Still Obsessing After All These Years

Unfortunately or fortunately, depending on your take on aging, I am old enough to remember when it was fun to fly on an airplane.  First, I remember we (as in us girls) would dress up to travel, wearing high heels, a nice outfit, pantyhose, the works.  Now everyone that travels via plane looks like they just finished a workout at the gym. 

The wardrobe mantra is “comfort rules.”  Perhaps because this is all we have left, in terms of making the travel experience half way tolerable. I could go on and on about the unpleasantness of traveling circa 2011, but I won’t.  So, I’ll choose just one aspect:  Packing.

Let us begin with the suitcase.  First of all, we now have to pay to take a suitcase on the plane that we just paid close to $400 to fly on,  in a seat that is made to accommodate people that probably have not reached full adult body maturity.

Again, I am going off on another tangent here, so let’s stick to the packing.  OK, in the suitcase goes clothes, in addition to those things you can no longer take in a carry on: shampoo, hairspray, perfume, creams, ointments, toothpaste—anything fluid-like or close to liquid.  This leads to the problem of the weight of the suitcase.  You have to pay extra big bucks if your one piece of checked luggage weighs more than 50 pounds.  So packing all that liquidity stuff means you have to pack less stuff like clothes, or perhaps even a gift you were hoping to give someone.

The less-clothes thing is somewhat of a problem for me (and you can call me crazy) because I like to wear clean clothes every day. Because of this, when I travel somewhere I need to know if there will be a washer and dryer at the place that I plan to visit. And what if my suitcase gets lost or misrouted? Then I have to wait for or buy all the liquidity stuff that I no longer can take on my carry on. By the way, according to a recent report by msnbc.com, “More than 1 percent of airline passengers last year had their luggage go astray and fail to turn up at their arrival airport, “ which translates into approximately 12 in 1,000 passengers.  I guess that is not too bad unless you are one of the 12.  Are you feeling lucky?

Anyway, the fear of losing the luggage then is a lot like the prediction that Los Angeles would be gridlocked as a result of carmagedeon.  The fear is often worse than the reality.  I think we need to revisit a famous quote when it comes to traveling, “There is nothing to fear but fear itself.”  And I will tell you, friends, that fear has now turned into dread.

Ok, back to the packing.  Much like medicine, packing a suitcase now is a combination of science and art.  Let’s take the carry-on bag, shall we?  In my carry-on bag are all my medications, my jewelry, and a back up supply of toiletries that are less than 3 ounces, if they are liquid, in addition to my blow dryer which is somewhat useless without the shampoo that is in the checked bag that could possibly get lost.

So, at least if I get stranded I would be able to dry my hair, but not wash it.  And what about the size of the carry-on?  They now have at airports these metal frames that measure the size of the carry-on, which if it is too big,  means that you will have to check the carry-on, and then it would no longer be a carry-on.

Yes, friends, Al-Qaeda has sucked the fun out of traveling, flying in particular.  But that won’t stop me from visiting my son and his wife in New York.   And, god willing, my luggage will arrive with me once I get there. Amen.

This article originated on Melanie Thompson's blog.