Travel

The Wizards Of Bob Evans

The purpose of our traveling was to get to a family wedding in Ohio. Since Bob Evans is not in Texas (I think the mashed potatoes and sausage may be in the grocery store), we usually have at least one meal there while visiting.

This trip, it was Saturday breakfast. In complete tourist fashion, I had to chat with the wizards from down on the farm. They had no interesting stories about quidditching or spellcasting. They quickly told me they were Christians and like eating pancakes while wearing pointy hats. Or, was it something to do with putting pancakes on their heads and letting their hats keep them warm? Whatever the true story, they were gracious enough to pose for a picture for this relocated Ohioan. (One of them was too shy to pose. 🙂 )

Bird Strike = 1.5 Hour Delay

When we were told a “bird strike” was delaying our flight, we didn’t know what that would translate into. Apparently, it involves a couple of guys exploring a minor dent on the cone. Then, they continue this incredible pace of moving relatively slowly while removing all of the screws on the front cone of the plane. Once they lift the cone and confirm the navigational equipment is intact, we can relax, knowing our flight will get to take off.

Of course, the same urgency is applied in reattaching the cone as in detaching it. The important thing is it did get done, and we did get to takeoff within a couple of hours of our original time. The plane absolutely won the bird collision this time.

I Like A Better Ratio

A couple of weekends ago, most of my family made a quick trip to North Carolina to celebrate my in-laws post-50 anniversary. We were grateful we could go. We squeezed in a college graduation before returning to our home briefly, and then driving to the airport for the North Carolina flight. With waiting on flights, layovers, and time in the air, we had over 10 hours involved with transportation. Even including the two nights we spent there, we had less than 40 hours in North Carolina. It is travel:to:non-travel ratio I want to discuss.

I don’t know where “whirlwind” begins on the travel spectrum. If you are absent from your house for 48 hours and 20% of that time is spent in the “there” and returning from “there,” it may not qualify as a tornado, but maybe a “tree-bending breeze” or something like that. When we fly to Europe with a roundtrip travel time of over a day, I like to have at least 7 days between the flights. (Notice the greater than 4:1 ratio.) If you will travel great distances for a few hours at the destination before beginning the return trip, we are unlikely to be travel buddies.

Whatever your ratio is, your “whirlwind trip” will look different. If you hate traveling with no upside, there is unlikely to be any ratio of “travel-to-non-travel”. As a medium-ish homebody, I tolerate but accept brief periods with disruptive travel schedules…as long as I have a few months to prepare for the flurry of activity taking place within the compressed time. I may not be the most fun to travel with. Fortunately, my wife doesn’t complain…much.

Suitcase Choices

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On a recent extended trip with my son, I knew a big suitcase was a necessity.  What I didn’t know was if the “existing” big suitcase with the fickle zipper was going to work out.  Since my wife knows I like to travel but I don’t like hiccups, she opted to let me (really the family) purchase a new large suitcase to simplify the planning (and possible work-a-rounds) necessary for the trip.

Two days before the trip, we went to Kohl’s where my wife always seems to have a “stash” of discounts tucked away in her purse or the counter or wherever she cleverly stores or allows them to congregate.  Luckily, they had a sale as well.  After test driving a few suitcases and weighing the critical appearance and overall effectiveness factors, a decision was made.  The winner was not to flashy, but had the necessary growth and organizational features.

Skip ahead a few days….the bag worked great.  It allowed me to fit some of the items my son’s suitcase was not able to safely carry.  It still had room to expand, and even on the the nights when we had to live out of the suitcase it had the pockets and corners I needed to find my stuff.  At the end of the trip, it certainly seemed like the right suitcase for this trip.

On our flight home, the bag was still a winner.  Since it was an international flight, we got to see our bags before the final flight home.  At that time, I picked up my bag and easily rolled it to the dropoff before heading thru the post-customs security clearance.

At our final destination, the bag arrived as shown above.  Yes, it still rolls.  Yes, it still has cozy pockets to store my electronic and international charger needs, but it leans wrong.  It does not give me a convenient place to comfortably rest an extra bag of shopping goodies or the backpack full of computer/kindle/ipad/gopro.  Critique it all I want, but it still has REALLY good zippers.  Somehow, a reliable level surface is likely to trump a good zipper.  <sigh>