'A bag, a bag, a purse and a coat...'
'A bag, a bag, a purse and a coat...'
'Four four four four...'
'Don't leave any of your S**! behind...'
That was my mantra as I went through the normal airport gyrations yesterday...
That's my mantra pretty much every time I go to the airport...
I have to keep a number in my head that corresponds to the number of things that SHOULD be in my hands as I move through the ever-so-entertaining (NOT) process of getting to one place or another... Because otherwise my hands won't pay attention to my brain (or is it the other way around?) and stuff gets left behind (like my FAVORITE raincoat GRRRRRRRRRRRR!!)
So... I'm back to travelling the globe to exotic and glamorous locations (or maybe just places like Dallas and San Diego) and am having to schlep my stuff around and not leave it anywhere... And lately, because I've gotten better at packing or tired of waiting for bags (or both) I've been carrying on... Which means I have even MORE stuff to keep track of...
Now, my MO in these situations is to get to the airport early, so as not to leave my stuff behind in my stress over being late, and to get on the plane early, so as not to annoy my fellow passengers who must wait for me to deal with my stuff...
Not so for really-important-therefore-really-late-guy...
Dude blasts on the airplane at the last minute (he was literally the last guy on...), takes his impressive self to his first-class chair, and then attempts to deal with his stuff in an completely booked plane... And when I say STUFF I mean an overstuffed carry on, a briefcase AND a smaller bag AND a hard sided case AND a huge stack of loose file folders... and when I say DEAL I mean making an announcement to the flight attendants to the effect of 'No way I am checking any of this' and proceeding to move from overhead to overhead and pulling bags out and trying to rearrange them so he can fit his stuff in...
Dude actually opened the overhead above my seat three different times ( the overhead containing the stuff I'd gotten on the plane EARLY to find a place for) and I was fully prepared to leap out of my seat and beat him to the ground if he even TOUCHED anything... Fortunately for him, he did not... Unfortunately for him the flight attendants decided they'd had enough of him and took his 'VERY EXPENSIVE and VERY FRAGILE' piece of S&*! equipment deep into the bowels of the plane where they most likely used it as a football...
Don't be that guy... :p
Photo: Googled
Hahaha...
Okay, so I am nowhere's near that DUDE but when I'm traveling with my girl we're quite the production. There's no way to even THINK about not checking luggage in that case but then there's still my purse (who can really live without their purse for a week?), her play bag with all her toys, the 'absolutely must carry-on in case they lose our checked luggage and we need underwear' bag (which has happened many times), and then the food bag (with various items for a bored mommy who never has time to be bored anyways). Oh, and we can't forget her pillow and her favorite stuffed animal(s). Thank goodness I can tie those onto my backpag a/k/a foodbag.
All I lost on the last trip was one of my favorite hairclips. A worthy sacrifice as opposed to a stuffed animal (believe you me).
On the rare occasions I get to fly somewhere alone though...I pack superlight and it's just me, my purse and a carry-on. I love those kinds of trips.
Hint for travellers going to Europe
In Europe there are a some countries that will only allow ONE carry-on. So if you have a laptop and your hand-bag, tough! Either be prepared to check one item.....alternatively leave it behind (OK, NOT an option), or make sure the two fits in one bag (and that has to be a certain size....not as big as some of the carry-ons in the US). I bought a laptop rollabout and am now whizzing through check-in and security with a breeze.
http://www.thisismoney.co.uk/consumer/travel/article.html?in_article_id=428948&in_page_id=1093
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/northern_ireland/7173977.stm
I am sure the force field was on full power. He could not have touched your things even if he wanted to! He was powerless! :)