Thursday, January 15, 2009

flying ritual

With the very recent crash of US Airways flight 1549 and the apparent safety of all on board, I suspect most people who fly with any frequency give thought to their own flight history and future flight plans. There are certain things I do for every flight I take. Rituals of sorts, habits, idiosyncrasies of mine.

I always read the aircraft safety card regardless of how many times I have been on that particular model of aircraft. I might just glance through it if I'm on the return leg of a short trip, but I always take it out of the seat back and read it. Of course I know that my seat can be a floatation device, how to put on a life vest, taking care of my oxygen before helping the unaccompanied minor in the seat next to mine, and of course I know how to put on a seat belt. None of that matters, I still read the card and I always note the exits, how to open them, and I sometimes check out the people sitting int he exit row perhaps to judge their worthiness.

I used to always the same shirt. It's this gray/black horizontally striped shirt. You've probably seen it if you've met me at least five times since I wear it about once a week. I've given up wearing that shirt as of late, but some of that has to do with some of the particulars of my laundry and travel circumstances surrounding the recent trips I've been on.

Since I've started work, my backpack is my one and only carry on. If you are one of those people who carries on a suspiciously large suitcase along with a personal item that is either a backpack or a large purse then I hate you. Your suitcase is too large to fit properly inside the overhead bin. You are also an inconsiderate person as you are likely holding up the boarding and deplaning processes as you stalk five rows either ahead or behind of where you're sitting in order to find space for your gargantuan man purse.

My checked bags depending on how much I need to take are almost always my black Travelpro bag and my olive green tote bag. Both are quality bags, have held up to a lot of abuse, but unfortunately, one of them will probably not make the cut on my next flight across a large body of water. Simplify, but not that much.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Osama Bin Laden is taking responsibility for the US Airways crash. He has been training terrorist Canadian geese to do suicide jet missions. We will have to investigate the Canadians who are supplying the birds.