Losing Its Luster

I travel a lot for a living. My schedule can have me away from Miami just about every other week, sometimes weekly, for anywhere from 2 to 10 days at a time. As a result, I spend a lot of time in airports and on airplanes.

For the most part, I really enjoy it. Whenever Im traveling I am on the company's dime so its easier for me to save money. In Miami, I need to pay to feed myself and fight the temptation to go out all the time, a battle that I usually lose. I also get to see and experience the sights, sounds, and history of my country. A lot of people have never left their home states. Ive been to 39 of the 50 states in the USA* and hope to knock off a few more later this year. I also get to meet new people from different walks of life which has been an awesome learning experience. The travel perks are another bonus. Ive been on some pretty sweet vacations using my airline miles to get me there and my hotel points to put a roof over my head.

The drawbacks are minimal in quantity though somewhat hefty in quality. Being on the road and living out of a suitcase kinda blows. Its not bad when youre staying in one hotel for a few days at a time because you can unpack and get comfy. Bouncing from hotel to hotel and living out of a suitcase gets tiresome though. Then coming home and having to unpack and do chores before I leave again usually leads to me being lazy and neglecting my condo which sucks cuz Im kind of a neat freak. Also, it seems that I miss out on a lot of cool events with friends because I happen to be out of town when they take place, be it a concert, beach party, or local Miami event.

The fine line has always been flying. I love to fly. I think man inventing the commercial airplane and flying passengers all over the world in a giant hunk of hollowed steel is pretty freakin awesome. Have you ever seen a plane just about to land or after its just taken off? Look at how big those suckers are! Blows my mind. Lately, however, flying has been quite daunting.

I can deal with the nuances of the airport, even Miami International which is by far the worst and most annoying airport in the country. I can deal with the ticket lines, security lines, taking off my shoes, and removing liquids and metals from my persons and baggage. I arrive anywhere between 1.5 and 2 hours early and sit quietly while waiting to board my flight.

What I cant deal with lately is the way airlines have reacted to the economic situation and how it has affected airline passengers who then affect me. With the airline industry hurting, airlines have adopted a policy of making passengers pay for checked baggage. The result - people now cram everything they can into a suitcase, or multiple suitcases, and begin the battle for overhead space. Passengers flock to the boarding area, trying to get on the plane as fast as possible to secure the most overhead space possible. Airlines allow one bag in the overhead but most asshole passengers will throw 2, sometimes 3 up there without the airlines doing anything to stop them. This really pisses me off, mainly because of the lack of consideration shown for fellow flyers. It also delays the boarding/takeoff process because there is always some poor sap that cant find overhead space and then has to have his bag checked planeside. Another thing that drives me nuts as a result of the current economic situation is how airlines have cut routes and now jam pack and oversell flights. Nothing is worse than being on a packed flight. The cabin temperature pre-takeoff gets really warm with all of those bodies in there. Plus, people are so effing inconsiderate its not even funny. I sit in the aisles and get wailed by carry-on luggage as people walk by without even offering an "excuse me" or "sorry".

My last 4 flights have really sucked due to fellow passengers being inconsiderate. First there was the parents who couldnt get their kid to stop kicking my seat to the point where I had to turn around and say, "Dont do that again." The dad finally reacted after ignoring this for 2 straight hours and got the kid to stop. Then there was the kid from India who talked loud NONSTOP for 2 straight hours on an 8am flight to Charlotte. This kid didnt take one goddamn breath. I knew his whole effing life story by the end of the flight which technically qualified me to bludgeon him to death with my luggage because he was that lame. The next flight was warm when we boarded the plane. It was a quick flight from Charlotte to Norfolk in a small plane on a nice spring morning where the air was brisk but the sun was hot. Due to the fact that we weren't moving, the air vents weren't pumping out a lot of cool air. The pilot was clearly trying to fix things but the plane kept losing power and restarting again. The guy behind me thought that if he bitched nonstop like a 2 year old to the flight attendants or pilot or anyone who would listen, that the plane would miraculously be fixed and cool off. This went on for 45 straight minutes before me and the woman next to me started talking very audibly about how much of a baby he was. The last flight was a 6 hour Miami to San Fran nightmare. Sitting in my usual seat 10D on a nonstop 8am American flight, I was feeling good. Id only gotten 3 hours of sleep but I knew I could pass out and get some more shuteye on the plane. Not so fast. I had 2 old geezer women and a big fat momma sitting behind me who made it a point to constantly raise and lower the tray table and yank down on the back of my chair while trying to get out of the row to take a leak. Why think about others' comfort? I maybe got an hour of sleep and now Im in a different timezone trying to stay awake so I will wake up on "normal" time and not be a zombie in my meetings tomorrow.

