Lucky--and shiny!--number 777

Welcome back to my formerly-weekly-now-monthly series, Shiny Travel Objects!  This is where I highlight my absolute favorite, loved-loved-loved it travel media over the past month.  Obviously, not everything can be included, since I read several dozen blogs weekly and there is a lot of great stuff out there.  Like other shiny objects in our lives, these are the ones that most grabbed my attention and lingered in my mind long after reading or viewing.

First off, I want to extend my deepest appreciation to my summer guest bloggers for their great posts here at SoloFriendly.com.  It was such a pleasure working with all of them.  I really enjoyed the diversity of content which can only come from opening up my blog to other people’s experiences and perspectives, and I hope you, my readers, enjoyed their writing as much as I did.  (If you are a writer and are interested in guest blogging for me, please contact me.)

• First up in June was AJ Wolfe of the DisneyFoodBlog who wrote about Going Solo to Disney’s Food & Wine Festival (something I wish I were doing this year!).
• Hot on her heels was Jodi Ettenberg of LegalNomads and her excellent piece culled from personal experiences during her two-year round-the-world trip, Perspectives on Long-Term Solo Female Travel.
• AJ Wolfe was back again in July with her tips for Counter Dining in Style at Disney, the best of both worlds for solo diners at Disney Theme Parks.
• August was a booming month for guest posts, starting with JoAnna Haugen of WhyGo Las Vegas, who answered my questions about where Las Vegas locals hang out in Hide and Seek: Finding Las Vegas Locals.
• In mid-August, Pamela MacNaughtan of Spunky Girl Monologues brought us a tempting solo road trip itinerary on  The Trans-Canada Highway: Canada’s Route 66.
• And at the end of August, Brian Searl of InsiderPerks discussed the benefits of a family man (or woman) traveling solo with Why Travel Solo When You Don’t Have To?

Also during August, I launched my new blog for planning your solo Las Vegas vacation at The Vegas Solo. Please share it with all your Vegas-loving friends or anyone you know who is traveling to Las Vegas in the future. You can also follow my Vegas-related tweets on Twitter via VegasSolo.

Now, on to this month’s Shiny….First, let’s start with some articles about solo travel:

The amazingly talented Lauren Quinn wrote this brilliant piece for a well-known publication I will not name because I’m kind of pissed at them for not paying their travel writers in cold, hard cash despite the fact that they make millions of dollars each year:  Alone with Everybody: Why I Don’t Get Lonely When I Travel Solo.  In this article, Lauren basically says everything I wish I had been able to say about myself for the past two-and-a-half years I’ve been writing this blog, but for one reason or another, have not been able to formulate into words–let alone an article as beautifully well-written as this one.

Donna Hull of My Itchy Travel Feet pulled together a round-up of Baby Boomer Women Travel Advice: Going it Alone.  I was honored to be included amongst this group of experienced solo female travelers (despite the fact that I’m a couple of years shy of being a boomer myself).  There is a lot of good solo travel advice for women here, boomer or not, so do check it out.

These next two articles outline the less-than-pleasant side of travel, which I think doesn’t get nearly enough attention online.  I believe this is because it’s hard enough to convince people they need to travel, that we travel bloggers tend to turn a blind eye to the negatives.  I’m of the school of thought that says we should view things through clear glasses, not rose-colored ones.  Yes, there are dangers in traveling. That doesn’t mean we shouldn’t do it.

Don’t Shoot! by Ben Lancaster of Amateurs in Africa is a gripping account of a truly horrific incident experienced by some travelers in Africa, involving sexual assault and corrupt police officers wielding AK47s.

When Travel Takes a Friend by Caroline Makepeace at Matador’s Brave New Traveler offers up the emotions felt when a friend dies during travel.

I wasn’t seeking to find articles that fit a theme this month, it just so happened that many of my favorite articles did.  Let’s just say August was a good month for airport stories.

So many people hate airports.  Not JoAnna Haugen of Kaleidoscopic Wandering who wrote For the Love of the Airport–a love I share.  I especially liked the imagery in the final paragraph.

Pam Mandel of Nerd’s Eye View opened up her blog again this August, as she did last year, to guest bloggers.  The one that caught my attention the most and stayed with me for a long time was Lessons from Seat 47A, written by Carlos Alcos of Vagabonderz.com. It starts out as many airplane encounters with seatmates do, but transforms into something much more poignant.

Speaking of airplane encounters, this one has to take the prize for weirdest flight ever:  Jodi Ettenberg‘s My Crazy Flight to the Dominican Republic at LegalNomads.com.  Is it any wonder flight attendants go a little bonkers sometimes?

On Gadling,com, Andrew Evans writes of the Airport hotel hookup: A true story, in which  the author, in the course of people-watching, observes something between two of his fellow travelers. Hmm.

For the Disney fans, here are two great articles offering in-depth analysis of problems at Disney World that impact the guest experience:

The Big Problems With Walt Disney World by Matt Hochberg at StudiosCentral.com makes note of how a lot of the “Disney magic” is being lost at Disney World and some reasons he believes are the root causes.

The Loss of the Leisure Suit by AJ Wolfe at The Disney Food Blog picks up on Matt’s theme and discusses specifically what is happening with the homogenization of food and drink menus across restaurants and bars at Disney World.

That’s it for this month.  I hope you enjoyed this roundup.  It will be back in October.

