traveling

so i'm going to get back on track.  i'll start doing more regular entries (maybe even daily?) & make every effort to be stimulating & interesting & amusing.  i have been up most of the night packing for chicago.  i am visiting my niece for several days & then i'll go a couple of hours south to champaign, il to visit my sister for the weeknd & then back up to caitlin's in chicago until tuesday.  my niece caitlin is dear & sweet & lives in the city.  she works as an RN at children's hospital in pediatric oncology.  i have not seen her work & yet feel certain that those who are her patients can consider themselves lucky.  

here are some pix of caitlin & i from days gone by.  both are from our annual family vacations to the outer banks in north carolina.  she is about a year old in the younger shot & about 4 in the older shot.  i knew i really loved her when i was willing to pick up that sand-covered child while i was slathered in baby oil to increase the tan potential.  

i haven't flown much at all this year. several years ago, my good friend & colleague, kate, started getting lost of overseas work as a trainer of psychodrama, experiential therapy & its application to trauma.  i often co-trained with her & thus fulfilled a lifelong dream to travel.  i flew between 50k & 80k miles a year (kate flies 100k+ yearly), thus enabling me to become that creature known as an elite flyer- a passenger who gets privileges.  i will not even have 10k this year & thus next year, must fly as a persona non grata.   since this is my last flight as an elite, i chose to upgrade to first class (i never do that for just a chicago trip - it's a waste of miles) & treat myself well, for next year, i will be waiting in long lines, paying to check my bags, paying for overweight bags, never getting close enough to the top of the list for an upgrade... it is so sad.  especially since next year there is a good chance i'll again be flying between 50k and 70k!  i don't actually mind flying.  especially if i am in business class- no one can reach me, i have my knitting & a choice of movies.  my main decisions include what to eat, drink & watch & when to sleep.  no one expects anything out of me- except perhaps to mind my own business.  i enjoy it.  

of course, there is the sheep & cattle feel of it.  & yet, it still feels like an adventure to me.  it wasn't all that long ago that flying was a very special event reserved only for businessmen & unusual events.  people used to dress up for flights- not any longer.  i swear i have seen people travel in what looks like pajamas.  we get off & on planes like it is nothing these days.  when i think of how much the youngsters fly these days- they have grown up flying to europe, all over.  the world is so much smaller, isn't it?

i do miss the specialness of it that i remember from my childhood.  it still feels special to me.  i miss the dressing up & the solicitous care with which one was  attended to by the flight attendants.  gosh, we used to smoke on planes- do you remember?  just flying along & smoking away...  i am so glad i quit because it seems to me it is just about impossible to smoke anymore- where do people smoke?

& i had a minor victory with packing.  even with my recent traveling, the art of packing light eludes me.  for this trip, though, i have one bag- 22".  although i did have to expand it the 2" it offers to 24"- never good when you have to expand on the way TO somewhere- what do you do on the way back?  the expandable luggage is designed to be a RETURN feature- doncha think?  (that's my sarah palin imitation).  i did pack an extra bag- i always do & it rarely goes unused.  & my luggage matched this time- my suitcase matched my carry-on.  my luggage usually never matches.  i think i like being coordinated.  they are calling for snow in chicago- i have my hopes up & once again, my trusty uggs are called into service.  

ah- time for me to cross the goofy red carpet that is reserved for 1st class & elite flyers- it is pretty goofy.  on my way to chicago......