Being a sculptor complicated things a bit for me because I had to choose what tools I could bring. I am fond of power tools but none of them would work on the 220 volt power system in France. I work in many different materials but some like welding, large scale stone work or wood carving seemed unlikely in a little apartment in the city. The practical thing would have been to work on a small scale in wax or model things on the computer because that would be quiet and not too messy. Unfortunately, I really have to do something strenuously impractical every once and a while so I also brought some small scale stone tools. I convinced myself that, should I find myself feeling really impractical, I could always treat myself to some quality european tools. As consolation, I splurged some weight on a number of small bronzes that I have been working on.
The real impracticality that I imposed on our luggage though was to bring my homemade CNC machine. My argument was that being isolated from most of my routine would provide the perfect time to delve into the particulars of learning how to operate this machine and the software that drives it. If I was really diligent I might get it to the point where I was able to produce some significant work as well.