by jphilo | Mar 24, 2015 | Out and About, Top Ten Tuesday
Last week’s top ten list was all about what drives me crazy about air travel. But now that I’m home after a wonderful trip, here are then things I love about traveling.
10. When your top-heavy suitcase tips over and bends the handle so badly it won’t slide into place anymore, nice strangers might do what’s necessary to force the handle into it’s slot.
9. The nice strangers might also say that under no circumstances should you try to pull the handle out again. Which means someone has a good reason to get new luggage!
8. When you travel to a conference, chances are good you’ll meet walking buddies willing to get up early for a tromp by the ocean to watch a magnificent sunrise.
7. Discovering that for some mysterious reason, you’ve been TSA approved for the entire trip. No long lines. No taking out the zipper bag of liquids and gels. No removing shoes. No strip search.
6. Which means there’s plenty of time to get some really good coffee, sit down, and enjoy it.
5. Discovering that for some mysterious reason, you get to board in Zone 1 or Zone 2 for the entire trip. (I wonder if the stink made after last springs highly unsatisfactory USA Airways experience landed me on their don’t-mess-with-her-she’s-crazy-so-give-her-preferential-treatment list.)
4. Boarding the plane and finding that, for some mysterious reason, (See #6 for possible explanation) your seat is right behind first class, which means you get extra leg room even though you didn’t play extra for it.
3. Feeling smug sitting right behind first class, because even though you only get to smell the food served to first class customers, you realize your closest exit is the one in front, which means that if there’s an emergency you’ll get to crash the first class party. Free. Of. Charge.
2. Seeing an inch or two of new snow on the ground in Philadelphia during a lay over and not having to go outside.
1. Discovering that for some mysterious reason (see #6 for possible explanation), though the flight crew said the plane was completely full, the only empty seat on the plane is next to you. Right behind first class. With extra leg room already. With N-A-P written all over the entire 3 hour trip. Ahhh!
What makes you love to travel? Leave your comment in the box.
by jphilo | Apr 10, 2014 | Three Thoughts for Thursday
- During my visit to DC last week, I overheard 2 natives complaining about the Cherry Blossom Festival 10 Mile Run. “It’s so flat,” they said, “and so boring to run along the Potomac, past the Kennedy Center and all the memorials.” they said. “You should come to Iowa, ” I said, “where you can run past pig farms and cornfields.” They smiled.
- Airline stewards need to know that when passengers informing them of ice crystals cascading from the overhead air vents, responding with “Yes, we keep turning up the heat, but it isn’t helping” is not a reassuring response.
- Now that Mickey Rooney and Judy Garland are both dead, who’s going to motivate young kids to put on a show in their fathers’ barns? I don’t see Miley Cyrus and Justin Bieber going that direction. What teen idols do you predict will pick up that baton and run with it? Leave a comment.
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by jphilo | Jun 7, 2013 | Out and About
I know it’s not Thursday, but these three observations about airplane travel can’t wait another week. Plus I’m really tired from the trip to Long Beach, and this is all I can think of to write. So here goes:
- Pilots should be required to take an articulation class before being allowed to speak into the microphone. It’s no big deal when they’re impossible to understand while chatting about the weather or flight times. But if there’s an emergency, I want to be able to understand their directions.
- Interesting fact: If your first flight is delayed and you have to run like the parents in Home Alone to catch your next flight, and you barely get onto the plane before the doors closes, and you look r-e-a-l-l-y desperate while asking the flight attendant if you could please, please, p-l-e-a-s-e use the restroom before going to your seat, they will let you. They will even offer to watch your bags while you use the facilities. Don’t ask me how I know this.
- The #1 miracle worker in the flights to and from Long Beach was a young mom traveling with a daughter of about 3 1/2 and a baby boy who must have been about 8 months. The children were very well-behaved. Near the end of the flight the mom, with babe in arms, ushered the little girl down the aisle and into the bathroom. I’ve spent countless hours since then trying to imagine how a) they all fit in there, and b) how she held the baby and helped her daughter in that confined space. Boggles the mind, doesn’t it?