Its these things that have now got me thinking that the allure of travel is losing its luster. Ive found myself dreading trips that I normally would enjoy just because of the flights involved. Its probably just a phase where Im becoming easily irritated and suppressing it so it all boils over like it has in this rant. Another thing is that I travel so much and try to be considerate of others so I expect it even more. Its a necessary evil that puts money in my pocket so I'll suck it up and deal and hope I get back that "lovin feelin" for flying again. At least it gets me out of Miami for a little bit, a positive that cant be topped.

*In order to qualify as a "visited state", I have to actually do something there (i.e. - eat at a restaurant, go to a tourist spot, etc). Simply driving through or sitting at an airport during a layover does not count.

I dont wanna hear it!!!

If there is one thing I cant stand, its people that disrespect other people. One thing that really gets me fired up are the assholes who need attention so badly that they have to play their goddamn music at levels that arent even suitable for the human ear. Why? What is the point? Do you want to become deaf at age 15? Are you that much of a loser that you need people to pay attention to you even if its because they find you annoying and want to rip your jugular out? I really dont get it...

When I was 16, I had just got my license and I liked a lot of rap music. However, being from a small town that consisted of 99.8% white people with nice upbringings, .1% hispanics, and .1% jews/blacks, I never got into the whole "lets play rap music as loud as possible" thing because it just didn't fit my style and its surroundings. My friends loved to blast music in the car and I place about 99% of the blame on them as to why I always ask people to repeat themselves cuz Im not sure what the hell they said from being half deafened at an early age. Sure, I liked that music, but I didnt feel the necessity to project my likings upon people who either a.) could care less, or b.) didnt want to hear that bullshit. For me, it was a respect thing. I will respect you and not subject you to the music I feel like listening to and you respect me by not judging me based on my listening preferences. And whattya know... A few years later I really grew a large distaste for rap music, but mainly because it became a bunch of bullshit with no core to it at all. Dont get me wrong, this isnt about rap music alone. Its about all the assholes who drive around playing their music at levels that are unsuitable for most eardrums, no matter what genre it is.

Im serious when I say that Im investing in a company that develops trendy hearing aids for 16yr olds. This shit has gotten out of control. I was driving home from work the other day, getting fired up by listening to some Rolling Stones before going out to pound some brew and whiskey with a buddy. I had my recent favorite, "Cant you hear me knockin?" on the tuner at a decible level suitable for my car only, when all of a sudden Paco and his 1996 Ford Taurus rolls up blasting some latino bullshit that was making his trunk and doors rattle like a mo' fo'. Now Ive gone from fired up in a good mood to fired up in a bad mood, and I aint even drunk yet. I really dont get the whole point of this bullshit? When did it become a requisite for coolness that you had to annoy everyone in a 1 mile radius with you obnoxious music? And when did i become cool to drive a car thats worth $1000 and put a $2500 stereo system in it and make it sound like total shit? We as a society need to lose this bullshit right now.

My frustration peaked today on a flight from Miami to Charlotte. Im sitting next to some dude that feels it necessary to tell me his life story about living in South America (I dont give a shit), commuting to Washington DC (see also - I dont give a shit) and flying in general (ooh look, we're on a plane... whoop dee frickin doo!!) All things aside, he seemed like a nice guy and one that I certainly could dominate in the quest to gain the middle armrest (which I totally annihilated him on, giving him maybe a total of .5 milliseconds of comfort for his left arm...rookie). Then, as Im reading a nice article in the sky mag, he starts listening to his iPod... Not only is he listening to spanish bullshit at 7am (which I find hard to take really... who listens to salsa at 7am? Dont you kinda need to be in party mode for that music? Or at least dancing? This is something about the Latin culture that I dont understand and have little desire to actually understand...) Well, its now 8am and we've got another hour or so before we get to NC and he is blaring this shit into his ears. Im wondering if he even has eardrums left at this point. Im enraged, but not because its bothering me and my quiet time, but more because its showing a total lack of respect for everyone within a 4 seat radius. I collect my thoughts, suppress my rage, and decide its time to ask him to turn the shit down... So, I tap him and say, "COuld you do me a favor and turn that down please" while giving him the "you better do what I say or you may find out that a human as well as a small carry-on item can fit under the seat" look. He respectfully obliged and got a little red in the face from embarrassment (probably because he was listening to total pussy music at this point) and turned down the bullshit spanish crap. I felt a wave of silent applause erupt around me. One dude gave me the, "thank god you did that man, I was going insane" look. That pretty much justified it for me.

I guess the point of this whole rambling is this... If you want to listen to music, do so at a respectable level. I dont wanna hear your bullshit and neither does anyone else. Youre not going to gain any sort of positive attention from playing music loud, youre just gonna continue to look like a total asshole. Take your loud ass music and shove it!