The One About Packing for Work Trips
A long while back, Danny and I had the opportunity to tour a company. In Alaska. In December. Although we did not find a path to partnership in the end, that was an invitation we could not turn down. And from trapping wolverines to snowmobiles, the visit did not disappoint.
What was disappointing was Danny’s approach to packing. Before publicly roasting Danny’s choices, I should qualify that this was fairly early in his career and his first site visit with the firm. And I also could have suggested some packing guidelines beforehand. There’s a lesson here for experienced and new travelers alike.
But back to the story, getting to Anchorage from Columbia, Missouri on short notice is no small feat. We needed to road trip from Columbia to Kansas City, then fly from KC to Seattle, then on from Seattle to Anchorage. It was a site visit, not a vacation, so we were only staying up north for two nights. Our route back included a red eye to Minneapolis, a long layover, and then the return journey east on I-70. All that to say, it’s the type of route where everything takes a long time, you’re changing a handful of timezones in each direction, and you don’t want any part to take any longer than it should.
So imagine my concern when Danny showed up to the car with a grandma-going-to-Europe-sized suitcase that had zero chance of qualifying as a carry-on. It was a given to me that carry-on suitcases would be the only logical choice for such a journey. Apparently not for everyone.
We offered to buy him a different suitcase at the airport, which was admittedly more selfish than helpful. Danny declined, assuring the two of us traveling with him that it would be no trouble at all. I vaguely recall saying that we might not wait for him if baggage claim took too long, but I hope I didn’t.
On the way up, his bag didn’t prove to be much of an issue. The Anchorage airport is not a metropolis, and they were fairly efficient. We got the car while Danny waited for his bag and we went on our merry dark tundra adventure.
But like most trips, whether for fun or for work, the journey there generally holds more excitement than the journey home. And in this case, the trip home was brutal. We packed as much as we could into our time in Anchorage, including a visit to the local bowling alley (big winter activity in Anchorage) before boarding the red eye close to midnight. No one got any sleep. By the time we got back to Kansas City, all three of us were beyond exhaustion and ready to get on I-70.
But we had to wait for the bag. And wait we did. Because of course Kansas City is a busy airport and we were tired and at the leg of the journey where we impatiently just wanted to be home. Danny winced every time a baggage claim carousel would start up -- and it wasn’t for our flight.
But eventually the bag made it to Danny. And we made it home.
And then Danny’s choices inspired a useful holiday gift: carry-on suitcases for the team.
P.S. Danny would like to add to this story that he later took only a small duffle bag and backpack to Europe for two weeks. So, progress. And also SWAG FTW.
– Emily
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