traveling (or, for once: not a TxtLJ)
Travel Tips We Learned the Hard Way from the Morning News.
As we carve out weekends for summer vacations and welcome loved ones home from across the volcanic ash-strewn pond, our STAFF AND READERS share their hard-earned trip advice.
of these, i found only one particularly useful. i made this same mistake once, on my first trip to finland. it was midsummer and 10C, one afternoon.
Bridget Fitzgerald
Pack in layers. If you don’t, it will be cold-really, really, really freaking cold-and you will wind up wearing every article of clothing you brought, at the same time, every day of your trip. If you do pack layers, you will have options, you will have great weather, and your photos will reflect that you did in fact pack more than one outfit.
having plagiarised their suggestions, let me offer mine:
As we carve out weekends for summer vacations and welcome loved ones home from across the volcanic ash-strewn pond, our STAFF AND READERS share their hard-earned trip advice.
of these, i found only one particularly useful. i made this same mistake once, on my first trip to finland. it was midsummer and 10C, one afternoon.
Bridget Fitzgerald
Pack in layers. If you don’t, it will be cold-really, really, really freaking cold-and you will wind up wearing every article of clothing you brought, at the same time, every day of your trip. If you do pack layers, you will have options, you will have great weather, and your photos will reflect that you did in fact pack more than one outfit.
having plagiarised their suggestions, let me offer mine:
- after packing your bags, take a random half of the contents away. of the removed half, pick and choose at most half of it to repack. (total: at most 75% of previous packing)
- in airports: (a) an empty water bottle + Gatorade mix packet, (b) a protein bar, (c) an apple, are great things to bring in the luggage.
- bring your own magazines, subscribe and hoard them at home if you must; $5.99 should be the cost of a burrito, not a magazine. if you must buy something to read, then buy a decent newspaper. they're cheaper, more biodegradable, and the advertisements don't irk me as much.
- if you're going to pay an arm and a leg for a beer, then you might as well drink a really good beer.
- when boarding begins, always be ready to board, even if your e-ticket says "zone 5." there's no better feeling than skipping ahead of a few dozen people, immediately after the "all rows, all passengers" announcement.
- a sweater is a fine thing, on a plane. it keeps you warm, it makes a good pillow. if hitchhikers carry towels, then jet-setters bring sweaters.
- bring headphones, even if you didn't bring your iPod. even if you don't listen to anything, at least your fellow passengers won't start talking to you.
- don't read math on a plane, unless you really want to work. if someone asks, then just agree with them: yes, it's calculus homework, and it's due tomorrow. you're busy: that's that. (if they don't believe it's calculus, tell them you're taking an honors class.)