Luggage

One way of writing travel memoir is to recollect what's inside the luggage of that trip.

An enormously clear-eyed and quite personal look at how we travel. And a chronicle of how my daughter grows. Absolutely. Do you know we still packed a can of milk powder and a milk bottle for my five-year-old? We did so for our recent trip to Hua Hin in Thailand, as has always been the case. I meant it. The truth is, my girl hasn't weaned from her bedtime bottle.

What else did we take with us?

More story books than I have teeth. We allowed our daughter to pick whatever books she loves. Whatever - no hardcover, if possible. Biff, Chip and Kipper. Charlie and Lola. (By the way, D.W. has also recently been added to her favorite list.) If her milk bottle is a must for her bedtime routine, bedtime story reading is compulsory. And if my wife had a dollar for every time they read a bedtime story together, she wouldn't have enough room in her pocket.

Of course, each of our itineraries come with a chock-full of colour pencils and sketch books. There is a lot more. We took a book of paper-and-pencil games this time. That opens up oodles of fun possibilities. Hangman. Tic-tac-toe (Os and Xs). And many long-lost gems.

Oh, wait - we can't forget a big eraser. I mean, my daughter's mercurial mood is as volatile as the weather in Thailand. As combustible as the Queen of Hearts from Alice in Wonderland, in the event of a mistake in her drawing. It really is.