re: packing and bags

I just had one brief comment about PC's earlier post. Although you might think a larger backpack style bag that you COULD (albeit somewhat uncomfortably) carry-on would be a good deal, anyone with inter-europe connecting flights will be quite unhappy with that decision. I took one with me, and it was by no means the largest I saw, even on my flight from Charlotte to Frankfurt. However, I got a lot of dirty looks from people on my flight to Berlin, had difficulty finding a space for it even though the flight was barely half full, and eventually got blessed out by a German flight attendant. In the end, it's also not worth it to have that much stuff with you in the airport. trying to lug that thing around made me even more tired than I would've been otherwise. Unless you can fit everything you want in a backpack you would carry to class, check bags.