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Things Picked Up and Thought About While Traveling

November 15th, 2022 by Kenneth Abrahams

Observing people is truly one of my favorite things to do. There are no better places, except possibly casinos, than airports and tradeshows or conventions to do that at. Recently, I have been to both. Just some mental notes and thoughts from my very recent travels.

Having been born in 1960, I still remember when airline travel was restricted to the very wealthy businesspeople (usually men) or very special family occasions. Most of the time my family traveled by car, as did many of my friends’ families. It was a rare occasion that we got to travel by air. When we did, it was special. We all got dressed up as if it was a big holiday celebration. Most people in those days that traveled by air were also dressed in, at the very least, business casual. On all four of my flights recently, there were a variety of sleep pants, sweatpants, holey jeans, and baggy pants in a wide range of colors and styles. As always, there were a few older folks very well dressed, hair and makeup done, looking like my grandparents did when they flew years ago. Truthfully, I miss those days.

I’m not sure how you all feel about this, but 8 AM local time is too early to drink white wine on a plane. It is WAY worse when said beverage is served in a can.

I’ve been trying to decide which I like less, the lousy airline food they used to serve in coach or people bringing on bags of fast food. Not sure if it’s the smell or seeing those bags just soaked with grease.

The airplane bathrooms are barely large enough to change your mind let alone change a baby.

How is it that flight attendants on a 5:13 AM flight can look that put together?

Folks, when the sign says, “this lane for people that need special assistance” and lists things like over size bags or international travel, that doesn’t mean people that just don’t want to wait in that massive, slow-moving line like the rest of us.

On one of my flights there were 4, yes count them 4, people that needed wheelchairs to get down the jet bridge and boarded the plane first yet, upon arrival at our destination, they were some of the first people up, blocking the aisle, so others with connecting flights couldn’t get off.

Speaking of airlines, why is it that when you want to change your flight, they hit you with all kinds of fees and additional charges, but when they decide to change your flight, you don’t get a credit, additional miles, or even a voucher for a drink on the plane?

Add flight attendant to the list of jobs I would never do.

To the parents of the teenager that was standing in line waiting to board our flight, swinging violently from side to side with a loosely fitting backpack, almost smacking those around him, perhaps in the future you might want to take the backpack off. Just a thought.

It is amazing the number of young adults at a conference that will wear a balloon hat or walk around with fancy face paint on.

I overheard two people discussing how they could sleep and shower without messing up said face paint. Made me smile when after talking about it for several minutes their advisor said, “you know they will be here tomorrow, and you can just get it redone.”

We, along with 2 or 3 other companies, were offering a Build a Bear program at the last conference. It is fascinating how crazy college kids go for that program.

How do people that own convention centers sleep at night when they are charging $5.50 for a bottle of water, don’t take cash and have staff that get a bit cranky when you don’t leave a tip? Do you really want a tip for taking a beverage out of a refrigerator and ringing it up?

One of the great things about conferences and tradeshows is seeing people you only get to see once a year, or less. Spokane is a nice city, but it is too darn cold to live there. Snow in early November? That is a hard pass for me, but I met a lot of very nice people.

At times during the exhibit hall or tradeshow portion of the conference, I began to wonder, from a business perspective, if it might have been better to stay home.

I love going to college conferences and seeing all the swag/school spirit everyone has.

I’m pretty sure the Lyft driver that took us to the airport was in his mid-eighties. I’m not sure if I want to be working when I am that age.

I thought it was just in our neck of the woods, being bombarded with political ads, but it was nationwide, even on planes. Glad the election is over for almost everyone.

It always amazes me that people are so eager to believe interesting but far-fetched tales, especially when Hollywood tries to lend legitimacy to them. Several women were discussing the movie ‘Catch Me if You Can’ and one of them exclaimed “it is all true!” If you do a lot of research on the main character, Frank Abagnale, much of what he claims is, in fact, untrue. He was a terrific con artist and had an interesting life, but he never actually flew planes and the hospital where he claimed to have worked as a doctor has no record of a physician by the name he claims he used. It is still a good story, just not completely true. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frank_Abagnale

About the author:
Ken Abrahams truly enjoys traveling, observing people, and offering his social commentary. Thanks for coming along on his trip!

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