I thought I was ready. I had put together a packing list a month before my trip. I had been on several long and short term trips. I knew I would use everything in my bag. It was under the flight weight limit and it was comfortable to carry.
The night before my trip, I was doing one more ‘once over’ around my apartment to make sure nothing vital was left behind. My eyes glanced over a scarf that I’d bought a few weeks ago. I remembered being chilled the last flight I took and figured ‘its light, it was super cheap, and it has no sentimental value. Why not’.
I used it on the plane as a blanket. A week after my trip started, I went to the opera in Barcelona. I wore my best clothes to the show (but lets be honest. I still looked like a backpacker), and was craving something to dress up my outfit. And I saw the scarf.
Fast forward several weeks. I was walking around Odessa, Ukraine. While I really enjoyed the city, the sidewalk needed serious attention, at least to my Canadian-sidewalk Standards. Between taking in my surroundings, watching where I was going, trying to remember my basic Russian, and taking the odd picture, it’s not a surprised I missed an entire block of concrete that was a few inches higher than the one before it. I tripped and fell hard, rolling my ankle pretty badly. While at first, I was just embarrassed, I knew it was a little worse than that, judging by how fast it was swelling and how little weight I could put on it.
A kind old man happened to see me fall, and rushed to help me hobble over to a nearby bench. Hospital? no. Doctor? Probably not needed. Taxi? Yes, definitely.
While waiting for the taxi to come, the man gestured to the scarf I’d thrown on that morning. Between the two of us, we managed to tie it around my ankle to give it a little support. Shortly after, the taxi arrived and I thanked the man for his help.
Fortunately I was able to stay off my feet for a few days and enjoy a beautiful hotel on the Black Sea (check out the Nemo Hotel in Odessa, if you’re in the area! Definitely one of the best hotels in the city!) Within about two days, I was doing considerably better. Lesson learned; I’ll never even think about leaving for a trip without a scarf.
Is there a vital item that always gets a space in your bag?
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