with, "It's extremely difficult to find an empty piece of luggage that weighs less than 11 lbs.", simply indicates a true ignorance and as that seems to be the case, all I can say is that I would urge you to do some research and quickly find yourself something lighter before your next trip anywhere. If your suitcase weighs more than 11 lbs. empty, that is what is ridiculous and silly.

My current bag of choice (I don't use a suitcase at all) weighs 1.2kg/2.64 lbs. I use it for trips of any length of time and in any season except winter.

Annhig, I don't know what is getting you worked up about that hotel. I found it on a visit to Ascona (perhaps my 5th visit)and just walked in the door with my bag over my shoulder and asked for a room. I did indeed show up there with only 5kg including the weight of the bag itself. The hotel is hardly expensive relative to Swiss standards and its location.

"i find it difficult to believe that he showed up there with only 5kgs of luggage."
Where do you see any connection between where you stay and what you pack? They aren't connected. You could walk in to any hotel in shorts and a t-shirt and get a room. I think you are confusing your own ideas as to what YOU would feel comfortable with vs. what the hotel is comfortable with you walking in with.

Nowhere have I said that anyone has to do anything other than what they want to do. That does not contradict saying that most people pack more than they need to and definitely more weight than they need to. I am not trying to tell people WHAT to pack, I'm simply saying they could pack LESS of WHAT they want to pack and they could pack items that weigh less. You can pack a rainjacket that weighs 2lbs. or you can pack one that weighs 7 ozs. both keep you dry. The same is true of anything else you decide you need to pack.

You can pack smart or you can pack heavy, it's entirely up to you to decide which you will do. But don't for a moment think you can pack smart AND heavy. THAT is the real oxymoron NYCFood.

IMDonehere

What about hipster and gangster?

IMDonehere

I have contacted the Prefect of Venezia and Beulah, my pack mule, will still be allowed to walk the streets and on the vaporetti but The Gritti had too complaints about her braying after midnight, so I must contact the Danieli and the Bauer.