I left my stuff - for things you forgot at hotels

Yes, we've all done it. Left things behind in hotels. I have arrived home with a left shoe. A right hand glove. Having left contraceptives under the pillow. A child's teddy bear in a cot.

I read that a famous film star left a dress behind at a five star hotel. When she returned ten years later, the dress was hanging up in the wardrobe for her.

I once asked hotel reception in the USA for a connecting lead to power my mobile phone. They had a box of them. No way of knowing who had left them behind in the sockets of public rooms in the hotel.

Now there's an answer. 

Clubs

I also left a swimsuit behind at a club. 

And lipsticks and medicines at Security at Heathrow airport.

Useful websites

https://www.fodors.com/news/hotels/ileftmystuff-reunites-travelers-with-items-left-behind-in-hotel-rooms

https://www.ileftmystuff.com/

Emergency Shoe and Button Repairs When Travelling: Dental Floss, hair and threads

Problem
The strap of a man's sandal comes apart at an airport. What can you do?

Answer
A quick temporary repair with dental floss.

Story
The sandal came apart at the airport on the way home to London from Stansted. No products or time for a proper repair. An urgent need to stick the shoe together to continue with journey. A piece of dental floss wound around kept the strap together. It was not a permanent repair, but it got the sandal's owner out of trouble.

Dental Floss
If you didn't have dental floss and couldn't see a shoe repair shop, you could dash into the nearest chemist (UK) or drug store (US) and buy dental floss. Most dental floss is white and looks tubular. However, you can also buy flat ribbon floss and green mint.

Shoe Laces
A pair of long shoe laces can be used to make an emergency suitcase handle if your suitcase handle breaks.

Hair
An alternative for a sewing fix is to use your own long hair. or ask a relative for a long hair. You might see a long hair in a hairdressing salon or on the sofa or the clothes of somebody who has long hair. Or even ask a passer by for the donation of a long hair!

Hair comes in many colours, natural and dyed. You might see black hair, blonde hair, red hair, blue hair, purple hair, white hair.

If you don't like the idea of cutting off your own hair or somebody else's, look for hair left in a comb or brush.

Tips
I usually travel with a pair of slipper sox just in case. Note to self - put a pair of slipper sox in the front pocket of my carry on luggage, or a  spare pair of flip flops.

Button Thread Needed
If you want to sew on a button with matching thread, look for a piece of thread dangling from a hem or seam. You need a piece long enough for the size of needle. Pick the smallest needle. If the thread is long enough, sew the whole button on with it. If you have a short piece, secure the button with a near colour thread. Weave the matching thread to cover the top of the non-matching threads on the button.

If all else fails, remove matching thread from the seam, or pull a thread from the woven hem. Make good the now missing piece of cotton with non-matching thread in the hidden area.

Change the button with visible holes to a matching colour button which instead has an underneath shank so the thread does not show.

You can sew over the top of the repair with matching thread when you get home.

Buy a button which has a removable top which you cover with fabric. Cut a small piece of fabric from the garment hem to make a matching button.

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

German - easy ways to remember words when learning or teaching

When you are learning new words in a foreign language it helps to have a letter to remind you, and to distinguish two similar words from each other. In German the nouns have capital letters.

Das Bier - beer - sounds the same, same first and last letters. If you need to remember that the second vowel is pronounced in German, think of the word Bier. Pronounced like bee - er.

fertig - ready (fERtig - REady)

Have - habe - ich habe - I have (three letters the same; only the letter v and b are changed)

Der Hut - the hat, same first and last letters. But the plural of hat, hats, in German is Hüte. Two little hats on the letter ü.

Das Kleid - clothing or dress (remember clad - they were clad in their glad rags)

Die Mädchen - the girls (same word as maidens and maids which have the same sound the same first two letters and the same middle letter d and the same last two letters en.

Der Rock - the skirt. (At first sight rocks have no connection with skirts. But look again at the letters. The letters R and K in Rock appear in sKiRt. Or make a memory aid: We wrapped the rocks up in skirts and carried them home.

Das Saltz - the salt - same first two letters.

Der Schuh - the shoe (add c in German after the s).

Wasser - water - starts with the same two letters (although the German w is pronounced as a V - easier to remember if you know to say 'v e r s h t' and eggs (borsht)

You can use these connections when you are teaching German to yourself or English speaking children or adults, or when teaching English to German speaking children or adults.

Angela Lansbury, travel writer and photographer, language teacher.