Excess Baggage

I had so many dramas in departing to Germany, believe me I didn’t do it intentionally.  One of which is excess baggage.  (See Departing from Jakarta and Back in Bremen).  So this time, I have to be smarter, otherwise I am worse than donkeys, which never fall into the same hole twice! 

The allowed baggage is 23 kg, so I had to arrange my baggage to fit that size.  Since I already had experience in shopping smart in Germany, I knew what I should and shouldn’t bring.  For example, I only brought 8 t-shirts, one a day for the whole week and one for sleeping.  If I need more t-shirts, then I will buy it after the Olympic games over.  There will be plenty of discounted Olympic-theme shirts.

But I had to bring a lot of long pants because if I bought it in Germany, the length would be too long for my height and it is not easy to find a tailor to fix it.  Or, the cost for fixing it would be ridiculous.  Furthermore, I didn’t bring any thin clothes with me because the weather is not as humid as in Indonesia, I wouldn’t sweat easily.  In Indonesia, it’s easy to get sweat, so wearing thick clothes will make it worst: sweat and sticky. 

The problem occurred when I prepared my winter clothes.  I still have my winter boots so I think it is wise to bring it rather than buy it.  Not only the price is expensive, but also I couldn’t wear the boots in Indonesia anyway.  It’s a winter boots, not a flood boots, so surely it won’t suit. 

As for winter jacket, my old one doesn’t fit anymore.  Yes, I am not as slim as 3 years ago unfortunately.  Bring a winter jacket will add significant weight to my baggage.  But buying it in Germany will cost a lot, especially I know where to buy cheap winter jacket in Jakarta.  So in the end, I decided to buy new winter jacket in Pasar Uler, Jakarta.  It is Esprit with knee-length and double layers to the hood.  It costs around € 21.  So it’s surely worth it for 3 years in Germany.

But then as I was afraid before, the jacket and the boots gave 2 kg and took up a lot of space in my luggage.  I had to rethink, somehow it is impossible not to be overweight.  I checked the excess baggage policy of Qatar Airways, the airline that I would fly with.  It said that additional kg would be charged $ 13/ kg.  Hmmm, that’s not bad!  In one kg, it could consist of 4 - 5 normal clothes which worth more than $ 13.  So actually it’s cheaper to have excess baggage than to buy new ones or to send it by cargo/ shipping!  Beside, our belongings will be with us all the time…  So after I figured this out, I decided to have some excess baggage!  Earlier I didn’t want to bring sweaters or too many thick clothes, but then I just packed them more.  So I had extra duffel bag for my winter/ cold time.

My winter-clothes bag

When I had to check in at the airport, I was ready to pay around 9 – 10 kg extra because according to my baggage scale, the duffel bag weighed 7 kg and the luggage almost 25 kg.  So when the check-in staff mentioned that I had excess baggage, I said, “I know” with full confident.  Surprisingly, I only got charged for 5 kg!!!  Well I am not sure why, but there are some theories.  One is, actually the regulation is not strict.  As long as the space is available and one is willing to pay, it won’t cost significantly to the flight.  Second, this is told by my brother, I have poor-melancholic expression so the check-in staff feels sorry to charge me much.  So I guess, my excess baggage skill is now improved to a pony-horse level…