Travel update

We are still slated for leaving on our European trip on Friday, and I haven't begun to do the essentials, like figure out what to bring, from clothes to books. I need to assemble all my bathroom supplies and sort out my undies and socks. I need to sort through my books to find which two or three slim distractions that I'm bringing with me. I have a space limitation: one midnight blue Rick Steves travel bag. That's all she wrote.

Sadly, I have to cull my collection down to slim items that fit in my soon-to-be straining travel bag or in my rain shell of a jacket...items that with be bunkies with my travel journal, an adorable mini notebook complete with a binding strap and a purple ribbon that's longer than the length of the small lined pages so I can easily find my place. So far, I'm thinking about bringing "Lost on Earth," by Mark Fritz. It's a great collection of non-fiction short stories about 50 million people who found themselves without a country to call home during the fall of Communism to the early 90s. I've read it before, and it seems a spiritually significant book for first-time international travelers to take with them on mighty-long plane trips. Germaine Shames' "Between Two Deserts" is a slim novel about family ghosts in Jerusalem. Just a glance through the pages reveals a study in minimalist writing and internal monologue. If I don't like the characters dwelling in the novel, I can at least study the framework, the artistry.

But what I really want to bring with me, if I can get all techno-geeky on you for a moment, is an Apple iPod.

Last weekend, I was rummaging through the library of the couple that's going with us to London and Paris, and came across their copy of the BBC production of "The Lord of the Rings" on CD. For a second, I think, "Man, this would be ideal to have with me on an endless plane trip", but then I remember if I pack it, I’m going to have to look after it, remember it when I leave one hotel for another, not break it, or infect it with some kind of mystery stain you can only get while traveling. Plus, I have to pack a CD player, batteries, and headphones. Again, got to keep track of that. Soon, your luggage becomes an ungainly parade of doo-dads and extra bulk that grinds into your shoulder as you wrestle your bag from urban hotel Point A to scenic bed-and-breakfast Point B. At that point, it becomes as bad as just packing the dead tree version of the story. Tolkien may have crafted the best adventure story of the 20th century, but his Luddite self never had to drag it through airports.

Whereas an iPod can take MP3 music files (and ideally really nifty BBC radio productions on CD that have been fed into a computer and turned into MP3s) and shove them all into a handy, futuristic-flavored gizmo you can slip easily into your bag or pocket. I can't easily bring the book, and the BBC version is just as good from what I've heard, so why bother with the bulk (once you get past that the whole, boring "Tolkien purity" agreement of the book being far superior to the films or any other medium)? Plus, I'd be not only taking with me a 1,200-page book in a silver box the size of a pack of cards, but some of my favorite albums and songs. Massive Attack, Morcheeba, Talking Heads, Radiohead, Halou, Kosheen, Delerium, Lisa Gerrard, Supreme Beings of Leisure, Beth Orton, Bjork...and Tolkien, all side-by-side in a digital warehouse that weighs about a pound.

Now, if you could only combine an iPod with a small laptop with a decent keyboard/battery length...sort of like a Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy with a built-in jukebox.

Complete with "Don't Panic" written in big, friendly letters.

Today's Word: Pepper

From One Word

One of your tepid spices you have at arms reach to make this small bit of your digestible life more interesting. It also makes a wonderful anti-personal weapon when it is in an aerosol form. A dual-use technology in your own cabinet. Enjoy.