Love and loathing in the late afternoon.

Loves:

• Hotel sheets with such a high thread count they practically feel like cardboard.
• Japanese tour groups.
• Window seats- although the other day I heard a stat that said more people prefer the aisle. I guess it's because of exit access and avoiding the whole 'crotch in the face climb over a snoring stranger' scenario.
• neatly packed bags (when the elastic holdy inny things do their job).
• Surrendering to the rain instead of frantically running awning to awning.
• Street vendor food (carbon monoxide gives it a little je ne sais quoi).
• Shampoo bottles that don't leak (whatever you do don't just throw your toiletry bag into the washing machine because it just foams and foams..... ).
• Being the first person to use the loo on the plane before the floor gets all flooded out (why/ how ?) and you practically have to wear gumboots.
• Hostel showers that you don't have to keep pressing on, are hot, and have pressure (the holy trinity).
• Tight connections (adrenaline rush).
• Filling in Australian customs forms ("yes I will do the right thing and declare my semi-automatic weapon").
• Foreign supermarkets.
• Finding out that your Sudanese dinar which is worth nothing is the same size as a 2 dollar coin.

Loathes:

• Waking up and forgetting what country you're in.
• People in dorm rooms thinking that grungy undies qualify as pajamas (you know who you are).
• Arm rests on airport terminal chairs.
• Getting stuck in lifts.
• Having a yeti-sized carbon footprint (but that seat was going whether I was in it or not....eek).
• Getaway-type shows (the envy I feel is too much really).
• When you're in 26A and 26B has embalmed herself in tester perfume.
• Going to the bank in countries where inflation is so high you have to walk out with a box of money just to cover lunch.
• Making eye contact with tourists when you are at an out of the way destination and have them give you that "we're in it together look".
• Never being able to remember my passport number even though I am quite capable of recalling every phone number I've ever had, the number for Pizza Hut (and Dominos) and π to the tenth decimal.