Booking It Across Europe

On today’s episode of “Gilmore Girls” (okay, today’s fifth episode of “Gilmore Girls”), Rory and Lorelai were packing for their trip to Europe.  As they were planning to backpack from country to country, they were trying to lighten the load and not carry more than they needed.  Lorelai had too many tubes of toothpaste and pairs of shoes, but Rory had at least twelve books in her backpack.  There was no way she could imagine spending so much time away without a stack of books to read.

This reminded me of the time I spent studying in the Netherlands when I was in college.  I arrived without a single book in my suitcase and soon discovered the only books at hand in English were my textbooks.  My anxiety grew until I discovered a little shelf of books in our common room that held a handful of books in English.  I grabbed them and read them cover to cover.  Most of them were English countryside mysteries that all sounded the same.  I didn’t care.  A couple of them were science fiction.  I didn’t care.  One of them was a copy of Danielle Steel’s Zoya, which sustained me through countless weekends and train rides.  I lost count of the number of times I read it—but I do know that I have not read it since!  I think I maxed out the number of times I could reread Zoya.

I realized that if Rory and I were planning our trips today, we would not have to struggle without books!  My Kindle is a treasure trove of titles—old favorites as well as new books that I have yet to read.  I would have endless reading material for the train, and most likely would be able to add more from home whenever the whim struck.  I have no doubt that fictional Rory would have her own ficitonal ereader as well, stuffed with all the classics for her summer reading for Yale.  Thank goodness for technology!  What a relief!

I can’t speak for Rory, but I want a do-over…