My first season in Miami was over and it was time to pack my bags and head back on the road. This time to a lovely little fashion capital named Milan. Wow. And even though by this time, between my travels in college and my initial modeling trips, you could start to call me a seasoned traveler, I still always seemed to make that great faux pas all of us girls are infinitely guilty of.....overpacking. I hit Miami International Airport with two large suitcases and two carry-ons that I am still amazed made it on the plane without being confiscated and forcefully checked in at the gate.
Why so much stuff? Well, I was going from a warm, tropical climate to a chilly Northern Italian spring which would eventually turn into a scorching summer. I needed more than one season's worth of clothes & shoes! And I was also a huge monogomist when it came to the toiletries and hygiene products that I used. I would pack several bottles of everything that I normally used, shampoo, conditioner, deodorant, bodywash, you name it. And since I have also always suffered from seasonal allergies, I would pack at least half a dozen boxes of antihistamines.....thank God this was before the whole "meth epidemic" hit the States....I would have had some serious cop action following me around asking why in hell I was purchasing so many boxes of pseudoephedrine. Do you really think they would have accepted my answer of "because I enjoy breathing through my nose and not having my eyes swell shut on a regular basis and I am about to leave the country to where they may not have Sudafed or Drixoral" as a legitimate answer? Something tells me no.
Anyways, it was a few trips later, when I finally decided that I could buy whatever I needed anywhere I went and it didn't have to be made in the freakin' USA to be good....as a matter of fact the foreign products (and I am not just talking pharmaceuticals here) were far better and often times cheaper than the stuff I was buying at home. But until then, my suitcases looked like I had ransacked the local CVS. It amazes me I never got stopped by customs and asked if I planned to shampoo their entire nation. Although, if you spend one summer in Milan and have to take public transpo there, you might seriously consider smuggling in a stick of deodorant for everyone in that city.
My carry-ons were huge because back then the advent of the ever compact MP3 player had not yet occurred. This meant that I, and anyone else who enjoyed music and traveled, had to carry a Discman and enormous CD cases full of whatever favorite CD's you had. I happened to have two of these cases and I swear that that alone took up an entire carry-on. I loved my music, and it helped the time pass on those really long flights....also helped avoid conversations with the creepy dudes that inevitably got seated next to me. So there were the CD's and then my books. I am a bibliophile. 100% addicted to reading, which is why I always had at least 3 or 4 books on me at all times. Throw in my portfolio, travel papers, some toiletries and a huge bottle of water and that meant some serious on board baggage. Mmmmm, my bottles of water. Flying would always dehydrate me and the thimbles of water that the airlines would hand out every 10 hours just never satiated me....thank God I did all this traveling before airlines and the government decided that water could be turned into an explosive mid air. I would have arrived at my destinations parched and needing an immediate IV.
My flight to Milan was uneventful. Lots of reading, listening to Live, Incubus, the Red Hot Chili Peppers and the Foo Fighters ad nauseum....well never really ad nauseum, since I could and still can listen to those guys forabsolutelyever, and anticipating my tiny tray of airline deliciousness....remember, I truly do enjoy airline food. I arrived at Malpensa Airport in Milan, called my agency, followed directions to get on the Malpensa Express and got off at Cadorna Station in the center of Milano......bella citta...where a driver from my agency was waiting for me in a miniscule blue Smart Car with Eye for I emblazoned proudly on the side. Flashback to Japan.
The next chapeter of my adventures was about to begin....la dolce vita style.....
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