Zen and the Art of Traveling

I almost had an emotional meltdown in the Atlanta airport yesterday. Seriously. First my plane was delayed coming out of Paris, then there was no gate available when we arrived in Atlanta, and then I had to wait 25 minutes for a piece of luggage that I had paid an extra 60 euros for to take it through customs- and it never arrived. By the time I realized it wasn't going to, it was 15 minutes before my connecting flight to Baltimore and I still had to go through customs, drop my other bag off, go through security, and then take the tram to another terminal. I got there probably 5 minutes after the gate closed. And although they rebooked me on another flight that was supposed to leave 2.5 hours later at 9:30 pm, I almost started crying. Partly because I had been so close, partly because they had lost my bag, and probably mostly because at this point I had been in transit for 18 hours. (Had I known that this next flight was going to be delayed 30 minutes so I missed my ride home from the airport and ended on a SuperShuttle that wandered all over downtown Baltimore before finally depositing me at home at 1:30 am, I probably would have had my meltdown.)

So I was on the verge of tears and thinking that traveling had gotten to be such a hassle that maybe I would just give it up. The total absurdity of that thought brought me to my senses. After all, I had just had an amazing 10 days in Italy and here I was getting home 4 hours later than I planned - not 4 days, like the people stranded by the volcanic ash which would have been me if the trip had been 3 weeks earlier. 4 hours. And I had been in Italy!

The truth is that airplane travel is more of a hassle these days. Planes are more crowded, all the airlines are trying to generate money with a variety of fees, morale among airline employees is low and it often comes out in their customer service, delays are common, and if your flight is cancelled for any reason you could be delayed for days. For some people that may be enough to make them decide not to travel, a rational response. But for me, the thought of giving up travel is a nonstarter. I love travel: I love going to new places and returning to places I've been before, meeting new people, trying new food, and thinking new thoughts. And now that I've had some sleep, I know that not only is the hassle of travel well worth it, I even get to practice accepting things as they are. And one more thing-it has confirmed my intention to never have more than a carry on bag ever again.-- Marian