First casualty: my Kindle

My family drinking Starbucks coffee in a Bangkok mall

I've been lucky on my travels so far that nothing has been stolen and I haven't lost anything (except items of clothing that didn't come back from the laundry in Cambodia, where it's known that nice clothes often mysteriously become lost). My only real mishap so far was that my Kindle fell off the upper bunk bed in a hostel. Kindle screens are known to be very fragile and of course mine cracked.

Now that my family has returned home after their two week vacation with me, I'm traveling by myself again. When I travel alone, my Kindle is my best friend. I usually read it in restaurants while I'm waiting for my order, I often read it for a while after breakfast when I'm not in a hurry to be somewhere, I read it whenever I'm waiting for something and I read it on long rides or flights.

In addition to books I also use my Kindle to store Lonely Planet guides which are all in digital format so I don't have to lug heavy guidebooks around. And I've discovered that I can copy reservation confirmations in pdf format on the Kindle. It's very easy to just show the Kindle rather than booting up my computer when I'm checking in at a guesthouse or when I want to show an address to a taxi driver.

I can't imagine traveling without my Kindle. I was devastated when it broke.

The good news is that my Kindle broke in Bangkok and not in some godforsaken jungle or undeveloped country. I went to one of the many mega shopping malls in Bangkok and simply bought a new one. Problem solved.