Do you know that story about when Sally Ride was preparing to go to space for seven days, and NASA engineers asked her, would 100 tampons be enough?

That’s how I am with planning a vacation and toothpaste.

Sure it’s just me, and only for a weekend, but I might meet others.

And one never knows, with air travel as it is these days, if a four-day trip might — through the vagaries of air traffic — turn into a six- or seven-month stay in a faraway land where there might not be access to toothpaste.

Or if a fellow traveler is in need: Should I bring two tubes? Is it rude, if offering a stranger toothpaste, to decant from your own tube? “I only brought one tube this time,” I could say apologetically. Serve the newly met friend first, of course — like tea service — but risk going through toothpaste faster than expected, since one never knows how much toothpaste a stranger’s habits might dictate..?

And does a beneficent traveler offer options? Or is it more graceful etiquette for a toothpaste-receiver to accept whatever is offered?

In general, if I were to be offered toothpaste by a fellow wayfarer, I would like to see it come from a sealed tube. Not because I doubt the hygiene of my patron, but as a matter of Process, like being offered a wine cork to smell, and I could nod approvingly and say, “a favorite of mine as well.”

But this would never happen, because I will always travel with one hundred toothpastes.