What perplexes me, however, are the security questions—they are either too simple or too hard. Packing My Gadgets First, I had my camera and the associated paraphernalia—spare battery, charger, data cable, and extra memory card. Since I was attending as a photojournalist, my camera was a requisite tool. Next was the computer with all its […]
Once, as I made my way through airport security on a trip, I was randomly selected for a chemical scan. After passing a gauze-like material over my hands, the female TSA worker popped it in a machine for analysis. To my shock and her dismay, the machine beeped and turned red. This development earned me […]
Once when my wife and I returned from a trip, we allowed plenty of time to make the trek from hotel to airport—more than three hours, in fact. However, a series of unforeseen events conspired against us, making our schedule tighter and tighter with each progressive twist. As each delay transpired, it became less likely […]
It seems that most hotel rooms come with a “save water” card. They request that you conserve water (and avoid other environmentally unfriendly actions) by permitting them to skip changing the bed-sheets. Placing that card on the bed signifies your acceptance of their request. In similar manner, a notice in the bathroom suggests you indicate […]
Making Travel Connections You may recall that air travel is low on my “things-I-like-to-do” list. I view flying as something to be endured. As such, while my body is flying, my mind goes to my “happy place”—whatever that means. Therefore, I can miss opportunities around me. But sometimes I come out of my self-imposed cocoon […]
While traveling for work, on a Sunday morning I needed to leave for my convention by 7 a.m. To my dismay, the hotel’s kitchen didn’t open until 7. The front desk had no alternative options for my morning meal. I recalled a McDonald’s a few blocks away. So at 6:45 I set off on a […]
I used to be fixated with knowing what time it was. You might say I was slave to the clock. I was compulsive about checking my wristwatch and the more concerned I became about time, the more often I looked. I think it was the dark side of time-management. As I planned my daily activities, […]
I generally expect things to work out—except when I’m traveling. Experience has conditioned me to expect the worst when I leave home. I expect the airplane will be overbooked, the schedule delayed, or the flight cancelled. All these things have happened to me. At the hotel, I expect they won’t have a room, will dismiss […]
I’ve never been a fan of our twice-annual time change, in and out of daylight savings time. My perspective is to pick a time and stick with it. This is in part because of the hassle of resetting clocks, but also because it takes my body about a week to fully adjust. I also struggle […]
I have owned and enjoyed an iPod Nano for many years. Though I don’t use it much for music, it is a regular source for listening to podcasts and lectures. Almost from the start, however, I’ve encountered intermittent difficulty in turning it off. There are some tricks to accomplish this posted online, but they only […]