Gift bearer

It's been almost 8 months since I was back home in Australia and almost 8 weeks since I've seen my wife. Needless to say, I'm keen to get back. I left Europe a couple of weeks ago to begin my return trip and since then, I have been carting around 50kg of luggage.

This has caused several problems for me especially when booking flights. I need to check who has the most luggage allowance and be sure that I am not going to pay a small fortune in excess baggage fees. For example, Qantas charges AUD$20 for every kilogram overweight which means I may as well buy another ticket and strap my bike to the seat next to me.

Despite this weight issue, it's not my biggest problem. After being overseas for so long, family and friends are expecting me to bring home a plethora of gifts and souvenirs but I literally cannot fit anything else in. I have already had to leave clothes and shoes behind just to make space. At the airport, I have to walk through security like the Michelin man with 5 layers of clothing on to make it look like I don't have as much stuff in my bags.

I hate to disappoint, but I won't be bringing a bag of goodies home with me. Maybe I'll be able to just tell everyone stories and entertain them with a slideshow night of all the pictures I took with my iPhone? Surely, that will be enough?