"Man does not live by soap alone; and hygiene, or even health, is not much good unless you can take a healthy view of it -- or, better still, feel a healthy indifference to it." - G.K. Chesterton

I have a rule when I travel: Always bring your own soap and shampoo. It doesn't matter how nice the hotel is and what brand of products they carry. You never know what they will smell like.

I broke that rule this week, and I am paying for it.

I thought I was safe since I have stayed at this hotel before (two weeks ago) and liked the smell of the little free bottles of soap and shampoo. So I didn't pack my own.

Everything was going great until this evening. I used the soap this morning, and it did smell good. I enjoyed my "Iceland Mist". It smelled so good that I used the whole little bottle this morning.

When I got back to the hotel this evening it was replaced by a foreign body wash, unrelated to their other hygiene products. And it smells horrible. Like a rosemary plant. A big one. Sitting on your face.

The one on the right doesn't match!

I am never breaking this rule again. And, yes, this is a big deal.