the aggravation of air travel:

Lately, I found myself hating air travel. It has not always been the case but with time, my palms get "sweatier", each air hole drives me into full panic attack and I always sitted next to the guy who needs 1 and 1/2 seat. A new wrinkle in the process, I also tend to lose my luggage every time I fly. I now lost them 3 times in a row and going to the luggage counter is as routine as going through custom. My last travel, I got my suitcase back at 2 am on new year's day (Happy new year to the driver !). This time, I must have won some Guiness World record of some kind: the same luggage lost twice within 48 hours ! The suitcase was in my possession a grand total of 30 min during 3 days. Which begs the question: Why did I check a non carry-on suitcase in in the 1st place ? A carry-on should suffice for 3 days, right ? Absolutely, except that since the new security regulation about fluids on a plane, we are not allowed to bring any type of bottle into the cabin. So the choices are: either you check in your toothpaste, cologne and shampoo with a luggage as non-carry-on, or you do without and smell like a skunk for 3 days. Cornelian choice but since a wedding is involved, let's try to smell like a human being for once. One old lady in front of me in the custom line was so outraged by the security guy trying to throw away her Dior perfume that she took it from him, stare him in the eyes and pour the rest of the bottle on her without blinking. She did not want to waste the expensive bottle, she said. Whether it is wasted or not is debatable as her neigbhor must wish she just threw the damn thing away. I got my luggage back eventually but I also had to buy a new suit in the process. don't get me wrong, I think security trumps any other priorities but they need to address the luggage issue. Until common sense prevails again, I will drive. End of rant for today. (the trip was awesome otherwise.)

Tags: general, air travel, delayed luggage, rants