Flying Frequently

In a month of near-constant plane travel, a lot of the romance went out of the activity. When it left, the romance took most of the stress out of it as well. I haven’t decided yet whether that’s a fair trade. Being comfortable in a situation that is intrinsically foreign and confusing has a lot of perks, though in the case of air travel that familiarity comes at a cost. Flying standby allowed me to bypass most of the financial portion of that cost, happily, and I paid it back in time and uncertainty.

Airports and air travel are closed and hard to get into, and somewhat mysterious and exciting as a result. You can’t get past security into the guts of an airport without a ticket, and once you’re there you’re keyed up with the excitement of travel and the dopamine rush of novelty. Airports are designed to take advantage of this, offering shiny distraction to keep you happy until you’re whisked away in a rush of pressure changes and fear of falling. We emerge at the other side exhausted and bewildered and looking more towards the coming adventure (or the comfort of home) than back at the air travel…so when we go back to it we end up making the same mistakes over and over again.

There are entire websites devoted to travel advice, many of them designed to sell you things meant to make your adventure more comfortable. I read a lot of these before I left in the hope of learning from others’ mistakes rather than having to make my own. Some stuff was inspired, some was drek, and some I added after making some spectacular mistakes of my own.

I read that a water bottle (empty, of course), a travel blanket, and some kind of facial mist (for us girls who worry a lot about our skin) are essential. I was able to get a water bottle for practically nothing but I rarely used it and found it usually just took up space and I’d forget about it. Some airports have special bottle filling stations (SFO, ORD, and ATL to wit but I wasn’t looking hard for them) for people who make these kinds of plans, but if I were to do it all again I’d leave the bottle at home. I never bought a travel blanket and I’m glad I didn’t. The few times I wanted one I really wanted one, but I could make do with what I had and it would not have been worth the space in my well-worn carryon. As for cosmetics…the mist was nice to have when I remembered it but it was a lot of trouble and chaos juggling yet another wee bottle of liquid through security. That gets taken off the list as well, though I’ll disclaim that by saying if I remembered it more often I might have felt it was worth the space.

Every travel guide worth its salt will tell you to drink water instead of caffeine, and they’re all absolutely right. As galling as it is to go for a bottle of water instead of a big comforting cup of coffee, it’s the right choice every time.

Bringing my own food was a mixed blessing. Food bars and oatmeal packets were useful but too easy to eat, and over a 24-hour stretch in an airport it’s just too easy to lose track of things. Airports are full of food, including fruit, and with a tiny bit of discipline it’s possible to keep fed and not go bonkers with the array of crap on offer. Many airports have exquisite food; IAD, SFO, and IAH had some impressive offerings if one has the time to enjoy them.

Bringing my own tea, on the other hand, was the best idea ever. I’d read that it’s good to have something to remind you of home, so I tucked an old pound coin into my Midori and brought two tins of Lyons Gold Blend (don’t start on the Lyons vs Barrys thing with me, you won’t change my mind and it’ll just irritate us both), one for my carryon and one to keep at my sister’s place. A cuppa is a splendid restorative even in ordinary circumstances; it’s particularly effective in extraordinary ones. When my chips were down and I was feeling lost and foreign, making and enjoying a cup of tea provided an oasis of calm and comfort in the maelstrom of chaos.

The rest is intuitive. Make sure you have chargers for your appliances with appropriate adapters. Suitcases wth wheels are a gift from the gods. Pack less than you think you’ll need, then look at everything and take out half of what you’ve packed. Plan on “opting out” at security if you’re in the US and they have those milliwave detector scanners; it transforms an otherwise disorienting process into something manageable. And for the love of all that’s holy, do not forego sleep. You may think staying up all night is a good idea, but when you hit hour 20 in an airport you’re not sure how you’re going to get out of, even a couple hours of sleep in the midst of that would have served you well.

I’ll tell you about how I learned that lesson about sleep on Thursday.