Traveling With The Good and The Bad

Things I’m Thankful For When Traveling

• Online check-in and ticketing

• Random acts of kindness to help calm a screaming toddler

• Regarding above: The Netflix series Llama Llama

• Also regarding above: The children’s series Paw Patrol

• Car rentals with CarPlay support, and that Apple finally got it’s crap together re: Maps

• Staying with family rather than at a hotel

• A toddler sleeping mid-flight

• Getting to show my family new places or, as the case may be, places that are old to me but new to them

• The folks I’ll get to see at the destination

• People watching on the way

Things I Would Prefer Be Different When Traveling

• Lackadaisical bag-check attendants, who one might think are duty bound to not care about people’s boarding times, etc.

• The feeling of panic between when your toddler starts screaming like a banshee and when the aforementioned acts of kindness are perpetrated by various other passengers/Good Samaritans

• The mild sense dehumanization that accompanies any trip through the TSA line, but especially the ones with long waits and grumpy uniforms

• Turbulence

• That heartless master, the airplane seatbelt light

• $4 cans of soda

• However much a well drink costs mid-flight (I won’t pay it unless the Mrs. tells me that I’m being insufferable and I should have a drink for her sake)

• My own crankiness and overall unpleasantness toward others, especially my wife