Bobbi's Australian Adventures...and more!: Last days in Brisbane =(

After finishing work on the 7th, and needing to get on a plane headed back home to the states on the 9th, it was a mad dash to get everything packed, cleaned, and still do the last minute "this is our last time in Brisbane" stuff. Coming to Australia, I packed everything in a large suitcase, a duffel bag, and a small carry-on suitcase. After accumulating more that just a few things, and not really sending much home in the meantime, I managed to get all I brought and more in the same suitcases, in hopes that I would not have to pay any extra baggage fees on the trips home. So I thought. We got to the airport in Brisbane, and the guy checking us in did not like the idea that the 2 suitcases Sarah and I were going to use as our carry-on, were like 50 pounds. So he made us check them, but decided to not make us pay after we gave him our sad puppy dog face and telling him we were nurses who came from America to work here for 6 months, and now we are headed back home. Whatever works, right? He didn't seem to care too much how much the bags weighed, but we took note. Knowing that Air Tahiti's baggage allowance wasn't as much as Qantas, we figured we would be in big trouble when we went to leave Tahiti. But again, we lucked out and got out of paying hundreds of dollars between the two of us in fees. Thanks goodness!!! The funny thing in all this, is that Sarah thought that after sending one of her suitcases (full of stuff) home with her brother and another one home with her parents, that she would be fine fitting the rest of her stuff in a small suitcase. I thought she was out of her mind from the beginning. She went ahead and bought a big duffel just in case she needed the extra room, and after that ended up not being enough, she used the falling apart suitcase her parents had brought. And still with all that, it was barely enough for her to fit everything. I think she will forever be baffled about that. This is one of the downsides of traveling...all the packing, unpacking, and repacking all the time. Especially when it involves moving everything you need too live for months at a time. But, we ended up getting home to San Antonio with all our bags, in one piece...barely!