Am I there yet?

So, the more I think about it, and reflect on all the travel I’ve done this year, I’ve decided that I love seeing places and things I haven’t seen before but I absolutely detest getting there.

Packing. Well, you can’t bring too much, because you have to be able to wrangle your own bags (I admit here that Tim likely spoiled me by (a) driving everywhere instead of flying and (b) wrangling my bags for me). You can pack stuff in a big checked bag, but you still have to be able to get the bag from Point A to Point Z or wherever. Or carry it up and down stairs. Or heft it over a gap between train and platform. And there’s always the chance your luggage might get lost by the airline. So do you pack some stuff you definitely don’t want to lose in a carry-on, and then anything you’ll get over losing if it goes missing in a checked bag? You can’t bring more than a sandwich bag of liquids, and all of those have to be less than 3 ounces, so if you’re going for a long time, or if you have specific skin or hair care routines that your body is accustomed to and will get pissy if it’s changed, you have to be judicious about what to take and what to leave at home. Or hope that you can find the same thing, or something comparable, at your destination.

Oh, and don’t forget that all of your electronic stuff can’t be in a checked bag, it has to go in carry-on, and you might (but might not) have to take out both your baggy of liquids and your electronic stuff, so make sure that it’s at the top of your carry-on, and/or not in something you’re going to have to open if it’s awkward to open it.

Oh, and there’s a weight limit on your bag, so don’t take anything too heavy. And you might have to take your shoes off at security, so don’t wear shoes that are hard to take off and put back on. Wear slip-ons? But what about all the travel blogs that tell you to save valuable space and weight in your luggage by wearing the heaviest pair of shoes you plan to bring? Or what if you’re only planning on bringing one pair of shoes, and those shoes are waterproof boots?

Have I even talked about the cost of bringing the luggage? Why do you have to pay for your ticket and then … pay for a ticket for your luggage? I’ve been lucky so far because the International travel with Delta comes with one free checked bag per person, and the times that it hasn’t been free, I’ve had enough Delta points that I didn’t have to pay. Which was my plan, using Delta for everything, but my god you shouldn’t have to play chess like this!

I can see why people bring the largest carry-on they think they can get away with, and jockey to get on the plane first so they can snag two bags worth of overhead bin space.

Also have you ever been to an airport where the power plugs in the seats have actually worked? Why do they even offer them if they’re always broken?!

I’m not even going to get into the people. Eh, but really, so far this trip, the peopling hasn’t been too bad. I’ve seen lots of people with tentative smiles, and have actually been sitting here for about half an hour at my gate chatting with an older man in a wheelchair who is a flautist and a world-traveler. I have to admit I was a little afraid I’d be sitting next to some… well, I’m sure you can all imagine. Someone with whom I would not immediately get along, someone who might not be tolerant and might be loud about it. If someone like that starts talking to me, I do have a plan to shut that down – same way I have a plan if I see a woman being harassed by another woman in a bathroom. I ain’t got patience to deal with that kind of fuckery this week.

Anyway.

Atlanta needs more sit-down restaurants. It seems like two thirds of them are “temporarily closed for renovations” right now, which means the two sit-down places in the Terminal I’m in had lines that were so long it made me wonder if I’d get in and out before my 4-hour layover was done.

I tell you what, though, I love love love the noise-cancelling headphones I bought! They’re so much more comfy than earbuds, make it more obvious I’m not interested in conversation, and towards the end of the first leg when I took them off, I put them back on again even though I’d already turned off my audio book, because of how loud the plane was. I hadn’t even noticed the noise!

OK, one more hour to go before my plane boards. And I don’t want to run my laptop battery down because hahahahaha, none of these fucking plugs work. Is there a trick to it? A button I don’t see? How can two entire rows of seats have plugs that don’t work???

I’m a little tired even though it’s not even 9 PM. Like most of you, I haven’t been sleeping well this week. And I already miss my dogs, and I feel guilty for leaving Jeff with so much work to do even though I’d just get in the way, and it’s not like I didn’t have work to do, blah blah blah. But I’m going to go to London, and see old friends, and go to St. Mary Bourne, and see a friend, and maybe even try to get to Portsmouth to hang out with the wonderful couple I met on the QM2 on the way to Scotland! It’s going to be a good trip, I know it is. I’m just so out of sorts and tired and still not 100% well and haven’t been sleeping well and am worried, so worried, about people I love and about my country in general and whether the United States will be the same in four years. I supposed I should say I also miss my cats, and my tortoises, but… we all know it’s really the dogs I miss.

OK, peace out, y’all. In twelve hours (or so, but it’ll look more like 18 on the clock) I’ll be in England. England? England! I don’t believe it! What, a conspiracy of cartographers?