Traveling Light?

I'm only joking here.  As anyone who has ever moved before knows, it is never easy.  And trust me when I tell you that when you are moving from one country to another and will be literally living out of your suitcases for several months, it is even more difficult.  Sure, thanks to the U.S. Navy we have packers who carefully wrapped every item in our old house and movers who will deliver the boxes (298 in all) to our next doorstep, but we still need to physically get ourselves from point A to point B.  And with limited space the most difficult decision we must make is what to carry with us on our journey.

Just the few bags we brought with us during our recent move

The predicament over what to pack in our suitcases is even difficult when you live in a place without any outgoing mail service.  When we moved to Albania we had the luxury of sending boxes of necessities to our new home ahead of time.  Not this time around. But despite that, we somehow carried half as many bags with us this time as we did when we first moved overseas.  Perhaps it is because we are moving to a place where we can easily buy any items we forgot.  However, we still required two vehicles to transport us and all of our luggage to the airport when we left Tirana.  And the driver who met us at the airport in Gothenburg arrived in a mini bus and laughed when he saw our collective luggage. In broken English he asked us how three people could have so many bags.  How?  We're Americans first of all and Americans just don't know how to pack lightly.  Add to that the fact that we are Americans who are moving and will be living out of our suitcases for the next few months. That's how!  Needless to say, we were a sight at baggage claim and an even bigger spectacle when we checked into the hotel we will only be staying at for two nights.  But in the end, it is just all a part of our big adventure.