This is how Coordinated I Am

You might have thought I was disorganized. Embarking on a month-long trip to Europe with virtually no planning, save for the actual dates of travel to and from the US, but consider my choice of toiletry casing.

In a five-minute trip to Walgreens, pre-departure, I selected a rectangular zipper-case for my shampoo and face wash, and a matching little pouch for my jewelry in pink and orange multicolored stripes. Not only were they inexpensive, but they had cute little pink plastic toggles for the zipper pulls, so I figured it was a pretty good deal. I find them quite enjoyable. And they have served me well. And perhaps it makes me less organized than most backpackers, the fact that I waited until the last minute and was up at midnight before my flight to Paris, booking my hotel, because everything was so expensive, even on Hostelbookers.com. But I like the place I found.

The room is a bright, sunny orange, and there is a cool rectangular shower-head with excellent water pressure. The room is noisy, with windows right on the street, but for three days I don’t mind, especially since I have nifty French windows with miniature iron balconies and a good view of the Patisserie and roof gardens across the street. And what do I find in my bathroom in the morning? The little waste-paper basket in my bathroom has a pink-purple-orange stripe pattern almost EXACTLY like my toiletry kit. I am not even kidding. I checked it several times, just to be sure. Mine has black where they have purple, but from a distance of a few feet, they look almost exactly the same. It looks exceedingly coordinated.


So maybe it was random, my coming here, to this country, to this city, to this exact hotel, at this particular time, and being given a room at the end of the hall with a waste-basket that matches my belongings. But I couldn’t have planned it better if I had tried. I think it’s just another good sign that this was a trip that was meant to be.