Ha! Thought the title might capture your interest.  I’m sorry to disappoint but it refers to my suitcase.  When I tell friends and family I’m travelling for three months with carry-on luggage they look at me like I might have taken leave of my senses. I reassure them I know what I’m doing, smile politely, and try not to become ruffled by their response.

“Why only carry-on?”, you might ask as well. The thing is, I have a total of seven flights over the three months, possibly more, and the thought of potentially losing my suitcase that many times almost makes me want to stay home!  Imagine being on the beach in Sardinia without my favourite swimsuit – the one that took me absolutely freaking forever to find because not any old swimsuit fits all my body bits anymore, or desperately trying to read toothpaste labels in Spanish or Italian to find one designated for hyper-sensitive teeth, or having to spend your first day in an incredibly amazing place racing around replacing things -just not my idea of fun. So I will travel with carry-on and suffer any consequences such as not being able to bring back one of those colourful Spanish pottery sinks like a friend of mine mentioned her friend brought back with her – in one of her suitcases no less.  Imagine!

Another reason for just carry-on is that I have reached a point in my life where “things” don’t matter like they used to.  I’m collecting “experiences” now and they can all fit in my brain no problem – leaving room in my suitcase for the essentials.  Now, this does present a slight problem because at times my memory is sh*t and those of you who know me well, know I struggle with this; but it is what it is, and I will always have my travel writing  to fill in the brain blips. Undoubtedly I will find a few things I’d like to buy, but having the constraints of carry-on will check those impulses and keep me “experience” focused. See, there are methods to my madness.

Who knows, I may throw all this yabbering out the window and arrive back on the tarmac in Vancouver with super-sized suitcases full of all sorts of wildly assorted things – but I doubt it. So to those of you hoping for souvenirs of my trip – this is your heads-up!