I’m writing this on what has been dubbed “Black Friday” in the United States. A big shopping push made by retailers all around offering big “Day after Thanksgiving” sales to lure anxious consumers into their stores to start their Christmas shopping.

After being unpacked now for six months, surrounded by all my belongings, I feel the need to take stock in how this feels.  Although, I am a purger and love getting rid of stuff and like to keep my life as simple as possible, there are still just some ‘things’ that come along with apartment living: i.e. kitchen utensils, sheets and towels, and bigger items like furniture.   I do like my bed and my couch and I enjoy cooking and having the pots and pans that I use.  But I was surprised by some of the extra items I had unpacked—like spare bottles of shampoo and lotion–I probably bought them because they were on sale.  There is this habit of stocking up or buying in bulk that I have kicked now—for two reasons: 1.  I simply don’t want to have extra items around me mostly because I want to be more mobile and want to be able to travel easily. And,  2.  I no longer have a car, so simply buying big, bulky items or multiples is thankfully no longer a real option for me. It’s not too fun dragging a super-size box of laundry detergent or a 20-roll package of toilet paper on my bike or on the bus or train, so I do just fine with my four-roll store brand package. It’s two-ply and everything.

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Long gone are the days of Travelers’ Checks or wiring money. In fact, since my first trip abroad fifteen years ago, I have always been fine with just using my ATM (automated teller machine) Card and a good credit card.

Credit Card Tips (some old, some new):

Dupe it:

Always make some photo copies of your credit card(s) (along with other important travel docs, passport, etc).  Keep these in a couple of different places from where the originals are kept. I also had an electronic file on my laptop of scans of my credit card and other docs.  Not only that, I also emailed it to myself (and to my dad, just in case) so it was also online in my Gmail webmail…so it would be accessible from any computer, not just my laptop.

Alert them:

Call your credit card company to alert them of your upcoming abroad travels. So when you buy a shisha pipe at the souk in Cairo or the mud bath in Vietnam, they won’t get suspicious and put a stop on your credit card.  That security stop-gap is a good thing, but you don’t want to be stranded at the massage parlor in Thailand with your pants down…uh, literally.  Although I called mine to alert them, I still had to get in touch with them a few more times over the three years I traveled to remind them, because they still called time to time to ask about possible ‘fraudulent” charges. It’s still better to be safe than sorry and to have to inconveniently call them a few times.

The BEST card (in my humble opinion):

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“Where’s your luggage?” asked the friendly, over-cologned Middle Eastern airport shuttle driver.

I was traveling even lighter than I usually do as I headed to Midway Airport in Chicago; the second city’s, second airport.  Besides picking up friends, this would be the only time I was heading to the airport and not exactly flying anywhere…well not anywhere in particular.

We had one other pick-up to make on the way and a couple of nuns entered the van.   So, two nuns, a Muslim, and a Jew are headed to the airport…okay, that’s not the first line to a joke, it is just how it was.  It was a real party van.

So where was I going? Well, first let me tell you where I’d been a week earlier.

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Every town and city has its own icons – cool, kitschy status symbols that everyone knows.  I am sure if you live in Chicago you know exactly what is pictured here.   For those who don’t, this sexy couple is hanging out on the roof of Chicago’s Superdawg.  Not only is it one of the most well-known hot dog joints in Chicago, it is possibly the only retro drive-in restaurant in the world topped by two half-human weenies.

Hot Dogs on a Hot Tin Roof

Chicago, USA

Superdawg was opened in 1948 by Maurie and Flaurie Berman, on the Northwest side of Chicago, right after Maurie returned from World War II, and they still run it today.

Not only do I think it’s just cool, in random full disclosure and just an all around cool factoid: the owners’ son is my real estate attorney. As they always say at Superdawg, “Thanks for stopping!”

Since returning from my travels I’ve made a conscious effort to do many things differently — to just live a bit simpler and not waste as much time, resources, and money; to shrink my overall carbon footprint.   I don’t drive a car and take my bike or public transport everywhere. I’m making an effort to eat much less meat, helping my health and the earth and environment at the same time.  I recycle, as I always have, but try more than ever to not consume many things in the first place so as to not add to the already enormous waste problem we have. Craigslist has been a dream for me and I have been selling a lot of things or giving them away so others can use them, like my old books and CDs, my old Satellite receiver, my roller blades, and soon even my old film SLR camera. Yes, it has nostalgic meaning, but not as much as the photos it’s taken…so off it goes to someone else.  And I always bring a bag with me when I go shopping whether it’s a backpack because I’m on my bike anyway or a shopping tote so I don’t need to take their never-decomposing plastic bags. Enter Envirosax.

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