Little things that make me happy while travelling

I'm a simple man, and it often doesn't take much to make me happy. On this page I'll document little things I see during my travels, that bring a smile to my face.

Huge cans of coke:

I don't drink tea or coffee, so if I ever need a boost, coke zero (or any variation of) is my go to drink. You can only imagine my delight when I stumbled upon these ginormous cans at our local supermarket. It's like the size of a beer can in the UK, but full of coke zero! For the heat of Bologna, these have been wonderful.

Small trolleys in Lidl:

There is a reasonably sized lidl 30 minutes or so from our base in Via Santo Stefano, Bologna, and upon seeing these small trolleys the first time, I just assumed they were for kids. How wrong I was. On a return visit, I was looking for a basket, as knew I didn't need much. I couldn't see any, then saw adults pushing these little wonders around. Genius. Baskets often begin to hurt after a while, so these things are great. They feature a movable holder, and the higher up you hold it, the more your trolley begins to resemble a pirate ship. The world needs to know.

Free chargers in Italian train stations:

I can't say I used these (I normally take a small portable charger with me), but I thought it was a nice touch to have them in major transport hubs around Italy. Perhaps more impressively, these were free to use, and could prove very useful in an emergency. The Italian transport system impressed me anyway, and this just added to the overall positive impression.

Cooling fans: Italy in the summer is hot. Damn hot. Queueing up for tourist hotspots (pardon the pun) isn't fun at the best of times, and despite it being quieter due to Covid 19 concerns, it was still unpleasant. Step forward these metallic godsends, which cool you down by spraying you with cold water mist. I was almost disappointed to actually have to leave my spot in the queue, to proceed past them.

Free water facilities:

I may have mentioned that Italy is hot, and Rome in August is no exception. We paid a visit to the Colosseum during this time, and water was definitely needed. There were lots of street sellers offering them, but there are also machines that offer water, both still and sparking, for free! The queue wasn't too bad, and fills up your water bottle in seconds. You'll also notice that there are more USB charging facilities as well. Well done Italy.

Funny graffiti: I like graffiti, and have written about it a lot on this fair website. I also like funny graffiti, and this piece in Florence is my favourite bit of art I have seen so far during my travels.

Huge bottles of water: These go both ways, as they're obviously damn heavy, and decanting them into smaller bottles can be a tough task, but they're just so cheap, so warrant a place in this humble list. I started buying these in Gran Canaria, as this ginormous bottle wasn't that much more than a single 1 litre bottle. I then had a 5 minute walk back to the apartment, carrying this 6 litre monster. It felt like a shit version of Ninja Warrior.

Huge packs of flavoured meat: As I've mentioned elsewhere, I don't have a sense of smell or taste after getting punched in the face many years ago (story for another day), but I can still get sensations like spice etc. So it was awesome to see that the wonderful supermarket in Gran Canaria sold shed loads of meat, flavoured already. What a world. I'm not a great chef, despite getting a respectable C grade in my GCSE Catering, so if you want to spice and flavour my food for me, thank you.

Awesome chocolate pastry things: I still tend to eat things I used to like, and I like chocolate, so these things jumped out to me. Made even better by the fact they were on offer for just a Euro. I'm easily pleased. These things are kinda like a Danish pastry thing, covered in chocolate, and are amazing. Apologies for the slightly rubbish description, but if you do get the chance to try one of these, do so.