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The plus side of being petite

Supermarket shelf too high? The guy sitting in front blocking the view? Can’t reach that little corner for cleaning? Need about 3-4 inches of heels for a wee boost in height? These are the downsides of being me. Of being a mere couple of inches taller than five feet. But when it comes to travel, being petite has many advantages too. (Scroll over images for captions)

Plenty of leg space
Frequent travellers know that leg space is on the premium while on the move, be it on the plane, car, bus, or even train. Luckily for me, there’s normally a reasonable gap between my knees and the back of the seat in front of me. Stretching out, pas de problème!

Just get comfortable
If I don’t feel like stretching out, tucking my legs under me to settle in comfortably is relatively easy too. There’s nothing beat curling up in one’s seat to read while listening to music, if the scenery proved to be too familiar, repetitive and/or unattractive.

Evoke protectiveness
It is hard for me to appear threatening to anyone. With a little smile, it goes a long way into enlisting help from others. Putting my bag into overhead locker, fishing that one last bottle of ice tea from the top shelf, asking for direction… I just need to be careful that the friendliness is not perceived as an expression of interest for “something special”.

Make the luggage shrinks
The running joke is I could shop in the kids’ section to avoid paying too much value added tax. I bet my five blouses could fold more compactly and weigh less than, say, an adult man’s pair of jeans. Even my shoes are nearly comically tiny. Translate that in terms of volume, it means I can bring less and travel lighter.

Walk right through
Low ceiling, low door threshold, low cupboard shelf, etc – nary to worry. I would have to try to jump up so I can bump my head to the corners. So I’d just happily walk under them, and come away on the other side unscathed. Pretty handy for visiting Lilliput!

Cheap(er) to feed
Well… this is not exactly true. I’m not a fussy eater and I’m almost always game for something local and novel to me. Give me a decent plate of food and I’ll be quite full but, reality is, I could eat large-ish portion when I put my mind to it. Not only that, I’m not aversed to eating at expensive places either. One really should not assume that it’ll be cheap to feed me… ;)



Category: Musing

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10 scribbles & notes

  1. Beejay says:

    I love tattoo … my mind is asking me to get one on my leg may … what do you think? (I will go for arts if I ever do it)

    • Lil says:

      if i get one, it’ll be more or less the same spot as the picture above. i didn’t know you were thinking of getting one ;)

  2. sila says:

    don’t forget – skin sags as you age. the tattoo will change as your body changes. ;) reasons why i won’t ever get one. also the last time i was petite was… never!!!

    • Lil says:

      true that sila. partly the concern i had and why i think the spot i’m choosing is probably not too bad. but yes, it’s a looong consideration process and i’m still pondering it despite years gone by.

  3. Amanda says:

    Lol! Thank you for this! I’m very petit and I’m happy with my self, what bugs me are the weekly comments from friends saying how little I am, how tiny I am, how I look like a child, how I should eat more…feels like it never ends and I just can’t understand why my body annoys them so much :/ We’re all different and we’re all beautiful!

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