If you are about to join in the fray with an assault on your local airport for the busiest travel week of the year, you have my sympathies. There is nothing worse, in my humble opinion, than the perils of holiday travel. Frankly, it is bad enough with all of the show elements in place, but when you add all the extra stress, fuss and muss, well… I’m safe at home, or as close to it as I can stay.
As much as this week becomes a time for family, I’ve always wondered why it is we all would so willingly subject ourselves to the peril involved. For example, if there was ever a time for your luggage to take that trip to Maui without you, this week is definitely it. And if you’re likely to miss that connecting flight in Missoula, you can almost count on doing just that.
As we say in the train business, “Late trains become only one thing — later.”
Yet, we all pack up the Family Truckster (“You think you hate it now. Just wait until you drive it!”), and head off for the most dangerous part of any journey (okay, Jungle Cruise fans, you know what I’m referring to now), the Interstate Highway system. Put all of us bozos behind the wheel at the same time, and you can see chaos in the making. Tempers rise faster than Grandma’s homemade rolls. Mix in a bit of moisture on the roadways, drop the temperature to just below freezing and you get the miracle of black ice to make the thundering heard of Sport Utility Vehicles slow down to less than the proverbial crawl or engage in a ballet better than anything from Fantasia.
“Are we there yet? Are we there yet? Are we there yet? Are we there yet? Are we there yet? Are we there yet?…”
Recall for a moment if you will the film “Trains, Planes and Automobiles”. Too many of us can relate that it wasn’t a fictional comedy. It was a documentary tragedy.
Now I can say that I’m somewhat blessed. My family and in-laws all manage to live fairly close to one another. I’ve been spared the ordeal of the forced march through the airports of the nation during this week. At most, I’ll travel a couple of hours by car each way in search of the required meal of turkey and fixings.
Even the cat gets a reprieve, as I’ll likely be back home that same night and he won’t have to go to the kitty relocation center. Which is a good thing as they’re probably full up by now anyway.
That doesn’t mean we don’t have any sympathy for all of you who are out and about. Someone has to do it. Can you imagine what would happen if no one were to travel during this period? How about all those airline meals (or sack lunches you pay through the nose for) that would go unconsumed in the absence of all those travelers? Or what about the gallons of overpriced airport cocktails that wouldn’t be swilled in an effort to kill the pain of the extended waits? Could it be that those airport workers could actually spend time at home with their families instead of trying to keep warm and dry out on the tarmac? What would baggage handlers do without your luggage to lose? And what about the poor peanut farmers if they were to experience a drop off in sales dues to the lack of service aboard flights across the nation?
Nah…
Now I’ve done my fair share of working the holiday and the day after over the years. Name the shift, I’ve worked it. Even spent one Thanksgiving in the hole in the ground (a.k.a. Moscone Center) working an auto show in San Francisco. Years back, I spent the morning and afternoon pumping gas for the travel rush, that abruptly died at about 3 o’clock. I’ve never done a train thing that day or worked in a restaurant on the day either. The day after maybe…This time, I’m safe in seniority and have both days free as paid holidays.
Anyone who works retail gets my sympathies as well for working the day after Thanksgiving. It is the day when the professional shoppers head out for the first round of retail greed. Now it’s more bargains than you can shake the proverbial stick at. We amateurs only muck up the works by showing up later on in the day. Recall the early days of the Disney store at your local mall and the frazzled Cast Members at the end of the day. I know several that didn’t last beyond that weekend, after having been hired as casuals for the season. Bad enough to be swamped under all day long, but then staying on until the wee hours of the morning restocking the store. Try two or three, even four a.m. before you were pardoned and released from service…
Now I have not spent the day or the weekend at the Park, either. I know that there is a tempting selection of dining options. Even my favorite Harris Ranch has a buffet of gastronomic delights I’m seriously tempted by. Yet if it were to be a day spent with family and friends, I could see doing a day at the Park. I have enjoyed a few New Years Days at the Disneyland with a quiet morning while every other tourist or football fan was off in Pasadena at the Rose Bowl and associated parade. After the near crush of the previous evening, the following morning was almost quiet and still, if not chilly.
And at this time of year, we should remember those who won’t be able to spend the day with family and friends. It’s a long list from those in the military on duty around the world to those whose careers keep them on the go or serving the rest of us in some capacity (firefighters, police officers, transportation employees, service sector jobs and more), those who don’t have homes or anywhere else to go, those who don’t have anyone to visit with them, or those who are spending the holiday without a loved one for the first time. A thought for all of these folks on that day is nice. Helping in some way is even better.
Perhaps we tend to forget what the day is all about at times. It is more than just stuffing one’s face with the extra piece of pie you don’t really need anyway.
Even with all of the travails of getting someplace, the time to be thankful for what we have — no matter how much or how little — may be the best part of it all.
Roger wishes you and yours all the best of this holiday. And he’ll be back as usual with another column on the 28th.
No plug for the Paybox this week or next week. Give that spare change to someone who needs it more than we do…