GirlGI | Girl Gone International Issue 8 | Page 89

only physical memory I have of a friend who
ended up suddenly moving to Brazil.

3.

Books. This can be a problem for me.

I do not know how to say no to people who
give me flyers on the street let alone turn
down a free book.

Some of the literature I’ve inherited over the
years includes travel guides (mainly focused
on Europe, but also to places like India and
Thailand - neither of which I have visited, by
the way), cookbooks (‘Intercourses: An Aphrodisiac Cookbook’ is one which has yet to be used
in my kitchen), travel memoirs (my personal
plea to Bill Bryson is to live forever), semitrashy historical fiction (who knew the Tudors
were so raunchy?), the Idiot’s Guide to playing
the guitar (I don’t own a guitar), and so much
more!
If I had to choose one book that truly stood
out, it would have to be ‘The Helene Hanff Omnibus.’

Nowadays, I have a variety to choose from,
including those ubiquitous hygiene satchels which I now have way too many of, cloth
shopping bags perfect for carrying groceries
as long as you’re not lugging a 6-pack of 1.5 liters of bottled water, large wheeled tote bags
with about a gajillion zipper pockets (swoon!)
that are large enough to store half your home
in them.
And, of course, the infamous vertical wheeled
suitcase with its built-in sliding handle thingie. Sometimes with a broken wheel. We
aren’t all perfect – when you pay extra for up
to 30 kilos on a flight you better make sure
you cram in 30 kilos worth of stuff, so don’t
judge me, fellow passengers

5.

E-reader. Before the rise of the cheap

tablet, I was able to procure at least two ereaders.

Neither had wifi access, and were as basic as
basic could get. But they did the trick: I read
ALL of George R. R. Martin’s ‘A Song of Fire
and Ice books, took the opportunity to read
Luggage. The irony of having travelled old classics I had never had the time to read
so much in my lifetime is that I didn’t own a
before (Dreiser’s ‘Sister Carrie,’ for example),
vertical wheeled suitcase with the incorporat- and even novelties at the time like ‘Pride,
ed sliding handle until the late aughts.
Prejudice and Zombies’ (I hear the movie version is coming out soon and I. Cannot. Wait!).

4.