Argh! I’ve got a weight problem!

And having just returned from holiday in America, aka land of the HUGE meals and mouthwatering brownies, this might not sound too shocking. But I’m not talking about my waistline, just yet, as the focus on this update is my luggage allowance.

While on holiday (fab by the way, thanks!) I found a super-nifty lightweight backpack that doubles as a small case (I’ll take pictures!) that will be perfect for my hand luggage. And my parents also bought a set of digital baggage scales to help me check my bags before I check them in. As my last suitcase was wrecked by baggage handlers, they kindly furnished me with one to take to America, so during the holiday we were discussing the merits of me taking it to Japan.

Well. I came back home on Friday to see that ECC were emailing me to offer a service where they transport one bag from the airport to my accommodation for free. It was only when reading that email, in the haze of jetlag yesterday, I realised I hadn’t even checked my weight allowance on the flight. I’d just assumed I could take two bags about 20K. Boy am I glad I checked.

The KLM website says it’s ok to take two bags… if you are going to a certain list of destinations. Like America and Africa. But Japan isn’t on the list. ^^; so I phoned them to double check. ‘Yes, we can confirm you have 20KG allowance… and 12KG hand luggage.’ The cheery helpful KLM person told me. ‘Oh. Right. Thanks.’ Me: not so cheery. But at least I found this out now, and not at the airport. KLM charge about £20 for every kilo you go over that limit.

So. I have to pack everything I need for a year into bags weighing a total of 20KG (32KG including my hand luggage). To give you an idea of how scary this sounded to me, two years ago my bag coming back after just 2 weeks in Florida weighed 32KG alone (and had a CAUTION HEAVY sticker slapped on it) Meep.

My parents, helpful as ever, whipped out their new scales for some instant experiments. (It’s just like being at school!) We found the case they bought me weighs 4.5KG. Three pairs of shoes weigh 1.5KG. After consulting the ECC list and stuffing my case with an approximation of the amount of clothes they recommend, we estimated my clothes and shoes alone will weigh about 12KG. Not bad. 20KG sounds a bit better now. But on a shopping trip today we were all eyeing up the lightweight cases in Debenhams, playing weight bingo together: ‘4.8… no that’s more’ ‘3.8! That’s good. But look at the price.’ ‘ah, this one is 4.5 too but it’s made of polycarbon’. Did I mention before how fab my parents are at helping me out? They’re absolute diamonds. And I’m glad that we booked the US holiday, expensive though it was, as I got to spend some fun time with them before this – the Japan countdown proper – began.

So where am I now with all the important paperwork stuff? Almost there. I’m currently racing down to London, heading for the Japanese Embassy tomorrow to submit all my info for the all-important Visa. My Certificate of Eligibility (very small, more like a leaflet of eligibility I’d say) arrived while I was on holiday so I’m playing a bit of catch up. I need to take that in tomorrow plus my passport and a photo. I also needed to fill out an A4 form, which took five attempts for my jetlagged brain this afternoon. I’m sure they make the lines deliberately too small to write Japanese addresses on as a test of your determination. Hopefully I’ve passed!

And speaking of addresses. I now have one! I haven’t google-earthed the address yet, but give me time. All I know at the moment is I’m going to be in Kobe City, in ‘one of our nicer shared houses’ according to the ECC email. One other housemate is listed on the information. Just a name, no other information. A third room is listed as vacant.

So that’s us all up to date for now. Tomorrow, London and on Tuesday, I’ll be shopping for new smart work-type clothes. Horror. I’ve worked in jeans for the last 10 years. So my waistline might be the subject of my next post after all ^^; wish me luck!