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Travel Bright

23 TIPS on How and Why to Fly, NOW!

Flying in from Los Angeles to New York or back and forth is a routine familiar to many bi-costal commuters.  Yet not everyone finds pleasure in constant travel.  The many restrictions and the potential for loss is high when one is going away from home.  Security, Terrorism and Other Hazards plague the transition between “Arrival and Departure.” Yet, travel is intensely important.   We cannot avoid it.  Without travel, we are stuck in ONE place. Furthermore, we cannot maintain our far-flung friendships and many attachments without getting on a plane, occasionally.  Getting out to see old friends and perhaps family is a way of maintaining one’s status, relationships, and memories.  Creating NEW impressions of places known before is vital to feeling ALIVE.

Perhaps, we loss a part of ourselves if we do not get on a plane a GO see a museum exhibit in another city just because it relates to some arcane topic we studied in college.  Without planes, it seems, we cannot unlock our full human potential!  Of course, some people like Emily Dickinson (who famously wrote moving poetry from the self imposed prison, in an attic, without the benefit of actual trips or internet connection, managed to travel through books and in her imagination quite effectively).  Poets…  unlike most people can (time) travel (yet… this is another topic).   Unless YOU have the gift of reading (and writing) between the lines… don’t try it in public. OK?

The obvious key is to successful airplane travel is packing BRIGHT.  Take a little of what makes you happy, comfortable, and content at home.  It is right to fine-tune what one must have in order to function.  In this way, we are all different as snowflakes.  What you have in your bag will not work for me.  Yet, Talkinggrid’s 23 Must Have Travel Items are a simple yet tried and true method for staying On-Top of getting around.

Before the trip:

1.Get ready to Practice Politeness.  This is an opportunity to appreciate the little things people do for your safety.  Searching your bags, for example, is an important function for TSA agents to perform.  IF they neglect to check some bags, some times, we’d think we were not getting our money’s worth. So… we appreciate the people that do this (mostly boring) job.

2. Be prepared to eliminate doubt about your identity.  Thus, taking seriously the oracle at Delphi’s recommendation of “know thy self.” If you do not have valid identification you are not going anywhere conventional, quickly.  Thus, those of us who can verify that we are who we claim to be are SOMEBODY, at the airport where it counts.

3. Another perk of travel is that it gives you the opportunity to “expand your portfolio of experience.”  You are fascinating.  You write.  Read. Paint.  Dance. Sing.  Yet performing all these marvelous skills in previously unknown cities can be hugely life-enhancing since whenever you arrive in a new city you have the advantage of being vulnerable and confused and thus interesting to predators and admires, alike. Bravo! Make the MOST of IT!

Remember: Aerial Views are special.  We don’t get to see all the little houses and think about how small we really are unless we are UP here in the air LOOKING DOWN and seeing that what cost millions to the individual is but a spec on the patchwork quilt that is a nation.

4.  Most importantly, Get a Grip!  Every time you leave HOME on a major trip you are embarking on more than a mere journey from here to there.  YOU are making decisions about what matters to YOU.  What is important enough to get YOU and only YOU out of bed?   WHAT must YOU pack that I wouldn’t pack?  Tell me, pretty please.

5. Make time for enjoying the trip.  Don’t forget that it can be fun to explore the airport.  Past security there are shops, restaurants, and plenty of opportunities for relaxation, including those inviting coin operated massaging chairs.

  1. BAGS INSIDE BAGS!   Packing everything in a tot or overnight bag and THEN put it in your luggage… Hah! It makes you so… more prepared for shopping or mini-trips within your over-arching or BIG trip; try taking an extra tot with a fanny-pack full of makeup; that WORKS.  YOU get by better by having much more than one bag with you, always.

 

On the Plane:

  1. The Carry On, itself must be pretty.

You don’t want your bag looking like anyone else’s.

(Mine is a lavender floral print by Anna Sui for Tumi with a load of interior pockets, including a lined pouch for jewelry.  It works for me.)

  1. The Airport Pic-Nic.  Who can stand to eat what passes for food in most cases?  Not I. Thus, I bring my own home-cooked fresh meals, on board.   You may think this is a bit much.  Yet, I find it more economical and healthy to cook, contain, travel items.  transport, and enjoy the food I know is made fresh and to my specifications than to hope and eat whatever I can get.  That is why Whole Foods offers thermal bags.  Buy a few, use them regularly, and make your life better.
  2. The Eye Mask.  Give yourself some time to relax.  Check out.  Snooze.
  1. Wash your hands with extra care; bring along a quality Nail Brush.  Nothing beats having very clean hands, fingernails, and being well groomed.   Taking a moment to massage your hands, think about life, and reflect how lucky we are to have running water… is priceless.
  1. Don’t forget to Moisturize and hydrate.  Drink plenty of water before, after, and during your flight.  It will keep all systems running smoothly and the exercise of walking down the isle of a long air-plane in flight, several times will do you better than just sitting there.
  1. Noise cancelling headsets, Bose Speakers, for example, (or at least ear-plugs) can mean the difference between enjoying some rest and quiet time or… NOT.  Noise cancelling headsets work well to erase the voices of the two aging hookers that have seats behind you… or that monstrously energetic child’s wailing… providing the cushion of silence… your soundscape matters to you, for some of us, SILENCE is everything.
  1. Analogue Journal(s).  This is a solid block of time when you will not be interrupted.  You can write.  You can write your little bleeding heart OUT.  You can write poems to the clouds!  You can write a staggering list of Forgotten Lovers you wish you’d had!  You can write what kinds of parties you intend to have for your loved ones in the coming years.  Get to all the self-indulgent ego-boasting writing, you always want(ed) to do, now!

