Greetings from a very rainy Paris!
I hope you’re all having a great week. I’ve started the day by practically slipping all the way down the Rue De Seine in front of a giggling building site. Not chic. Not chic at all. But anyway…
Firstly I’d just love to take a minute to thank everyone who read and commented on my One Day piece that ran last Sunday. The story will now run in The Daily Mail later this week, but as always I wanted you all to know that you saw and read the original version and that the conversations I was able to have with you all about it (and your own experiences of friendships that did/didn’t turn into romance) was very special. Thank you as always for being so open.
Secondly, because of travel there won’t be a writer’s group the last Sunday in Feb I’m afraid, but we will run it the first weekend in March- details coming this week along with links etc… for paid subscribers.
Finally I have been thinking about clever packing and what to take away. I always overestimate the clothing side of things (I have brought five pairs of shoes for four days away, hmmm…) but there are some things I always look at and go-’yup, good choice. These are:
A book set in the location I’m heading to. I’ve brought A Moveable Feast, because you’re not in Paris if you’re not reading Hemingway.
Squeezable silicon travel tubes. My friend and veteran traveller,
had turned me onto these. I think she uses ones from Flying Tiger but you can get these pretty much anywhere. Mine are from Amazon. I’m staying in a lovely Airbnb this time round (if anyone wants the link I can pop it in the comments below) and I always have zero idea what the bathroom cosmetics situation will be. (Usually NO conditioner, or those dreaded words- body wash AND shampoo). So popping my favourite bits in these is perfect.Trainers: I am not a runner BUT when I’m abroad I always go for a run. It’s like a speedy way of seeing the city. I tend to take trainers that I can also wear in the daytime so I’m not doubling up. Anything by Stella for Adidas doubles as both functional and stylish.
A mug: I know…so British. But when you wake up in the morning no one wants to drink out of those teeny, tiny thimbles every hotel insists on giving you. (I also travel with a bag of Tetley’s Extra Strong Tea bags and increasingly a micro kettle as hotels are now doing away with kettles!)
So now I want to know your indispensables /eccentric travel items that you always take with you: