There we were… standing in line at the airport… a common occurrence for a 2006 World Racer. But this wasn’t like any other line we had stood in. This time they said those dreaded words “Over Weight Limit.” What? How could this be? Desperately we begged…. we pleaded… we even tried big alligator tears. Our bags had made it on every other flight just fine. How could this have happened???
According to our agent at AFC Travel, the weight limits for the Bangkok-Hong Kong sector of the world is 20 Kilos (That’s 44 pounds) for checked luggage and 7 Kilos (15 pounds) for carry-ons.
So what do you do? Here are a couple of options…
1) Repack your bag. Put all of your heavy items in your carry-on bag. Carry-on bags are not always checked for weight limits unless you look like you are carrying 100 pounds or it just happens to be your lucky day.
2) Ship stuff home. If you are a souvenir collector, you will add a lot of weight to your bag over the journey. Just before a flight in Asia, use your personal money to send home as much as you can. Realize that international mail is expensive (though Asia is the cheapest) and it takes months to get there.
3) Pay the overweight limit. Depending on your airline these charges will vary, but can be expensive.
4) Drop stuff. You can buy most toiletries (with the exception of deoderant and feminine hygiene products) all over Asia. You also don’t need 5 pairs of jeans. Drop anything you aren’t using or anything you can purchase again.
5) Talk your way out of it. Find those people on your team who just have a way of communicating with people. Find your convincers, your debaters, your persuaders, and let them use their gifts!!!
Overweight charges cannot come out of your support raised money. Be prepared for this personally or embrace the opportunity to unload more materialism!