In your Carry On:

  1. Pack Gloves.  In all weathers, gloves are a gift to the self.  They protect your hands and light-weight ones keep your hands soft and germs off the finger tips. Thicker ones keep sensitive hands warm.  Gloves, leather or knit, are small yet high impact Sports gloves, for example ensure that you will be prepared to use the gym at the hotel.  Snow gloves make fights with packed balls of icy moister, FUN!
  2. A Selection of Hats.  Always carry a knit hat or two, they are tiny and make a huge difference in how comfy you are in ultra air-conditioned plane rides from here to there.  Also wear a proper hat, something fashionable to go with your jacket and slacks, which you take off in order to go through security.  Just the act of taking off your hat, makes you LOOK civilized.  Civilized is better in the world of air travel, deal with it.
  3. Cashmere Scarves!   Life without the lightweight warmth of cashmere wool may not be worth living.  I know. It was difficult before I discovered the major pluses inherent in the plushness, this soft and fine stuff provides. Two or three, good scarves fit anywhere and define YOU, dashing.  I prefer deep colors: tomato red, eggplant, and coffee scarves make me feel cozy and approachable.  Also remember: big plush, thicker, scarves can serve as blankets and improvised extra baggage.  The ladies in South Africa wear big ones, with which they wrap their babies around their bodies, while getting from here to there.   LOVE!
  4. Silk Blouses and Cotton Tank Tops: Light weight, breathable, silk is a traveling girl’s best friend.  Pack five blouses in your carry on they take up NO SPACE and you are consistently well dressed!  Wear them on their own or under wool sweaters to keep warm.  (Cotton, shelf bra, tank-tops, with a little elastic, are wonderful underneath.  Or… in the tropics… may stand alone as an eye-catching top, in a pinch.
  5. Under Garments: YOU must have seven days of fresh underwear with you NO MATTER where or how long you go for, IF traveling on a plane.  You never know when you get stuck somewhere and this is the one area of your carry-on reality you can and will control.  Unparalleled comfort comes from finding you have clean knickers, a feeling of instant power from a quick change into fresh underwear, no matter where –––precisely––– your earthly travels take you.  Fresh underwear will make YOU feel worthy of respect; away from home.
  1. The Neck Pillow:  protect your strangely vulnerable, fragile, yet vital, part of your body, THE NECK, is protected and ensconced from jiggle in transit. IF you don’t have ONE then I suggest you buy one at the airport.

Once you arrive you will need:

  1. Bath Salts and Oils.  As soon as you arrive you will want to take a long soak.  You need this to unwind, relax, and disinfect yourself from all the bugs and germs that are a part of sharing air with many strangers from all over the planet.  In the morning: you will want to have a WAKE UP or orange, grapefruit, lime-citrus soak to get you going, again.  In the evening: lavender, chamomile, or red-wine anti-oxidant soak will do YOU fine.
  2. The Travel Library: in airports, and trips, perhaps even more than at home, we have the opportunity to read real books, with pages, made of paper.  (Think of all the delightful paperbacks, begging to be read.  Paper books, one can sink into, a literary bath of words for the brain to soak in!)

Take TIME with those slow and softly turning paper pages, for they will be gone soon… unless—of course—virulent nostalgia grips the polis and…  If you don’t mind hauling around a selection of reading material, YOU are an exceptional being, in my book. (It is amazing, by the way, how many very thin books worthy of re-reading exist.  Strunk and White’s “Elements of Style,” and Dale Carnegie’s  “How to Win Friends and Influence People,” are two book I recommend everybody read again and again) pretty please.

  1. Writing and Drawing Materials.  In a very positive way it totally pleases me to paint in public.  Funnily, I’m good at concentrating with a crowd around.  Maybe because I’m the last of five children.  You may find that making a rough sketch of a memory or the flight attendant gives you a buzz unlike any other.
  2. A Laptop!   Of course, you were planning on bringing your portable computer along.  This is your chance to work on the Great American Novel or write your next blog entry.  NOW, get to it and enjoy your trip!  Bon voyage!

There YOU GO!

23 TIPS

Graciously from,

Frau Kolb

Active Head  at:
www.talkinggrid.com

Nov 16, 2013, 5:48 AM