søndag, juli 08, 2007

8 thoughts on travel, related to me me me

This comes courtesy of the superbly inimitable Greg. In light of all my recent travels, I'll be doing this one with a travelling spin.

But first, the obligatory fine print:

The Rules are:
- We have to post these rules before we give you the facts.
- Players start with eight random facts/habits about themselves.
- People who are tagged need to write their own blog about their eight things and post these rules.
- At the end of your blog post, you need to choose eight people to get tagged and list their names.
- Don’t forget to leave them a comment telling them they’re tagged, and to read your blog.
.

1) I never thought I would say this, but I am honestly of the opinion that I've been travelling too much recently, particularly air travel. I am tired of flights, especially flights lasting longer than 5 hours.

2) I would admit to how much of the past 12 months have been spent out of Denmark, but it's a scary amount. It's also long enough that I worry about my visa status. It won't be a problem now, but might be when my visa is next up for renewal.

3) I used to not notice jetlag so much, in fact I was pretty cavalier about it, but on my trip in December, it was simply interminable and not fun, and that pattern seems to be continuing. I can't tell if the jetlag is actually worse, or if it just seems worse, perhaps in combination with #1.

4) On this last trip, I came close to doubling my life stats for missed flights, by which I mean missing my second ever flight. The first one was many years ago, from London Stanstead to Lisbon. The silver lining was that I gave myself an extra morning in Cambridge. At that time, I was working at a place called Cambridge School, and amused myself (if not my colleagues) by calling in and saying that I was 'in Cambridge...but the wrong one' and would therefore miss a day of work.

5) That Stanstead to Lisbon flight was missed through my own negligence (well, and letting myself be persuaded that there was time for that end-of-vacation lunch near Hyde Park). This last almost missed flight was due to a late previous flight, combined with increasingly surreal security at Heathrow (oh, and have I mentioned that I'm also tired of having to take my shoes off to go through airport security?), which led to me doing my very best O.J. Simpson impression through Terminal 4 to get to my connecting flight, which amazingly, I caught.

6) I do wonder about the political correctness of refering to those Hertz ads. Speaking of which, as I have never known anything about American football, it was only during the overshadowing trial that I realized that O.J. Simpson had been a football player. Since the Hertz commercial was all about how fast he could run, I had grown up assuming that he was a track star, maybe a sprinter.

7) I've always been of the opinion that the more stuff of sentimental value in your checked luggage, the more likely it is that it will disappear in transit never to be seen again. In real life, I have never had a bag lost by an airline for more than a few hours. Until now. I am still waiting for two suitcases, and have been waiting for almost two days now. In those cases are things like my mother's quite extensive collection of costume jewelry, and what for me amounts to an entire handbag collection. Nothing that will cause my life to end if it doesn't get found, but still, I consider my biggest travel superstition to be on its way to being realized. Of course, I'm still hopeful, but not too much.

8) I'm anxious to put a photo to this post, except, well I have good news and bad news. The good news is that my camera was in my carry on luggage. The bad news (for me, possibly good news for you, dear reader) is that the cable to connect my camera to my computer is in one of the checked bags. So, this will have to be photo free. I almost said 'visuals free', but that's not right. At least, I hope this post can be viewed.

O.K., and now I'm supposed to tag 8 people. I would, but I won't, not because of any aversion to tagging (though that has been known to happen), but more because almost everyone I read has done this one, and fairly recently at that. If you haven't done it, though, and would like to, then consider yourself tagged, and I look forward to finding out some things about you.

***Update, 20 July...for all who expressed concern, the bags are back, one a few days after this post, and another one the day before yesterday. Interestingly, some kind person or people in baggage handling decided that I was clearly becoming too fond of material possessions, and liberated me from the box with my mom's costume jewelry, as well as one or two other small consumer items of little value. All things considered, it's o.k., and sort of fits in with that part of my summer....***

12 kommentarer:

madelyn sagde ...

you may be photo-free but it's infused with
your wonderful "kim-ness"

:)

i am e-mailing you today - lots to say:)

Anonym sagde ...

Good to have you back! No more flights for you but how about short train ride to catch up over tea or coffee (not Dennys though) soon?

*fingers crossed* the checked in luggage turns up soon.

Devil Mood sagde ...

I really hope they find your luggage. How do we put ourselves and our precious belongings in the hands of people we don't even know?
Those big flights must be so tiring, I hope your jet-lag goes away.

Unknown sagde ...

I think your luggage just likes travelling and long lasting flights. I hope they'll get back soon from their journey around the world.

Vanessa sagde ...

I hope your bags arrive safe & sound.

Chipper sagde ...

I had completely forgotten about those Hertz ads. Good luck with your luggage--I hope you get it back soon!

Anonym sagde ...

Wow,
the last time I flew was 5 years ago.
DayByDay

Simple American sagde ...

I love to travel. But it has been a long time since I took a loooooong trup. Wondering what jet lag will be like now at this age?

Admin sagde ...

i'm jealous. i'd love to be on a plane right now. ;)

theblackscorpio sagde ...

Offtopic: Thriftstore horrors in pictures and written words:

http://community.livejournal.com/thrifthorror/

Anonym sagde ...

I hope your bags have turned up by now... imagine, we work so hard to get rid of bags under our eyes when we travel, but complain when our bags don't turn up on time... take heart, the time it takes for bags to get back is a function of the distance traveled. I hope the bags did not contain a certain travel-companion as well... the one that took your backpack around the world.

All the best.

kimananda sagde ...

Maddie, thank you...you're so sweet! :-) And I have you on my to-e-mail list as well...but at the rate I'm going, you'll have to wait awhile for that e-mail, sad to say.

Gondul, I'm adding an update about the luggage, but basically all is well, pretty much. And I'm looking forward to seeing you at some point soon. I'm fairly free at the moment, and you seem to be very busy, so I'll let you decide the time.

Ms. Mood, my jet-lag is finally going away, but it took over a week. And I'd never thought about putting my belongings in the hands of others, but yes, I believe it will be much more in my mind now.

Annemarie, you may be right...normally they don't travel for quite so long, is all.

Vanessa, they're almost all back. Thanks for your concern!

Etchen, thanks for your concern...and it was quite surreal that I remembered the commercials, as I hadn't thought of them, or seen them, since my childhood really.

Day, that's a long time. At this point, I'd like to spend that long without any flying (well, at least any long-haul flying), but I'm sure I'll be ready to go on a plane again fairly soon.

Mr. American, I have decided (and confirmed with others) that jetlag gets worse with age. I hope mine doesn't get worse than it is now, though...but it probably will. Take a trip to Malaysia or Singapore, and tell me how it goes for you, jetlag-wise. ;-)

Vesper, no jealousy is needed...well, be jealous of the travel itself, and being in new places, but the flying is just a pain in the ass, really. At this point, I'd like all my travel to be by train or road trip. I'm sure I'll get over that and be ready to go to the airport relatively soon, though.

Ms. Black Scorpio, that was cool. :-)

Ghost from the past, thanks for your words, also by e-mail (I do seem to be only communicating with people by blog comment, but I hope to add in some e-mails of my own at some point...I would advise not holding one's breath though, waiting for that to happen). The bags are almost back, as the update shows. As for that certain travel companion, he was resting at home the whole time, still with his DSB muppet friend, and is more than slightly annoyed that he missed all the fun!