All these travel miles are taking a toll on poor old Suzette. I got tired of trying to balance a suitcase, a business case and a handbag as I make my way around the country. I used to measure the quality of an airport by how easy it was to get from my lodging to the airport itself, but when my travel ramped up this year, I quickly changed that measurement. On the way in, it's the distance from the ticket counter to the gate; on the way out, it's the distance from the baggage claim to the rental car.*
So I gave up the rolling business case. This dovetailed nicely with my decision to be a good citizen of the Airways by taking up less room in the overheads. Now I use my Vera Bradley Millar bag to replace both the handbag and the laptop case. It's great - I can jam all my purse stuff into the side pockets, put the laptop into the padded rolling case insert and fit that into the VB as well. Room to spare! It's heavy, but it's balanced, and I'm able to put it on my shoulder and angle my body just so and that leaves me with only the suitcase to roll along behind me.
But there's one big drawback to this: the Vera Bradley bag gets no respect. I get on the plane early (Elite!), put my room-saving single bag in the overhead and sit down and wait for the last minute Annies start boarding. Oh, the pained looks on their faces when there is no more room in the overheads for their two overstuffed roll-on bags and their jacket. Then the flight attendants starts moving things around in the overheads to make room and when they get anywhere near where I am sitting, the first thing they go for is my red VB.
As if it was not worthy! As if it was not as important to me as the interchangeable plain black bags are to interchangeable khaki and polo people! I ask them not to move it (always a few bins towards the back) and tell them its my laptop then they hand it to me to me put it under my feet. As if I was a tourist! As if I was not a high-powered woman executive wearing a knit top and yoga pants! And carrying an oversized red flowered bag!
That is discrimination, my friends. Discrimination against personal style! I don't think I have to explain it any further - you know it for what it is: discrimination! But I am weak and losing heart. I'm ready now to throw in the towel and give up. I'll have to return to the dreary black business case and leave the style battle to those with more heart for it. I surrender.
Goodbye, Vera old gal -it's not you, it's me.
*Most amenable airports:
- Nashville
- Dallas/Fort Worth
Very bad airports:
- Atlanta Hartfield
- Chicago O'Hare
- Newark Liberty
- LAX
What I love about these postings is that they affirm all the opinions I have, and I fly maybe once every year or two.
Ever since Reagan deregulated air travel, the airlines, their profits no longer guaranteed, decided to seek revenge by making the experience cheaper but degrading. I mean, is there anything more insulting than a cellophane package with 1 1/2 pretzels in it, or those unripe bananas they serve with the Cheerios?
Posted by: John Smith | June 21, 2006 at 09:22 AM
They are designer midget (dwarf? little people?) bananas, I think. They are about 2/3 the size of a real banana, and they are all identical.
Scary things, those bananas.
Posted by: Jim - PRS | June 22, 2006 at 03:25 AM