Packing for my stay in Mexico, I realised something: aside from the fact I’d have to pick which shoes/dresses/hair products to bring, I’d also have to make a tough decision regarding which literature I could fit (carry) in my two suitcases. Yes, hand luggage was still an option, but my bag was already bulging with my laptop, charger, camera, passport and important documents, a couple of packets of sweets (no Percy Pigs in the airport), my over-filled diary and more clutter I care to recall. What to bring? How do you pick between Molière’s dramatic comedy, Ruiz Zafón’s page-turning novels and Pratchett’s sarcastic fantasy? What about all the other loves in my life, the Arabic classic literature, the socio-economic tirades of South America, the sharp wit of America’s finest authors, or the Renaissance literature of Britain?

Heading out abroad, to a gorgeous sunset as you take off from the tarmac, unto the world of the kooky, the eccentric, the known unknowns and the unknowns knowns...This is the start of a new adventure, your heart cries. As you hit the ground running, find your new flat without (too much) trouble and set up camp a la [insert nationality], you’ll feel as though life has just begun. There will be a time - morning, lunch, early evening - when you’ll want to reach out for...Oh no, crap, you didn’t bring it with you. After reading lists and lists about what to cut out of your packing (15 jumpers too much?!), you might have forgotten the BBC (ahem, British Basic Comforts). Make sure you wrap these up in cotton wool, you’ll need them once you’re out in the wild: