This is one of those in-between stops. I was only in Berlin for three days, mostly to take a short break, see friends, and drop some things in and out of storage. The only thing I did of import was try out Wizards Unite in a second country, only to discover the achievement of playing the game in more than one country was buggy.¹

It did give me a chance to think about stuff. Like, stuff. I’ve been traveling since I started with one carry-on bag and one computer bag. That’s got everything: clothes, jacket, sweater, medication, computer, swimsuit, towel, some other odds and ends. I’ve actually been shedding things as I go. The beard trimmer is just too bulky and rarely useful. The fancy toiletries bag ends up needing unloaded and reloaded at every airport anyway, so a plastic bag works better. I never ended up wearing my spare pair of shoes until I was ready to throw out my old pair.

This is maybe less radical in a post-Marie Kondo world, but I haven’t really missed much of anything. More clothes? I’ve got nobody to impress. A really comfortable mattress? Nice, but I’m pretty much fine sleeping on couches. Lots of fancy liquor bottles? I only drank with friends, and I usually wanted to try something new, anyway. Most of my possessions ended up being totems, sacred objects I had around to ward off, well, whatever would happen if I got rid of all that stuff.

So now I have gotten rid of all that stuff. And I’m no less myself than when I started.

There is a huge gaping exception to this, though: costuming. I’ve been playing larps on the regular while traveling, and it’s been a constant challenge to arrange things to wear. I can order stuff online² and have it shipped to friends, or I can swing by my stash in Berlin and swap out some existing pieces, hauling them with me multiple stops until I get to the game, or I can hit stores wherever I happen to be and hope for the best. None of these are great options. And all of them require my mailing, delivering, or throwing out the stuff I got after the game.

Until now, I’ve been relying on the forbearance of a very generous friend, who’s made space in her attic for me to store things. Just a couple large boxes, really, packed with costume pieces. It’s been very useful.³ But it’s also always awkward. I hate asking for help. I hate imposing on other people. If I’m mailing things I have to ask if she’ll be around to receive them. If I’m picking things up, I have to sync my schedule to ensure she’ll be there. It’s not a huge hassle, but it’s kind of a drag.

She’s recently decided it’s too much to handle, trying to schedule visits or mail deliveries. I can totally understand that. I’ve got a backup plan,⁴ and another plan⁵ in case my backup plan doesn’t work out. I’ll be back later to fully extract my stuff. I’ll miss the excuse to see her, though.

I’ve been telling people I don’t buy souvenirs, given how lightly I travel, but that hasn’t been strictly true. Sometimes, rarely, I’ll see something and it’ll remind me of someone. In this case, I was in the Harris Distillery in the Hebrides and I spotted this beautiful handmade pottery mug in their shop. And I dutifully packed it up and nestled it in my luggage, hauled it to Glasgow and Naples and Berlin, and was relieved when I unpacked it unharmed.

I left it with my friend. She was the only person I thought of when I saw it, and she seemed to appreciate it very much. So never let it be said I don’t like stuff. I’m just happier giving it away.

Next: Helsinki (HEL) to Amsterdam (AMS)
Prev: Naples (NAP) to Berlin (SXF)

Footnotes

¹ I also neglected to play it in Pompeii, which probably speaks well to my soul, although it would have been amusing. Instead, I convinced our guide to use the 10 minute break we were in to take a few of us through the brothel, since she had skipped it after seeing the number of kids in our group. No regrets.

² The United States may be a for-profit hellhole rapidly spiraling into a corporate dictatorship, but mail-ordering clothing there remains cheap and easy, unlike Europe.

³ You’d be surprised the number of larps a decent pair of combat boots are suitable for.

⁴ Another friend in Germany with a lot of space available

⁵ Turns out there’s these pan-European storage companies that will mail you boxes and then you ship your stuff to them. They’ll store them for however long, for a monthly fee, then ship them back wherever you want them.