The princess only had to sleep with a pea beneath her, when you’re a backpacker you can end up with a whole buffet under your pillow.

Even when you’re asleep, there are things you need within easy reach, your keys, your phone, spare ear plugs and a bottle of water. There isn’t always a great deal of storage space around you, especially if you’re on the top bunk, so sometimes you end up sleeping with the phone, key and earplugs under your pillow whilst hugging the bottle of water to your chest like some kind of beloved teddy bear.

What’s weird though, is when you wake up in the morning, stretch out to find your phone or water and lay your hands on something else entirely. This happens when you make friends with a room mate who is leaving early in the morning. They will wake up and realise that they can’t carry all of their belongings with them and so they will donate their unwanted items either to the person they like best, or possibly the person they think needs it most. Consequently I have woken up to find a variety of different objects nestling very close to my face at different times, including half a packet of sultana scones, a satsuma, an invitation to go out for a drink, three sanitary towels, a head torch and the Australian version of a Pepperami.