Little Things Mean a Lot

As I've traveled around Spain these last few weeks, I've found that the littlest things mean a lot. Nothing is to be taken for granted, especially when your whole world is in a backpack. I learned be thankful for the smallest conveniences.

Here's a list of my little things that meant so much and why.

• $5 watch from Target - 24:00 time keeper (Spain utilizes the 24 hour clock), date keeper, alarm clock, glow-in-the-dark time teller, especially for those wee hour awakenings when it was time to catch the bus or train.

• pen flashlight - Useful for dark hallways, finding the light switch in a new room in the middle of the night, and when the lights went out that night at Hostel Metropol in Madrid.

• $1 mini-sewing kit - For repairing my failing daypack.

• 1 € (Euro) - Equates to three 2.5 liters of bottled water, lunch, bus fare, or an ice cream cone.

• $1 four-pack of travel tissue - For the many, many times there was none in public restrooms.

• Pentel, my favorite pen - Enabled me to journal my experience, write home, jot notes & time tables for travel, phone numbers, and prices. (Luckily I took two. I laid one down with my journal for a minute and somebody swiped the pen.)

• $2 flip flops from JC Penney's - To allow my feet to breathe and bathe sanitarily in foreign showers.

• 6€ phone card - 300 minutes to the US so I can call friends and family to let them know my whereabouts.

• 2 ft string - My clothes line.