Ramblings of the Weary Traveller.

I've been doing quite a bit of travelling lately, well, for the past 6 months or so at least, I've been on the road (or in the air) more than I have been at home. Home is a funny word to me right now. I used to think where I currently live was my home but not so sure  how I feel about it now. I'm about to embark on a new journey which involves a 1200 mile move and even more travelling with the Company. So again, I don't know if that will feel like home either, but I'm hopeful.

Travelling has been fun and also a pain in the ass at times so I wonder how it can be both. Wouldn't it just be one or the other? Not. It's fun and one big headache both.
This past year has been a blur to some degree. I've had a lot of personal issues to deal with so travelling from one city to another was sort of an escape from what I view as my drastically pathetic life.
I hate mornings and I absolutely hate 6 a.m. flights. I've learned to pack less and travel more lightly but that took a long time to sink in. Taking everything I think I "might" need has proven to be  back breaker when hauling giant suitcases the size of volks-wagons back and forth to the airport.
I've down-sized quite a bit on what I absolutely know I need to have with me for travel vs what I think I will miss if I don't take it. Packing is a science which I suck at. I generally don't give it much thought anymore and just open a suitcase, throw a bunch of shit in it and figure, "I'll deal with it later." That doesn't work I've discovered. Planning is much better and travelling with less is way easier on the back.
Picking outfits out for each day of the week is best rather than getting to your location of travel and discovering nothing matches right because you packed at the last minute. That is literally how I pack. I don't take as much anymore, but I've also figured out I don't pack correctly either. My mother is the perfect packer. I mean it's neat, tidy, folded to perfection. Mine looks like a 2 year old packed it. I really have to work on that. Truth is, I frigging hate packing. It's a major pain in the ass.

Airports in general are very interesting places. I'm a people watcher anyway so I find it fascinating to just sit and watch what people are doing, what they are wearing, who they are with, what they carry with them. etc....Everyone is on a laptop, cell phone or a kindle book reader thingy.
While this part of my travelling experience is ok, the actual plane ride can be a giant pain in the ass. Going through security is just the first part of the headache, the plane ride is next.
First off, I would really like to know why in god's earth I have to take my shoes off (like durr, I'm in flip flops, so how much bombs do you think I have planted on the bottoms?) but what really aggravates me is the germs I may be picking up from some god forsaken slob who was also barefoot in line and left all his or her disgusting foot fungus on the floor that I just had to also walk on to get through the security line. I get the heebs so bad over this like literally I want to spray my feet with Lysol or dip them in a bucket of clorox as soon as security lets me through. I hate the no shoe thing. I understand why we have to do it, thanks to the shoe bomber (that idiot) but for the germaphobe, this can be a highly scary event.
The funny thing is, security makes you take your shoes off, walk barefoot in 1000 other people's foot germs, to avoid whatever you may or may not have hidden in them only to let me escape with like 95 packs of matches and 10 lighters in my pocketbook. Like that always makes me laugh. Yeah that's me Mr. Security guy....no bombs in the shoes, but a kazillion lighters and matches you just let me walk away with. Fine.

Sitting in the airport isn't too much of a hassle for the most part, its' just part of the process and I enjoy watching people. Sometimes when you get a delay or cancelled flight, it can either make you crazy or turn into some other wildly interesting adventure.I've had both happen. I've had flights cancelled, been stuck in airports for long periods of time and on occasion have made the best of it. Other times it's more like WTF.

If you actually get on the plane and make your flight though, this is where I start to freak out. I recently sat next to some man who smelled like a stinky armpit sewer I swear! And not too long ago I got stuck next to some old lady who I swear to god smelled just like a litter box. Oh my god, like how can you possibly endure the odors and smells of other people while cramped into this very uncomfortable seat and realize if you can smell their odors, isn't their germs associated with it? Like am I breathing that in my lungs? I'm a smoker, which is the odd truth to throw into the mix and my lungs are probably trashed because of it and yet I honestly freak out about breathing in other people's germs.

