Mom and I returned yesterday from a week-long trip. This time I did not forget anything. Nevertheless, there was room for improvement.

Initially, we were to stop at a fast food place on our way there, as we usually do. We made a change mid-trip, have lunch on one of the picnic tables at the visitors' center. After all, Mom packed lunch items for when we reach our destination. Our hotel room has a kitchenette. Therefore, we did not pack paper products or utensils. When we decided to have lunch on a picnic table, we had to improvise. Brochures worked well as place settings and TP is okay for napkins; straws, on the other hand, are not suitable substitutes for even simple tasks such as spreading the mayo.

As we were having lunch I thought it would be good to have a HIPPUS Cutlery Knife.

https://www.swiss-advance.com/product/hippus-cutlery-knife-red/

The problem is, would I use it often enough to justify bringing one on a trip?

It seems like every time we go on a trip, a person gets injured — either one of us or a stranger. Mom and I were already on the tour bus. Another person, an older gentleman, tripped and fell as he was in line to get on the bus. I sprung into action. I grabbed my EDC bag, got off the bus and treated his multiple injuries; the most significant injury was to his head. I used a hand wipe to clean the wound to his head and a couple of other wounds. After I used up the hand wipe, I noticed a smaller scrape. I used another hand wipe to clean that scrape.

After everything was said and done and got the gentleman patched up, I was second guessing what I used for each wound. I should have used a povidone-iodine prep pad on the smaller scrape.

While on the riverboat I got a sunburn, my second in five years. I have silver sulfadiazine which works miracles on sunburn; since getting a sunburn is so rare, I stopped bringing it with me on trips. Do I bring silver sulfadiazine with me for an incident that only happens twice every five years?

Mom and I ran into one problem that all the prepping in the world could not solve. We were arguing about the lid that goes over the toilet seat. Probably since I was toilet trained, I had always put the toilet lid down after I finished. Why, after all these years, would a person suddenly complain about the toilet lid being down?

Jeanette Isabelle