The Un-Fabulousness of the Squashed Hat.

I decided I was going to go travelling a full 4 and a half years before my departure date. This gave me a lot of daydreaming time. Dreaming up a movie montage of myself walking along white sand beaches, navigating my way through bustling markets full of trinkets and treasures, exploring ancient temples and ruins, and partying with my new travelling pals in cool backpacker bars… We all do this right?

Well I don’t know about you, but in my daydreams I looked something like this…

Clearly I needed some fabulous hats for my fabulous trip, right? Well no, not really. In fact I highly advise against it.

Here’s why – Hats get squashed! It’s unavoidable with the ridiculously long journeys and when you’re chucking your backpack into the back of a taxi/boat/tuk-tuk.

On my first trip I took a straw trilby with me (it was fashionable in 2009 okay?). It was immediately squashed. I did a good job of pulling it back to life, although it was never like it was, and proceeded with the rest of my trip around the States holding on to it. That’s right, I wasn’t risking throwing it back in the backpack of doom, so I kept it with me on my coach tour of the west coast whilst my bag was stuffed into the storage space under the coach.

And you know what? It still got squashed. And it was a pain to carry round.

I honestly don’t know how anyone manages to even take these kind of hats on holiday actually. I tried to fashion a sturdy holder for a hat once in my suitcase (out of a towel), but to no avail. Le squash.

Hey, if I’m wrong and there’s a neat trick I don’t know, please tell me!! But I think it’s a lost cause. And let’s face it, it’s space that could otherwise be occupied with another bikini. Just saying.