The seats are uncomfortable, and the people you get stuck sitting with are not always anyone you ever want to be near, but there you are....stuck with it until you reach the next destination and can run from the smelly person.

Back when I was much younger they called the airline attendants "stewardesses" which is like a collossal mistake if you actually ever even say that word  nowadays. They are "attendants" not "stewardess" A lot has changed with that too, not just the name, but their appearances as well. It used to be such a glamorous profession to be in...to be a "stweardess" flying and jetting all over. Hairstyle and make up were very important and smiling, being friendly to your guests on the plane whom you are being paid to service by the way. Well I don't know what has changed over the years when they abolished the word stewardess but have you seen the new attendants these days? I've seen women "attending" the plane who looked like they literally just got out of bed. Hair pulled up in a clip, half hanging down in some shabby "I don't give a shit" fashion......either no make up, wrong make up or too much make up. Like they used to have rules and regulations on how they are supposed to dress and act. not anymore. and mean? Oh my god. I've had some real bitches playing pretend stewardess and I have no idea how they get away with it.

This summer one woman attendant came to my seat in the very back of the plane and told me that I was holding up the plane and she was so loud and obnoxious and that because I hadn't turned my cell off in time that I owed everyone on the plane an apology for the massive hold up on the tar mac. I'm like, your kidding me right? Are you serious or am I getting punked by Ashton Kutcher? She was serious. So I turned my cell off and I was holding it in the air to show her it was OFF and as I was about to mouth off to her when the guy next to me tapped me on the leg ever so lightly and gave me the "don't do it" look. Finally she walked away and I looked at the guy and he whispered, "she's a bitch, not worth mouthing off, you didn't do anything wrong, but if you complain, she's the kind of person to throw you off the plane. Fuck her."
That was interesting. I was just about to tell her to go shit on her own face for being so loud, obnoxious and unbelievably mean. Probably best I didn't say anything anyway. She was in such a bitchy mood that anything I said would have been translated into "I have a bomb in my purse." or whatever.
 So not only are a lot of the "attendants" not necessarily friendly, but the service is shitty. They act almost as if it's a burden if you ask for anything, even though this is their job which they are being paid to do.
It's noisy on a plane, they're always making some announcement that either makes no sense, or no one cares to hear it, or they are repeating shit over and over which totally interrupts the sleep you might have fallen into.
I try very hard to be calm and relaxed and take it all in stride, but I confess, there are times when the smelly person or the baby crying for hours or just the uncomfortable position I am locked into for hours just gets to be too much and I tap into the valiums asap and just disappear for the event until we land.

Hoping your luggage makes it to your location is always a concern. We've all had the experience of missing luggage, having to attend a very important business meeting and showing up in jeans with the pathetic excuse of "my bags didn't show up with the plane" and that's always a joy to go through.

I generally rent a car upon reaching my destination as I long to escape the boring meetings and check out the area for picture taking. I'm interested in how other people live and what the locals are  like. I love to drive around cities I don't know or have never seen before just to look. I have a tendency to drive to what I call the "hood".....and why that would interest me is unknown. But to see how the rich live doesn't do anything for me at all. Driving through the poor sections of towns are much more interesting and far more dangerous I might add but I do it anyway.

I go to Vegas a lot for meetings and I don't even gamble. In fact, I don't think I've ever spent one dollar in any casino.I'd much rather sit by the pool and get some sun while having some frosty beers and or driving around the neighborhoods of Vegas way off the strip.

After a week of meetings meetings meetings and even more meetings......I feel so exhausted that when I return "home" it takes me days to recover. Now that I am moving, I wonder how it will feel to return  to a new place after travelling and hoping that "home" will feel so good and so inviting. For the weary Traveller.....Home is supposed to make you feel so good. I can't wait to see what that will feel like.

I'm off to Vegas again tomorrow for another week of meetings. Only this time when I come back to my current home....I'll be packing to go to my new home.....

I haven't even packed for this trip and I know whatever I will possibly pack will need to be ironed. Screw that. That's another headache to be discussed at a later date. I don't iron.
I'm going to have a beer now and ponder these things.