What to do with paper and plastic bags when travelling

You get lots of bags when shopping. I save mine. When I run out of room, I stick shopping bags and tote bags in suitcases. On my next holiday or working trip I will have a handy bag for souvenirs and overflow packing and packing shoes so the dirty soles don't mark clothes.

I see many bags discarded in shopping centres. I think shoppers feel obliged to use them to exit the shop to show they have bought the goods, then decide they have too much to carry. They either wear the clothes they have just bought and then discard the bag, or consolidate the bags.

Why don't they do it in the shop? Not to hold up the queue when paying. Need to find a bin.

No wonder the Singapore MRT train stations' announcements tell you that if you have parcels, please use the lift.

Blocked By Big Shopping Bags
I used to wonder why. Now I know. With wide carrier bags, you block the escalators. You also block the pavements. Try overtaking two parents and two children and their shopping - or three Japanese tourists, all festooned with bags.

Re-using Paper Bags
It hurts me to see perfectly good bags abandoned. Sometimes I rescue a clean bag. I use the bags until they fall apart.

Then I like to save the ribbon handles and the coloured rope handles. I put the ribbons into my sewing box.

In theory you could cut up the bags to create new smaller ones.

Carfts and beds
I recently read a website for crafts-minded people about making beads from paper. there is also papier mache. Or lining drawers.

Drawer Liners
I recently used wrapping paper as drawer liners. Once the drawer is full, it doesn't matter if you have used Xmas paper or wedding paper or some other season paper. You rarely see it under your piles of clothes or stationery.

But what about plastic bags, waterproof bags? Plastic bags can be used to line wastebins. Also as drawer liners.

Plastic Bags when Travelling
Wrappers for shoes when packing a suitcase. Covering or double wrapping liquids such as cosmetics and bottles of drinks. Covering books and notebooks which get battered and would appreciate protection when you are travelling and in rain.

One website has thirty suggestions for reusing paper bags.

Some people have set themselves the task of cutting down on the amount they throw out.

Many items could be re-used by schools for crafts and art lessons if the schools put up a sign and bins to take the treasures which others throw away.

Some supermarkets have bins for bags you no longer need. You might want a big bag to carry home your shopping, but be able to return it later when you are buying only smaller or fewer items.

Some manufacturers suggest new uses for their packaging. I have seen boxes which can be turned inside out to make a toy dolls house or a board game with the game and pieces you fold together, all printed on the back. A bonus for families, as well as good for the environment.

I have seen YouTube videos showing how plastic can be twisted and compressed, or shredded and  used to make bricks for building houses. I look forward to the day when everything is recycled.

Meanwhile a few ideas for those free toothbrushes and old toothbrushes: for painting, cleaning, even making one into a bangle.

Meanwhile, some ideas for you:
https://www.favecrafts.com/Green-Crafting/How-to-Make-a-Purse-from-Plastic-Bags
https://www.favecrafts.com/Green-Crafting/10-Crafty-Uses-for-Old-Toothbrush
https://www.favecrafts.com/Green-Crafting/14-Creative-Uses-for-Mesh-Produce-Bags

Author
Angela Lansbury, travel writer and photographer, author and speaker.
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Safe Emergency Exit From Trains

I was sitting on a train on the line to and from Wales from Paddington, London, England. The reason why I'm spelling out the location in detail is that there's a London in Canada. This morning I had a conversation with a lady who said she had moved to Boston and I thought she meant USA, but she was referring to the East of England. So, I'm on a train between London, UK, and Wales.

The emergency exit signs are on both sides of the carriage where I am sitting. The one on my side is in Welsh, a language I do not understand.

The English language sign is obscured by the luggage of the lady beside it; she has a large double bass or double something.

So I move to the next carriage where a couple beside the sign are preventing me from getting close enough to read it. The signs should be bigger.

I have photographed the sign and now, later and off the train I have time to read what it says. Useful advice.

This advice would apply on many trains and vehicles.
1 Stay on the train if safe to do so and wait for instructions from staff. If necessary, move to an adjoining carriage.

2 If you need to get off, look for other trains approaching on the track side and try to get off on the side away from the track.

3 Don't jump off but sit on the floor before 'jumping' down (I presume to reduce the distance between your feet and the ground - and enable you to slide slowly to reduce distance further and reduce impact).

(Assuming you won't get trampled by people behind! Ask your gym teacher to show you how to fall and roll to reduce impact and injury when forced to jump from a height or falling accidentally. If you don't have a gym teacher, research this on line.)

4 My additional advice: If you get on a train early, read the emergency exit notices before people sit beside the signs and obscure instructions. The pictures may show you where and how to break glass to reach emergency handles. Another diagram may show how to open doors manually when the power is turned off. Also which direction to turn the handles. Right or left, clockwise or anticlockwise, up or down or backwards or forwards.

If you speak a second language such as French or Spanish, mentally translate the instructions, then look up online any words you don't know. That way, in an emergency, you will be able to instruction others.

Angela Lansbury, travel writer and photographer.

Four Wheel Suitcase by Karabar

The four wheel suitcase by Karabar is blue, as shown in the picture on their website and on eBay. (You can get cheaper four wheel cabin cases from the chain stores if you are prepared to have black.)

I was pleased it was blue. I had worried that maybe they showed blue in the picture but it was a stock photo. But it is blue. Not a nice blue. Sort of petrol blue which does not go with anything, not a nice royal blue, but at least I can recognise my suitcase, amongst the dozen on the shuttle bus to the plane, or be reminded to take it as I glass back and do my suitcase body count, accidentally counting my umbrella as an extra item and forgetting the carry on bag.

Handles
The handle pulls up tall. The material looks thin and flimsy, like paper, but the guarantee is for three years (which will cover stitching I suppose, but not holes made by your contents in the suitcase nor mishandling by baggage handlers.

The two handles on the top and side are almost flat, no padding. But you are pulling it along with the handle. But you do need the handle when going up or down a flight of stairs at home, at an office, in a power cut, at an airport, or a railway station.

Is it sturdy enough to carry a camera bag, large laptop computer or heavy bottle of wine? I think you would have to secure them with the internal straps - only attached to the flimsy looking liner, or wedge the contents between something else.
It was delivered by MyHermes.
www.karabars.co.uk

Angela Lansbury, travel writer, author, photographer, speaker.