Surprising travel (non-)woes
The massive pain in my hands & shoulderblade have been (likely) diagnosed as a pinched nerve in my neck. As I was traveling to NYC by myself last night, I was envisioning a bunch of nightmare scenarios:
1) I had to choose between lifting my arm up for the scanners in a position that would end up causing me pain for hours afterwards or opt out & let TSA frisk me. I finally made the decision to opt out, and was dreading the frisking. The (very!!) nice TSA agent did this whole "How high can you raise your arm?" routine with me, and then waved me through the X-Ray without any frisking. On top of that, he lifted my bag on & off the conveyor belt for me. TSA, for many valid reasons, has a bad rap. It's good to be reminded sometimes that they can be sympathetic, too.
2) I've rarely had problems before having people lift my bag for me on the plane when I need it, but you can get attitude. I had a lovely row-mate who cheerfully helped me get my bag up & down.
3) Traversing public transit in NYC isn't always the easiest. Trying to traverse public transit while not being able to lift your bag above your head for the Long Island Railroad is pretty bad. I was able to grab a seat and my construction guy seatmate not only helped me get the bag into & out of the luggage rack, he carried it up the stairs to the main level for me. That being said, he was half hitting on me (I don't know if he saw my ring or not). Regardless, he wasn't pushy about that, and he was a huge help.
I was really dreading traveling without canyonwalker (who's also on the East Coast, but nowhere near me), but things worked out well. Now if only I had gotten some sleep on the plane (or the hotel had let me check in early), I might actually be rested for the first day of NYCC today.
talons / Rake your talons / Link
This entry was originally posted at http://merhawk.dreamwidth.org/514813.html. Please comment there. If you don't currently have a DW account, you can use OpenID or create your own account for free.
1) I had to choose between lifting my arm up for the scanners in a position that would end up causing me pain for hours afterwards or opt out & let TSA frisk me. I finally made the decision to opt out, and was dreading the frisking. The (very!!) nice TSA agent did this whole "How high can you raise your arm?" routine with me, and then waved me through the X-Ray without any frisking. On top of that, he lifted my bag on & off the conveyor belt for me. TSA, for many valid reasons, has a bad rap. It's good to be reminded sometimes that they can be sympathetic, too.
2) I've rarely had problems before having people lift my bag for me on the plane when I need it, but you can get attitude. I had a lovely row-mate who cheerfully helped me get my bag up & down.
3) Traversing public transit in NYC isn't always the easiest. Trying to traverse public transit while not being able to lift your bag above your head for the Long Island Railroad is pretty bad. I was able to grab a seat and my construction guy seatmate not only helped me get the bag into & out of the luggage rack, he carried it up the stairs to the main level for me. That being said, he was half hitting on me (I don't know if he saw my ring or not). Regardless, he wasn't pushy about that, and he was a huge help.
I was really dreading traveling without canyonwalker (who's also on the East Coast, but nowhere near me), but things worked out well. Now if only I had gotten some sleep on the plane (or the hotel had let me check in early), I might actually be rested for the first day of NYCC today.
talons / Rake your talons / Link
This entry was originally posted at http://merhawk.dreamwidth.org/514813.html. Please comment there. If you don't currently have a DW account, you can use OpenID or create your own account for free.