Luggage Restrictions

I am normally an extremely light international traveler - mostly because the thought of having to check a bag, and run the risk of losing said bag, only to find myself in another country with nothing exhausts me. Needless to say, I've gone to Europe multiple times on 2 week + trips with nothing but a carry-on and been totally fine. Total. Pro.

That being said, I head to South Africa later this summer - in 92 days, 7 hours and 3 minutes from this very moment, to be exact - and find myself in a real shit storm in the packing realm. You see, the puddle jumper I get to take - Michael Caine/Jaws 4 style - onto the game reserve only allows a soft, non-rolling bag with 10" x 26" x 12" dimensions. What does that look like, you may be wondering? I am so glad you asked -THIS:

Helly Hansen offers a phenomenal 50L, bright orange duffel to ensure I can be seen from earth as I propel across the sky in a rocket. That's how bright this thing is! So, naturally, I purchased two of them...

Aside from the obvious upsides, imagine you are packing this thing for 16 days...

In truth, my loving husband and our other male companion are in complete disarray over these dimension restrictions, while the sister wives remain silent. Seriously, you guys? The two females on this trip cannot wait to pack the shit out of this thing, yet you are the ones complaining? DIVAS...

B: "I don't care, I'm going to bring all of my shit and what are they going to tell me, I cannot fly on the plane?"

A: "Uh... that's exactly what they will tell you as I'm sure everyone involved would love to avoid an Aaliyah situation."

I am looking forward to so many aspects of this trip, but packing will certainly be quite an entertaining journey in itself! If anyone has any packing tricks for long trips with miniature suitcases that they would like to share, by all means....