Have you heard of the TV show, “What Not to Wear?” I love that show. In fact, just the other day, my 11 year old son, Isaac, was heard downstairs blurting out with excitement, “Hey, What Not to Wear is on!” Wyatt was suitably horrified of course, but he’s also been known to sit and listen raptly while Clinton and Stacy practically gag over some poor woman’s wardrobe.
A week or so ago, I went to New York for TBEX, a travel bloggers conference. My roommate was a fellow travel blogger I’d met on Twitter named Margo Millure. Margo is fabulous and writes about women’s travel at Travelbelles. But Margo would be ripped to shreds on a show called, “How Not to Pack”. In fact, I think I ‘m going to follow her around with a camera on her next trip out of town and ridicule her mercilessly for the excessive, clothes, make-up, and hair accessories she packs and strews around her entire 10 X 10 hotel room.
Let’s just put it this way. I was glad I got there in time to claim the window sill for myself.
Not only did Margo overpack, but she packed an extra bag for all the goodies she planned to buy and drag home with her. Can you imagine what her house looks like? That extra bag was twice as big as the carry on I packed all of my stuff in.
At TBEX, we got goody bags, with a bunch of stuff in them. One of the things I had in my bag was a scale with a hook on it which I thought was kind of neat. The idea is to weigh your luggage before you leave for the airport to avoid overweight fees. I donated it to Margo, who I knew needed it more than I did, but as it turned out, it did no good anyway. Her burgeoning suitcase was on wheels but it was so damn heavy, she couldn’t lift it! I can still picture her standing there in the middle of the night, bleary eyed from too much TBEX, and feeling sickly from the entire package of oreos we had binged on, trying to pick up that stupid 80 pound suitcase.
I’m sure our neighbors at the hotel wondered why parents would leave a couple of 12 year old girls alone in a hotel room to laugh so loud and disruptively that others couldn’t sleep.
Margo left New York a day earlier than me. In the morning, the shoeboxes, shopping bags, and clothing tags remained giving me another chuckle before I left to visit the NYPD. My purse had been stolen the day before and I was left in New York with no money, no ID and a big fat hotel bill.
Except I didn’t have a hotel bill.
Because Margo had paid the entire bill and left me $100 in cash. It stopped me utterly short in my tracks. Here was a person who didn’t know me from Adam, but was willing to take a chance on never seeing me or that money again. Not only that, but she had learned the night before that while she was gone, her 17 year old daughter had been in a car accident and the car was totaled. Her daughter was fine thank God, the problem of the totaled car and stolen purse seemed a mere inconvenience when compared to what could have been.
I sometimes feel goofy talking about the friends I’ve made on the internet. But the fact is, they are real friends, as real as the friends you meet anywhere else. And in Margo, I had found an especially good one.
*This post was exaggerated for comedic purposes. I’m sure Margo’s house is neat and tidy:)
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Hilarious! I can totally imagine Margo trying to pick up the suitecase and I have no idea who she is. But she sounds like a an amazing person, I think you depicted her well!
We had a grand old time in that crappy little hotel room:) I’m very glad we found each other. You’re one of my new internet friends, too…and I can’t wait to meet you!
This made me teary. I love my internet friends!
You are truly my first internet friend, Kara Williams, and I am very thankful for that!
this made me laugh, cry and wonder what the heck is the matter with me. I need Oreos
Hi Margo! I dragged the remainder to those Oreos to the Robert Smith Hotel, and polished them off there. I’m going to have my purse padlocked to me in Van Couver next year:)
Truly, thank you for everything. I haven’t laughed that hard in years.
This is just proof that friendships can be strong and true even over the Internet with miles and miles between! What a great story. Thanks so much for sharing it.
You’re right Jen. It’s a great story about people, when so much of what we hear about ourselves is horrible. I want to believe that Anne Frank was right, and people ar basically good.
As always, you crack me up, Debi!
Margo was the funny one in this post!