If my memory was what it once was, I could probably come up with some real doozies here. I think the most frustrated I ever was with something I took with me was a trip to four European countries taking a hair dryer and curling iron, and none of the adapters I had ever worked for where we were. And I was not successful finding the right adapter. Most of our hotels furnished hair dryers, but I was never able to use the curling iron. I finally left it in the last hotel to make room in my luggage for something I had bought.

We might have run this thread before, but this got me thinking about the most awkward thing I ever brought home with me from a trip. There have been many fragile teapots, since I collect them, but in Hong Kong I found the most wonderful furniture for doll houses at the Chinese Arts & Crafts and could not resist buying several rooms full for a niece who was getting a doll house for Christmas. It was worth it when she opened it all.

And then there was the time I carried two BIG flower pots at least two miles coming out of one of the Mexican border towns and having to cross the bridge to the TX side to our car. Then o;ne of them was broken when I got home. We live and learn -- or do we? I'd still like another one of those pots.

Lou Matthews (in hot humid Lakeway, TX)