BLOGMAS 2019: Travel Meme Mania!
I actually love traveling with my family but laugh when I see reunion vacations that misfire. Not used to being together on a daily basis… it starts out fun but quickly falls apart when planning for dinner hours/types of food… Uncle Johnny gets drunk and starts talking politics… some get ready quickly, some need two and a half hours to prepare… fortunately, our family vacations are full of laughter!
Along those same lines… trying to go home after living on your own for the first time, isn’t easy. Not used to announcing your plans every time you walk out the door? Not used to being given a curfew? It can be a challenge to have boundaries after living wild and free!
When the travel bug bites… and all you think about is planning a next trip… Then you start to make reservations and they want MONEY?!?! Well… that’s why I use …www.booking.com and cruise. For a small deposit, I can hold a cruise for a year or more and make payments each payday. When I select my exotic location, I can put holds on rooms and pay when I arrive! That gives me a year of fun… planning pre/post trips, excursions and undoubtedly, what begins as a week long trip, morphs into a month by the time the date arrives!
Truly… this is me! I travel with a wine suitcase (https://vingardevalise.com) ! Best invention EVER! I fly with a full suitcase (usually 12 bottles of Napa/Sonoma wines) and return with wines from where I am visiting. Oh… and I bring a backpack with a couple changes of clothes.
Sometimes you can be SOOOO close to getting a seat on standby… and then a flight cancels. All 250 passengers have to be put somewhere and it’s usually on the flight you planned to take. This can mess things up for days. I remember one time, hearing the gate agents talking about a flight canceling and how they would wait a bit before announcing it. They wanted to organized how they would reroute passengers. Thinking unusually quick for me… I looked up the next flight that left very soon and jumped on it. I got out of town before the chaos began… but that’s rare!
As nonrevs, we always dream of that first class seat, but for many, the “Hotel Airport” is more accurate. It’s actually only happened to me a couple times. Sleeping in the Atlanta airport, Delta gave nonrevs blankets to keep us comfy! If it does happen, I’ll usually get a room. Ordinarily, I plan for a couple days to get somewhere and a couple of days home. It’s worth the trouble… I’ve seen so much of the world.
Seriously! The “personal space” is shrinking! How many seats can they fit on a plane? Recently, I was stuck in the middle seat for a long flight… I put my tray table down to use as a pillow and the guy in front of me abruptly reclined his seat! It almost broke my neck! Took me a little bit to wiggle my way free.
Though my purpose for starting “DuelingTimeZones.com” was to chronicle my travel and never lose photos again (Thanks Hurricane Harvey!)… the secondary reason is to let my kids know where in the world mom is! Always on the move… I’ve been known to fly to Dublin just for a Guinness, Kauai to get my haircut and Orlando to drop a tux off for my son. It seems like we are on vacation a lot… well, mainly because we are… but I always look for the best deal and we have it budgeted as a monthly expense. Then I work Chrismas/ski season and summer for travel funds. Perfect!
We never flew anywhere far, but I do remember flying as a child. It felt so luxurious… we knew we had to behave because we were doing an “adult” thing. Everyone dressed nicely, the service was top notch. Then the herding mentality hit the airlines… give them some pretzels or peanuts and call it a day.
Just in case anyone is wondering… also, I’m a size seven day cruise!
In keeping with the Christmas season…
I have definitely felt this way before! All booked passengers are on board so the Captain decides to close the doors early. But I’m racing from one gate to another knowing I still have four minutes! Upon arrival, I hear the gate agent running the antiquated printer… closing out the flight, the door is closed… waiting area empty… and the tears start to fall. Time for Plan B (or C, D, E as the case may be)
… and finally… my favorite… when you begin standby travel at 6am and it’s full, if you look over at the bar… it’s always packed! Day drinking is absolutely acceptable in the airport! I remember the first time it crossed my mind to have a cocktail in the morning after missing a flight… I felt awkward. Looking at the three bars in my line of sight, I realized no one would even notice me because they were well into their cocktails! YAY!
