All photos shot and processed on the Huawei Mate 20 Pro
One of the advantages of living in Shanghai is the great number of exhibitions, fine art and otherwise, that tour here. Amongst my favourites of the ‘otherwise’ variety so far have been the Tim Burton and Pixar shows. Louis Vuitton might not be an obvious choice when you think of exhibitions but they have an excellent array of historic travel paraphernalia on display at the moment.
And while I’m not exactly a connoisseur of luxury goods (and by ‘not exactly’ I mean ‘can’t afford’ any of it) I do travel a lot. And I’m a fan of old movies featuring early 20th century explorers travelling to distant lands via steamer and train. I was always fascinated by the large trunks their guides carried for them deep into the jungle so they could still have drinks cabinets and hanging wardrobes. I guess backpacking was a little different then. Maybe they had to count the number of ‘backs’ they would need to carry all their trunks.
The exhibition itself is excellent featuring a series of rooms encapsulating different themes and locations. There is a full size biplane model, a streamliner and a steam train fully furnished with costumed passengers and their wears the bring to life the early era of exploration.
I was worried my three year old daughter would be bored but there was enough noise, colour and spectacle to entertain her in each of the chambers. For me, apart from the environments, the highlights included travel trunks that opened into: a bed, a writing desk, a pop-up hat rack, a tall boy with dozens of drawers and a hanging wardrobe.
I think that being able to travel with my iPad and watch TV shows, listen to music and read books means not having to slum it. But boy did they know how to literally ‘not leave home behind’ when they travelled back then.
”Volez, Voguez, Voyager” is free to everyone (unless of course you have to travel here)until 1 February, at the Shanghai Exhibition Center. Children are allowed.
Your reference library and your typewriter, all the travel writer needs. It’s all in my iPad now but it doesn’t’ carry the same panache. 2. Fantastic! A travel case that opens into a bed. Now if they only made one that opens into a sofa... 3. Ultimate protection for your shoes. 6. Marie Antoinette’s trunk.