Traveling

I’ve tried to become philosophical about travel over the years. When you drive, you can take whatever stuff you want and if you choose to throw 27 pairs of shoes in the back it’s all good. But driving can take precious time especially if you’re using vacation time from work, and the cost of gas and amount of traffic has made it a 50/50 prospect on what is more economical.

Flying of course can be stressful. You must plan what to take being sure to not to take liquids, etc. unless they are in the little clear bottles, in a clear quart size zip lock bag. Your luggage is subject to random searches if you can afford to check it, and even if you carry it on, it has to go through the screen thing and there is no telling what will trigger the TSA’s desire to spread your undies all over the floor of the security area.

So I take what I can carry only, a book, some change and a good attitude because there isn’t any point in fighting a losing battle

I decided to fly to my mom’s this weekend. My plan has been to catch the o’dark thirty flight - which means I’m up and out the door o o’dark thirty to make the hour long drive and still have time to park, catch the shuttle and get in line. By flying, my time from my bed to my mom’s front door is 5 hours. If I drive, the time pretty much doubles. So, I was on my merry way early, fortunate that no construction shut down the roads for long periods of time, and I was glad the deer on the side of the road stayed there. The shuttle bus in the parking lot was actually pulling up to the pick up spot as I was walking to it, and the morning was good. Except the loud guy on the bus who though everyone wanted to hear him shout about how someone in his office was panicking because, what if there is a problem, how will we reach you? The guy apparently said, I don’t care if there is a problem, figure out a solution. Oh, and the lady who was wearing some kind of long dress with very little top to it. SHE had a lot of top, and a black bra on as well, which you could see just as clearly as all her skin. I wonder what people think when they are dressing to travel.

The security line was long, but for a change I wasn’t worried, I knew I had time. By the time I got to the departure gate, there were only 5 people left getting on the plane. Not a problem, but the last 20 people had to check their bags, which wasn’t a problem either, then I don’t have to haul it over my head and it will be at the door when I get off the plane. Oh, no, not this time, I would have to go to baggage claim to get it. Bummer. Then the woman in the middle seat didn’t feel like getting up, and just tried to tuck her feet in and told me to slide on by. Right, I’d rather not stick my butt in your face. So she sighed and got up. I guess the flight attendants had had enough of people already too because before takeoff they turned off the overhead lights and left them off for the entire flight. That was okay, I got an extra hour of sleep. Except because of storms, the flight was an extra half hour long and I had plans.

The Charlotte airport was crazy busy at 7 am on a Saturday. Usually it has people, but not like this. Some girl came up and asked me if we were in NC or SC. I started to ask her if she had not taken geography in school yet, but then decided it wasn’t worth it so told her North Carolina, then had to not laugh at her relief. My first cup of coffee was from ‘bucks which I usually avoid like the plague, but that was all I could find. At baggage it took me 5 minutes to find my bag, no one was lingering, and someone had kindly hidden it behind a pillar. The car rental girl was bright and perky, but the guy on the other end was kinda a jerk. 80 miles later, I realized I forgot to grab my toothbrush and comb this morning, so make a quick stop at the drug store then drove to my mom’s place. But it was all good.

My mom lives in a retirement community. Usually, I get a visitor hang tag, park, go into the dining room and she is there with a friend or two and I get breakfast. Well. This time she forgot to call the front gate. And this time, the kid pretending to be security decided to follow all the rules and wouldn’t let me in because I wasn’t on the list. I said she’s in the dining room call there. He said, I called her apartment, she didn’t answer, there isn’t anything I can do until she calls me back. I just stared at him, he said sorry. Sigh.

So I went in to town where the farmer’s market was, walked up and down the two rows, then sat on a bench, grabbed my knitting and called my friend who I knew was up. She pointed out how as annoying as it is, at least they don’t just let anyone into a gated community, which would defeat the purpose of the concept, wouldn’t it. Yeah, yeah, but why did I have to get the new guy today? The others have always let me in.

And really, it wasn’t so bad, I had a shady bench and good weather, no water though, and the company of a friend on the phone. I relaxed for awhile and was happy because it is all about adapting.

40 minutes later, mom called to say she was in her apartment and talked to security. So my trip was 7 hours this time. Hope the trip home is smoother.