Writing about bags - in the luggage and carry-on sense - set me thinking about other kinds of bags. Grocery bags, for one. I save all my plastic handled Walmart bags, grocery bags, and Whosits Department Store bags. Reuse before you recycle has been my watchword for a l-o-n-g time. But my homebase town passed a local ordinance, oh, a couple of years ago, banning plastic bags.
Most of Europe either never got into the habit or abolished those plastic bags long ago. They use string bags, canvas totes, and whatever for their marketing and other assorted shopping.
What's something you really need to tote along with you wherever you go? A shopping bag or tote bag. It has nearly endless uses for the Road Warrioress.
First, of course, long haul travel demands stops to shop somewhere along your route. The toothpaste runs out, shoes wear out, and hose just plain runs. Especially - but hardly exclusively! - in Europe, you need to bring your own shopping bag.
Here are few of the multiple duties of a shopping bag:
* shopping bag, of course
* beach tote
* shoe carrier
* office overflow tote (my computer bag often runs out of space for "stuff of the moment")
* book bag/library bag
* laundry bag
* day-pack (when I didn't want to haul a real handbag)
* "organizer" bag or project management "file"
* airplane "deplaning dump" to haul all the stuff I unpacked off the plane until I can repack it!
Mostly, it holds overflow of every description. It's a little workhorse that gets pulled out constantly for one usage or another.
Yes, I carry those plastic bags from Walmart and Whosits. Great when you have to do something with muddy shoes until you can properly clean them, or hastily pack a wet washcloth or swim suit. I use them instead of tissue where I need a bit of protection for something, or keep an item tidily tucked away until I need it, like three weeks into a trip. I use & discard them liberally throughout a trip.
But my "best" shopping bag is my Staples tote. Staples occasionally holds its Bag Sale: get a free Staples tote with one coupon, and get discount on everything you can fit in that bag at checkout. Great deal. Do so love to save money. But that bag is proving to be my best deal even though so many shopping bags like Staples' bag sell for a mere 99 cents!
This bag is brown - hides scuffs and dirt. The bottom is a perfect fit for a great many hardback and trade paperback books. If I load the books and bumpf for my research in the bottom of the bag, it sits quite nicely on a wheeled computer bag and the handles are just the right length to fit both bags' handles together. Those handles are just long enough to carry over my shoulder, too. It folds up neatly and flat, or rolls up. I can tuck it in so many places without it seeming to take up space.
I have bags from at least half a dozen stores and supermarkets. Each one is slightly different in base size, depth, handle length, and re-fold-ability. I have a supermarket bag which simply refuses to refold - obstinate thing - but its plasticized and waterproof or I would ditch the darn thing. It's that one particular bag, which I got at Staples, which just seems to fit best for the most uses.
A European string bag crunches up tinier than just about anything. But one did not survive a week with me - too many things fall through the holes! Worse, once one section of string breaks, that bag is finito. No, non, nein, nyet! I get far more use out of my Staples bag. Enough increased usefulness to warrant taking up that much space and weight (which are pretty negligible anyway).
Carry whichever type of shopping or tote bag works best for you. But certainly take a look at that Staples bag and compare it to other stores' bags.
May your road rise to meet you!
Ann
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