I am one day away from making my yearly journey to Holland. Been doing this for several years now and one thing has not changed and it is the stress involved with travel day. I will wake up very early in the morning and be as jumpy as a cat in a roomfull of rocking chairs. I always wonder if I have forgotten to pack an essential item,will the TSA folks give me a hard time,will I not hear them when they ask me a question (I am deaf in one ear and this has led to problems in the past with TSA), will my connecting flight be on time...and on and on. My wife tells me I should chill out and believe me I try but to no avail.

Once I am on the plane with a couple of cold beers and something to assist in sleeping I am fine but the hours leading up to that are brutal at least stress wise.

Hey block, join the club, buddy.

I used to travel for woark all the time - and I do mean all the time - and I still got jumpy every travel day; even if I was just flying to Atlanta.

Sam

Hey Block, how long are you staying? I'll be there May 9-16. Travelers tip: Smile, it works wonders with authority figures.

With increasingly cramped quarters and fewer amenities in-flight, having TSA separate me from my belongings (incl. wallet) such that I lose sight of them at the checkpoint while I well know that theft is rampant by TSA screening clerks (and the occasional passenger), having to choose between being irradiated thus increasing my cancer risk (doctors in particular often refuse the nude-o-scope/AIT... what does that tell you?) or having some goon palm my junk if I "want to fly today," and finally being subjected to pure, unmitigated harassment by CBP upon re-entering the country of my birth, after which I know I have to get third world public transport (Boston) to my local train station while totally exhausted, yeah, I still get nervous... after 14 trips to AMS in 3 years. I'm always running around frantic the day before trying to print stuff up, do last minute research, and then I never sleep well that night. Even though I have a list of what to pack (which gets more complete/accurate following each trip, since I edit it), I'm still never relaxed as I'm doing it... mind going a thousand miles a minute while the body cannot keep up... completely unfocused. Then I'll smoke weed to relax but sometimes that just tends to make me paranoid that I've forgotten something!

Add all of this on top of visiting a place I've never been, by myself (Frankfurt, flying out tomorrow), and I'll be pretty much off my nut until I finally get there, retrieve my checked baggage, get the train, check into the hotel and have a lie down.

I hate flying.

I sympathise with you.

In Europe the situation is not that much better these days. Certainly if you fly low-cost airlines (or even plain Economy in some major carriers) you are being bullied by security, chased through endless airport corridors, ignored by staff and put in a cramped space for a couple of hours risking your body. I will not even mention the inflight food (if any still is offered).

What I do on longer (intercontinental) journeys by default is spend the first night abroad in a major city with sufficient shops. That way I can easily buy anything I may have forgotten - or worse - get a complete new kit if the airline lost my luggage. I've done such emergency shopping from Athens to Osaka, and it's very, well interesting to find out the word for (male) underwear in Greek or choose the right contact lens fluid with labels in mainly Japanese. At least you guys aiming for Amsterdam or Frankfurt have the pleasure of landing in civilised cities where one can easily shop around.

Within Europe, the train is an interesting alternative these days, with time difference with flying getting less and less, and much less hassle.


Gaston.