There is an ongoing debate about whether to check your backpack. If you think about it, the answer is really simple: “NO.” Imagine that your pack gets damaged, delayed or lost before you even arrive. How will this start your trip? Not well. (See scenario below) If you can’t carry your pack on board, you are probably carrying a pack that is too big and/or too heavy. If you simply have to check things, get a packable or disposable bag and check the minimum number of things you can, and nothing that you can’t live with out. Most people find that their foldable or collapsible poles can be carried on, leaving the USA, just fine provided you have rubber tips. If for some reason security will not allow you to carry them on, either return them to whoever gave you a ride to the airport and buy new ones in Spain, or, put them in a bag or tube and check them. You can also purchase a pocket knife in Spain. On return from Spain, Santiago is famous for not allowing poles on board. You can mail them home from the Santiago Post office or check them for your flight. Flying home, I would not be as concerned about checking my bag, but nevertheless, I prefer to carry on always, as does every frequent traveler I know. It is sort of humorous to me that people planning to walk 500 miles with their pack suddenly don’t want to carry it from the curb, a few hundred yards through the airport and put it in the overhead bin. Oddly enough, long international flights usually have more available bin space than short domestic flights. A couple of truisms from the Camino: “No one ever wished they were carrying a bigger, heavier pack, and no one wished they went faster and spent less time.”Recently the question came up involving labeling your luggage. Yes, you absolutely should label your luggage, inside and out! You should also put an AirTag in it preferably somewhere not too obvious. If some one find your things, they should have some chance of getting them back to you. I stick the free address labels that I get in the mail on all of my chargers, tablets, Kindles, trekking poles, etc.
Let me add a scenario for illustrative purposes: Imagine that you are flying from the USA to Paris or Madrid, and further that you have changed planes somewhere along the way. You arrive at your destination and your pack is nowhere to be found. At this point what do you do? Stay at the airport and hope it turns up? Go into the city and wait? Head for SJPP and hope it gets sent along? Now lets say it’s 24 hrs. Later and still no sign of it, do you go out and try to buy replacement stuff? Do you wait for a few more days? Can you even get a hold of someone to find out where the bag is? These are all things that could well happen to you if you check your bag and it does go missing. Carry it on!!!
One other scenario: Let’s be clear, hiking backpacks are not designed to be checked. They have multiple straps and buckles and they usually have some kind of internal frame. If you’ve ever spent time looking out the window at an airport, you’ll know that bags are often tossed, flung, or dropped from fairly big distances. Even if your bag makes your flight and is returned to you, it may well have damage. All those buckles and belts snag very easily in the conveyor belts, not to mention that a good toss can completely bend the pack’s internal frame. Now what? Do you find a repair place, live with it, cobble it together, replace it? Really if you can’t carry your bag from the curb to the airplane, don’t plan on carrying it 500 miles.
Here’s a quick video of how you can expect your bag to be handled: Baggage handler
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Tips and Advice for Walking the Camino 