Sunday Salon: Travel, Weather, and Reading Advisory

Another weekend trip! This time a family visit to see the baby, and without a holiday weekend (the 4th of July inconsiderately falling on Tuesday instead of Monday this year) we flew down instead of driving.

I usually pack way more reading material than I could possibly need, not counting the iPad. This trip I only brought one book and the iPad. Granted, the one book is World Without End by Ken Follett for Big Book Summer — a 1264-page paperback.

Before leaving, this other piece of advice popped up in my Facebook feed:

SOME TIPS ON AIR TRAVEL FROM a 32-yr flight attendant, for world’s largest airline.

If you are flying anywhere this summer, on any airline…
Pack snacks and PB&Js, bring portable charger for your phone, a deck of cards or UNO, download extra movies on iPad, if you have wireless headsets also bring old school plug in type, bring a light blanket, go to the airport 1 extra hour earlier than you would have, bring your patience, and an empty water bottle/Hydroflask. Wear comfortable clothes and wear layers of them. (Not your pajamas.) Bring a jacket.

If you must travel with kids, go to Dollar Store and buy new toys they have never seen, give them these during delays. You can also buy the blow up arm floaties, to use as pillow or lumbar support for your back. Small portable fan or paper fan. A tennis ball to use to massage you aches.

Airlines don’t supply pillows or blankets anymore. There is usually no food or not enough onboard to buy or give, usually there is not enough beverages for 2nds.
Fill your water bottle in airport, or buy a bottle. There is not enough bottled water onboard to fill your container, nor are we allowed to fill it. There are water filling stations in most airports. Eat before you get to airport as lines are long and food is expensive. You are allowed to bring your own food, grab a Subway sandwich on your way to airport.

If you are booked on last flight of the day, be prepared that you might end up spending the night in airport. Since flights are full you might not get on the next available.

Do not check your medicine or keys in your luggage.

Bring a Pen!! You may have to fill out forms, or need to write down info.

I have been in this business for 30 yrs and I have NEVER seen it this crazy! Every airline is short staffed, gate agents are working alone at gates for oversold flights, the wait times to get through to reservations are 3+ hours. Restaurants and stores can’t get people to work. Super long lines everywhere. LOTS of mechanical issues, weather, staffing issues NONE of which is due to frontline employees. They are as frustrated as you are. They are EXHAUSTED! This has been happening to them EVERYDAY for over 2 years, with no relief insight.

So I am asking you to BE VERY KIND TO EVERYONE. It’s always appreciated. We always bring treats, whatever they may be to the agents and flight attendants when we travel. Our days are long and we are being rerouted, delayed and usually are as frustrated as you are with lack of assistance from our airline.

Don’t bring your pets if you don’t have to.

Download apps like Flight Aware.
Sign up for alerts from the airline you are traveling on through their app. You can look to see maps of your connecting cities or get info about gates, your next flight, or even where your bags are.

Put AirTag in your luggage. Make sure to have a name tag with YOUR info on it, even on carry ons. Check the destination on the tag if you check luggage, sometimes mistakes can happen.

ALL flights are full. Place one carry on under your seat. Leaving room in overhead for bigger bags. When flight attendant comes through with beverage cart, have your tray table down and know what you want to drink. Observe the seatbelt sign as there has been lots of turbulence.
Wear shoes in to the Lavatories!!

Wishing you all a safe and uneventful journey on your trip. Hope this info helps! Yes, you can share this with your friends and family!

Our short, early-morning flight from Massachusetts to Maryland actually left on time and arrived on time. If we had only left the house on time, our plans might have worked smoothly, but we didn’t, so we had to drive all the way in to the airport and park there

I didn’t want to wait in line at the airport Dunkin’s, figuring we’d get coffee on the plane, but it turned out to be too turbulent for beverage service. We got only a vague promise from Southwest Airlines to make it up to us sometime.

After landing, our bags took an unusually long time to come off the plane, with only an announcement that they “probably” would soon (not very reassuring) Finally, we collected our bags and were now only a short rental-car drive away from seeing our new granddaughter. (To look on the bright side, the luggage delay did give my husband time to scout out coffee, which I was too caffeine-deprived to even think of.)

These few minor hiccups were nothing compared to the airport woes of our Texas trip a few months ago. We’ll just need our luck to continue through tomorrow when we fly home early for work on Monday.

Books for sale at Boston’s Logan Airport:

Once we got to Maryland, we found out there was a weather advisory due to the heat, humidity, and smoke causing very poor air quality. Sensitive groups, such as babies, were advised to avoid being outside on Friday and Saturday.

So after staying indoors in the air conditioning for two days, we ventured out on a Sunday-morning excursion to a local park on the Anacostia River.

By 11 a.m., though, it was already too hot to keep the baby out in long, so it was pick up take-out and back to the house for lunch. Not good picnic weather!

Currently Reading

Our Missing Hearts by Celeste Ng

Our Missing Hearts is an old story made new, of the ways supposedly civilized communities can ignore the most searing injustice. It’s about the lessons and legacies we pass on to our children, and the power of art to create change. — from the Publisher

I chose Our Missing Hearts from the library for the Massachusetts Center for the Book Reading Challenge for July (“Read a book from your local library.”) but I couldn’t wait till July to start it, so here it is July 1st and I’ve already finished it! Excellent novel, but a sad premise — imagining a political climate not as incredible as one would wish. I borrowed it through Libby and read it on the iPad.

World Without End by Ken Follett (1264 pages)

Recently Read

My Sister, the Serial Killer by Oyinkan Braithwaite

Is It Hot in Here? by Zach Zimmerman

Currently Listening To

Mrs. Plansky’s Revenge by Spencer Quinn

“Mrs. Plansky is a wonderfully memorable heroine, full of wit and equally plausible as an ace tennis player and a motorcycle-driving detective with Romanian gangsters hot on her tail. Readers will be eager to see what Mrs. Plansky gets up to next.”—Publishers Weekly

I’m close to the end of this advance copy of Mrs. Plansky’s Revenge, a new series start by Spencer Quinn. I don’t know how it compares to the author’s popular Chet and Bernie series, but readers of Richard Osman’s Thursday Murder Club books set in a retirement community will love Mrs. Plansky’s Revenge.

Recently Listened To

Harrow the Ninth by Tamsyn Muir

After rocking the cosmos with her deathly debut, Tamsyn Muir continues the story of the penumbral Ninth House in Harrow the Ninth, a mind-twisting puzzle box of mystery, murder, magic, and mayhem. Nothing is as it seems in the halls of the Emperor, and the fate of the galaxy rests on one woman’s shoulders.

Rogue Protocol by Martha Wells

Murderbot is back! Luckily for listeners, so is the engaging Kevin R. Free. Though it would rather be alone watching its favorite serials, the rogue Security Unit AI finds itself protecting another batch of humans who are on an ill-fated mission while also attempting to do its own research into a nefarious corporation (and not get caught). –– AudioFile Magazine

Sunday Salon is to encourage conversation about books and book-ish things, but can expand into many other topics. The weekly link-up and Facebook group are hosted by the Deb Nance of Readerbuzz.

This post is also linked up It’s Monday, What Are You Reading, hosted by The Book Date.