Yeah, I was thrilled with myself when I heard the sound. :-(

This rates right up with the time I locked my luggage keys inside my suitcase at Paris' CDG airport. It was pretty obvious who the idiot was when the airport maintenance man walked up to me with a pair of 4 foot long bolt cutters. :-)

I always carry spares in my purse even at home. Returning from Paris in April, the security guard asked "Five glasses Madame?" I said yes, one for close, one distance, and two spares." He laughed and said "Oh, and one for the sun." Right on. I know it is overkill but I would not be able to relax without the spares. Having worn glasses since I was 10, I don't take any chances.

One word solution: LASIK

I wear glasses, and I always bring a spare pare.

Palette: will transition lenses work for you? I find them much more convenient then another pair of glasses.

Dorothy: Lasik is not for everybody. Besides there can be unforseen complications.

Everybody: what about taking small binoculars instead :-o)))

My glasses broke at the Gare Montparnasse in Paris on one trip last year. And of course the minuscule screw that held them together was irretrievably lost. I had to go into a pharmacy and buy skin-colored first-aid tape and tape them together again. I'm sure I was quite a sight with this big beige blob on my forehead. But I still never bring an extra pair with me. Two pairs - one regular and one sunglasses - seems to be enough for me. I figure I can always get glasses repaired if necessary.

Oooh JohnG, how unkind!

As if I would be caught dead, peering through a magnifying glass like some old grande dame at the opera! A lorgnette?
Peering through one eye would not only cause unsightly wrinkling of my yet, still smooth brow but is not the best way to be seen. Surely you are aware of that? Or maybe I have yet to hit the age that one reaches when one would cease to care how one looked.
No the muscle pulled was not in my brain but in my back, Thank you for asking ((F))

Scarlett,

My wife, the former dispensing optician, says buy frames in Italy. They are much better and cost less.

Make sure you get the template from which to have your lenses fitted.

Ira, perhaps your wife would know this. If I bring the prescription for my lenses with me to Italy, would it be a big deal to have them made up with Italian frames? Or is it easier to do the reverse, bring the empty frames home (with template)?

I always figure that if I broke my bifocals on a trip, I could use my RX (single vision) sunglasses to see MOST of the time, and rough it otherwise. Luckily, my eyes aren't THAT bad. I always carry a small fold-up magnifying glass both at home and on trips - very helpful for reading maps.

St. Cirq, if you just lose the screw that holds your glasses together, you can temporarily fix that with a plain wooden toothpick. Insert it where the screw goes, push in as far as it will go, then snap it off flush. It really works and is nearly invisable!

din: Just in case:) there is one of those 1-hr type eyeglass shops located in the basement mall of the Termini train station. Regards, Walter

Forced to give up my beloved contacts a few years ago (my eyes got too dry to wear them), I have consoled myself with several pairs of extremely fashionable frames. So I always have an extra pair with me.

But for those of you who only require reading glasses for menus, phone books, etc., let me recommend a credit-card-sized magnifying card that you can keep in your wallet. I carry one to offer to friends at dinner -- friends who have only recently acquired reading glasses and hence are constantly misplacing them. Those of us who have been myopic since childhood ALWAYS know where our glasses are!

PS Dorothy01, if you get lasik to correct your distance vision, you will still require reading glasses for your close-up vision as your eyes age.

I always carry a spare pair - the old ones.

I have trifocals so the chance of getting them replaced in a hurry is nil.

I had a lens fall out when we were in Bangkok. I was very glad that I had my spare.

Since the first thing I put on in the morning and the last thing I take off at night are my glasses - Oh well you get the picture.:-B

I don't carry extra glasses, but I do carry my prescription with me. I have yet to use it. I always carry an extra pair of contacts lenses. I was recently in France and found that they had reading glasses (yes, I admit I have now progressed to needing the readers) in the pharmacy stores, but I did not see them in optical stores. I intended buy a pair of funky readers while there. In the past, I have bought fun frames for my glasses and it is very fun when people comment on them and it brings back the vivid memory of buying them in an optical shop in Colmar...

Sojourner: Well, that's a great tip, but what were my chances of finding a toothpick at the Gare de Montparnasse at 8 in the morning? I'd have had to order a highball at 8 a.m.! And I probably wouldn't have looked any better with a toothpick sticking out of my glasses than I looked with the beige blob!
But I thank you for the tip and will remember it for the future.

Thin wire is actually better than a toothpick for improvising a replacement for those teeny eyeglasses screws. A piece of paperclip or even a straight pin (bent up) will also do the trick. But most places that sell glasses frames will put a new one in for you just as a goodwill gesture.

StCirq, I kind of like the idea of a highball at 8 am ((D))