Nickel and Dimed

Dad has finally made it out of ICU and in his own room. He's lucky, most of the rooms on the "Progressive Care" floor are doubles. He has a newly renovated single and for that I say Thank God! Hopefully only one or two more days here and he'll be discharged. Today he starts doing stairs.

This morning I started gathering up my stuff and repacking, leaving out items I'll need for tomorrow. I had a rude awakening on my trip out here and I'm going to take this opportunity to whine. I came out here with a laptop, my purse and a 20 inch rolling carry on that I checked, only because I had my toiletries with me. It was then I had my awakening. I know that airlines are now charging for bags, I just didn't realize that the passenger no longer even got one. That means, my $300 ticket, was really (or will be) $330, once I add the $15 for my rolling carry on each way. So, while I was home, I tried to ascertain if I could carry my carry-on through. I figured I had enough room in the carry-on that I could put my purse in it and carry just my laptop and the rolling carry on, if I could figure out a way of dealing with my toiletries. So, I pulled out a quart ziploc to see if I could make it work. I can't. Even though I had bought 3 oz travel size containers for my conditioner and "sprunch", and I have a travel sized Noxzema, I used my dad's toothpaste at the house, I still had my deodorant (gel roll on), my shampoo (less than 3 oz in the peri-bottle I still carry my shampoo in when I travel, and have since my son was born 14 years ago), my face lotion (which has less than 3 oz in it and I use the pump to scrape out what I need but it still has a good 2 weeks worth of scraping in it) and *HORRORS* my razor, which is NOT a disposable and I am not willing to throw away. How do people travel with razors these days and carry them in their carry on bags? The reality is, there is no way I could fit these items into a quart ziploc bag and actually close it. And that doesn't even address my BE make-up which I'm sure would also have to be included with the toiletries. Even though it's powder. But looking at TSA website, perhaps powder isn't included. Until I arrive and don't include it and then it will be included. Murphy's Law and all.

In the end, I'll spend the $15 to check my bag, again. And gripe about it. Because I can. I guess I should look at the bright side. Although I didn't have to use the lavatory on the plane, I'm told that the airlines are now charging to use it. Talk about being nickel and dimed.