Travel Days -- flying edition

Most people love to travel.  I think this has to do partly with some objective awesomeness to seeing new places and cultures and partly with how it's hip and cool to love travel -- not to mention that we get to tell interesting (and often hilarious) stories from our ventures away from home.

But what I often forget as I'm embellishing an embarrassing tale of my visit to an East Asian massage parlor or a comical disaster story about a Guatemalan landslide is that bookending any amazing travel experience are 2 awful days of excrutiating travel.

I don't think I realized until... well, now... how much I dislike the actual travel required for any trip.  So I thought I would walk you through my typical travel day experience and see how much you agree or disagree.  Because air travel and road-tripping each has its own unique perils, I'll tackle them one blog post at a time.

My typical air travel day

4:45 a.m.: Wake up
And if you know me, this isn't pretty.

7:20 a.m.: Realize I forgot to pack an important item
E.g. body wash

8:45 a.m.: Layover meal dilemma --> "brunch"
I realize I ate breakfast at 5 a.m.  I'm now ravenously hungry.  I eat another meal, and I accept the fact that I'll be eating at least 6 meals today.

9:30 a.m.: Pray there will be empty seats on this flight
Because either I or the 250-lb. dude next to me needs to move.

9:50 a.m.: Accept that God has answered my prayer
...with a resounding "No."

9:52 a.m.: Try not to be embarrassed about what I'm reading
It's usually a sci-fi or fantasy novel.

10:40 a.m.: Realize that I forgot to pack another important item
E.g. swimming trunks

11:00 a.m.: Curb my returning hunger with airplane food
Either a "snack" of stale pretzels or a "meal" of frozen fish head.

11:30 a.m. - 2:30 p.m.: The "second layover blur"
My mind now checks out for the day.  I will later look back and have no memory of the boring, tedious, frustrating sequence of events. 

2:30 p.m.: Arrive
Unfortunately, both my luggage and my brain were accidentally put on the wrong plane.  So I stumble around like an angry zombie, waiting for someone to give me my suitcase and, in turn, a sound mind.

The rest of the day is spent trying (unsuccessfully) to sleep and missing my luggage.  I try to find solace in strange places, like in the thought, "Well hey, even if I had my luggage, I'd still be missing my body wash and swimming trunks."  Comforting thought.


What about you?

Does travel wreck you like it wrecks me?

What funny things have happened to you in airports or airplanes?

Jon