I have family in the Midwest and recently flew back to Texas
from Sioux Falls, South Dakota, after a week in Iowa. This was a couple days after the horrible
tornado in Moore, Oklahoma, and another storm cell had passed through the Dallas
area earlier on the day of my flight. As a result, many flights had been
delayed in a chain reaction. I was flying through Dallas, and my flight from
Sioux Falls was delayed two hours. These things happen when you travel. There’s nothing you can do but go with it.
So I went with
it. I got to Dallas, it was around 11:00 at night and the place was jammed.
People were lined up at almost every gate. Many were running, desperately trying one last time to catch a connecting flight. I went to the gate of
my rebooked flight and the woman told me that at another gate, they were just
loading my earlier flight and I should go there. “Quick!” she said. So I joined
the runners, grateful that I wore tennis shoes.
I got to the gate and was worried that if they had rebooked
me on the later flight, I wouldn’t be allowed on the earlier flight. Then I
would have to run back to the other flight and try to get on that one, or be
stuck in Dallas for the night. It was a nail biter. But I got on the flight,
after some mad typing by the ticket taker at the gate that made me nervous. We
got into Austin ahead of schedule, but we weren’t really there. We were in
Austin, at the airport, but because of all the flight back-up, we didn’t have a
gate to go to. And when you don’t have a gate, you can’t get off the plane. So
we waited. And waited. For about 45 minutes. Which considering some of the
stories we’ve all heard on the news about planes being stuck on the tarmac for
three or four hours (or more), isn’t that bad. The pilot also kept us informed
of what was going on, so that was good. What he told us made us groan in
unison, but at least we weren’t just sitting there without a clue as to why.
Being delayed in Sioux Falls for two hours and then on the Austin tarmac aren’t the worst
flight stories I’ve heard or myself encountered. I have been delayed much longer.
I have run much further. And sometimes for naught. Like I said before, there’s
very little you can do in many travel circumstances. Flying can be totally
inconvenient. But how else do you get so far so quickly? Granted, the “quickly”
doesn’t always apply, but it is amazing when it works.
Because of the craziness of air travel, when I fly, I take
snacks. Sure, there is food in the airport, but the prices are high and as I
described earlier in this post, sometimes you don’t have time to dilly-dally.
Also, airlines are not very generous with the snacks these days. And forget
meals unless you are going abroad, and I mean way abroad – like Europe. I
haven’t had a meal on a plane to Latin America in ages. These days, you are
lucky to get peanuts on most flights, and those little bags have about six peanuts in them. If you are desperate, sometimes they will
sell you snacks. But you could probably buy yourself some nice jewelry
for the price of a snack box on a flight.
This is why I take my own snacks. I hate being hungry. And
when I am hungry, I am hungry. So I pack a sandwich, cheese or peanut butter,
nothing fancy. I bring some trail mix, and/or yogurt covered pretzels, and/or
almonds. I usually have a granola bar stashed in my purse. I’ve taken crackers,
cookies, and fruit. If I have an early morning flight and I have a long day of
traveling ahead with little connection time, sometimes I buy a sandwich at the
airport where my travel originates and eat it on my second flight. And I
always, always buy a bottle of water once I have checked in at the airport and
gone through security. Yes, the airlines do still serve beverages on flights.
But I do not rely on them for all my hydration. If you are one of those
poor souls stuck on a tarmac somewhere and they stop serving drinks, then at
least you have your own water. Hopefully your fellow passengers won’t attack
you in a mad fit of thirst.
This may seem like overkill to some of you. I know a guy who
travels by plane for his job all the time. I am pretty sure he never packs
snacks. I am pretty sure my brother, who normally eats way more than I do,
never packs snacks. I doubt that most of my friends without kids pack snacks.
But I am not a camel like these people. I cannot be sustained by my built-in energy
reserves if I’m stuck on the tarmac at some airport. The truth is, I cannot be
sustained for three hours. Sad, I know.
Case in point: when I flew to Guatemala, I packed a cheese
sandwich. Fairly boring, but meant for lunch in case I didn’t get lunch. I
don’t recall if I got lunch in my connecting airport that day, but by the time
I got to Guatemala City I was hungry. I thought I would be able to get
something to eat before I caught a bus to Xela, but that didn’t happen. I got
to the bus station, got on my bus fairly quickly, and prepared for the
four-hour bus ride. I soon realized that I wasn’t on the “express” bus,
meaning we were stopping every couple of miles to pick people up. So we were
traveling much slower than I had expected. I ate my boring sandwich, and that was
great. I was so glad I had brought it. But that solved only one bodily issue.
When we got further away from the city, I wobbled to the
back of the bus to use the restroom. It was now dark outside and dark inside the
bus, too. When I opened the bathroom door, there was no light. So I went back to
the front of the bus to ask the driver to turn on the light. He did, but it was
quite dim. We were traveling on very curvy roads. I could hardly stand up
(ladies, you know how we do not sit on a public toilet, especially one on a
bus). It was like surfing to pee and trying to hit a target. I couldn’t do it.
I had to abort my mission. Back to the front of the bus I went, bladder still
full and causing some mild discomfort at this point.
I managed to keep myself busy for the rest of the trip. I
read my book with my flashlight. I dozed a bit. But how I wanted a bathroom!
When I finally did arrive in Xela, my new boss was there waiting for me. I
tried to manage our introductions, his welcome, and initial questions (“how was
your trip?” etc.), but I still needed the bathroom. So I finally told him, “If I don’t
find a bathroom, I may die.” Thankfully, he pulled out all the stops (is that a
pun?) to find me one in a nearby cafe. Glory hallelujah!
Obviously, packing a snack only solved part of my problem on
that particular trip. But it was a big part. If I didn’t have that sandwich, I
would have probably gotten a headache and been really grumpy. That would have
just added insult to injury, the injury being my stretched-to-the-maximum
bladder.
This last trip from the upper midwest that was a little
crazy, wasn’t really that crazy. As I said, I’ve experienced worse delays. And
to be honest, I hardly touched my snacks this time ... and I had some good
ones, too. But if you are going to have a long day of travel, or you have a
short lay-over to catch a connecting flight, or if you have a very long
flight that isn’t an overseas one that includes meals, or if you are not a
camel either, then you should consider packing some snacks. If you’re like me,
you will be much more ready to take in your destination with a clear head. And
stay hydrated, too. Just not too
hydrated!
