When the hold luggage allowance on Aegean Air was 20kg, plus 5kg extra as a "blue" card holder, my lugagge weighed just under 20kg on the way out, and just under 25kg on the way back. My cabin luggage was just about the 8kg limit.
Now Aegean Air has changed its luggage policy, and has removed the extra 5kg allowance for "blue" card holders. So now I need to get my bag down to 20kg, or pay £20 (more if not booked in advance) for a second bag/ extra weight.
On my last trip the bag was just under the limit on the way out. This was my first trip to Greece since the new Aegean baggage rules. I had bought a few books and other things in Greece and suspected that my bag would be overweight - I had no scales so could not check. So I paid my £20 for an extra bag (a lightweight rucksack that I had put in my small wheeled cabin bag on the way out).
At the airport in Athens my main hold luggage weighed 20.4 kg, and my second hold bag just over 5kg.
Which set me wondering - was there anything I could have managed without?
Or, if I ws going to pay for a second piece of hold luggage, was there anything else I could have taken to fill a second piece of luggage?
I pondered the possibilities. But I have honed my luggage as finely as I can. If I deliberately took more, I might find that I needed to pay for a 3rd piece of luggage on the way back!
And in Greece when I travel around, I don't want to be lumbered with a second piece of hold luggage. A small foldable bag that can be used if necessary as a second hold bag is probably the best option.
I also remembered a visit to Albania many years ago, when Enver Hoxha was in power. I bought a lot of books in Albania, and posted them back to England. I could have investigated posting the books back from Greece - but as these were books I bought in Athens at a weekend on the way back, I might not have found a post office open. And would the postage rate have been morethan the excess baggage rate?
[Second thoughts, there is a Post office at Athens airport, but by the time I remembered this I had checked in my bags].