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I thought it was high time I wrapped up what I did on my June New York trip. You already know I stayed at the Pod Hotel, ate at Thai 51, and spent some time in Brooklyn with my cousin.  I’ve also written about my travel takeaways from my trip and my experiment with going carry-on only for the trip.  What else did I do?  Here it is, my four day weekend in the Big Apple:

After our adventures in Brooklyn, my cousin and I walked around Chinatown and Little Italy for a bit.

Chinatown Market: It's amazing some of the stuff they sell

Little Italy has lots of sidewalk cafes

Later that afternoon, I spent some time at the Met.  I loved this museum, and I wish I’d had more time to spend there.  They have an impressive armory, among other things.

The Met has an excellent Egyptian collection

The Met also has an extensive collection of Greek and Roman statues

But what I loved almost as much as its collection is the lively street scene out front of the Met.  I sat on the steps for awhile, with a hundred or so other people, listening to a saxophone player and people-watching.

The Met

I met up with my friend Darlene Friday night for dinner.  I can’t remember the name of the restaurant we ate at; I am terrible at taking notes and photos when I’m with other people!  In any case, it was good food, good company, and a good time–though service was a little slow, as I recall.

Most of my weekend was spent at TBEX10, the travel blogger’s conference.  I got to meet so many travel bloggers I’ve connected with online, plus some new ones, but of course with 300 attendees, I didn’t get to meet everyone.   I definitely picked up some good information over the course of the weekend. Finding my way to and from the various after-party venues on my own (in the dark, no less) helped me gain confidence with navigating Manhattan.

Sunday night, I took the 6 Train to Grand Central Station to check out the architecture there, and yes, it was as impressive as I’d heard it was (both inside and out).

Entering Grand Central terminal from the train station

Grand Central

Exterior of Grand Central

Next up: Times Square, one of my favorite places in the city.  It reminds me a bit of Vegas, with all the neon and bright lights.

Times Square: Great for people-watching

Times Square is pretty at night, but a bit too commercial

There is no lack of chain restaurants (and a few local gems) for dining in Times Square.  Unfortunately, at this late hour, all of them were packed with long wait times, and I was starving.  I wound up dining at the Hawaiian Tropic Zone, which was tucked around the corner and upstairs, and so, I think, was a bit too hidden for most tourists to notice.  My salad and calamari were both fine, nothing exceptional.  Eating at a chain restaurant wasn’t exactly what I had in mind for dinner in New York City, but that’s what happens when I’m starving and I don’t have a plan.

After dinner, I walked up to Rockefeller Plaza where I’d hoped to go up to the Top of the Rock to catch sunset views of the city.  I was too late.  It was already dark out by the time I got there.  I met up with Jason Hussong of JasonsTravels and Cherie King of Flight of the Deaf Travelbee, along with Cherie’s aunt; they had just come down from Top of the Rock.  I had a fun time hanging out with them for the rest of the evening. They got a bite to eat from a food cart at Rockefeller Plaza.  We also went up to see St. Patrick’s Cathedral, but my night shots didn’t turn out very well, so I went back again the next day.

St. Patricks Cathedral

On Monday, I went up to Central Park in the morning to walk around.  It was a very hot day (again), so I tried to stay in the shade as much as possible.

A lake in Central Park

Musicians in Central Park

For lunch, I met JoAnna Haugen (Kaleidoscopic Wandering) at Rockefeller Center. We had a quick lunch at a little deli chain called Toasties that was packed with business people at lunchtime and had very good, reasonably priced food.  Keep it in mind for your next trip to New York.

Salad Pizza at Toasties

Lunch had to be quick because I’d received a call from Jetblue earlier telling me my flight home that night had been canceled.  I scrambled to get on an earlier flight that I thought I’d have plenty of time to catch after lunch. Unfortunately, I was wrong.  I had to call Jetblue and reschedule for the next morning and booked another night at the Pod.

On the bright side, this gave me time to go up to the Top of the Rock for their magnificent views of the city.  My photos didn’t come out as well as I’d hoped, as it was a fairly hazy day.

View of Central Park from Top of the Rock

View from Top of the Rock

Monday night was a quiet night for me.  I could have tried to buy a half-price ticket to a Broadway show that night, but the extra night in a hotel had put me over budget for the trip, and I wasn’t in the mood to spend more money.  So after dinner at Thai 51, I wandered around the streets in New York City, taking photos, then called it a night.  I definitely need to see a show on my next trip, though.  In four trips to the city, I still haven’t managed to do that!

New York City buildings

NYC Street

Go solo...

Why travel solo?

It’s a question that many of us ask ourselves. For many it can even be described as a fear. Why should we travel alone when we can experience the world with friends, family or our children?

I won’t presume to know your reason for traveling.  Everyone is different and everyone has a different reason for wanting to see the world.  Any attempt to categorize everyone into a few small groups would be a mistake and one that I’m not prepared to make.  Only you can know your own personal reasons but one can assume that those reasons are born of a basic understanding of travel itself.

To be sure there are plenty of advantages to traveling with friends, a partner or even a larger group. When you get back you have someone who understands the experience you just shared. Perhaps you travel in larger groups for the discounts or travel with your children to open their eyes to new and exciting cultures.  I’m certainly not advocating that you stop. What I am saying is. . .why not do both?

There are several old adages that in one way or another advise you that you need to get away from time to time. Your doctor may have even recommended a vacation for the improvement of your health. Pause for a moment to consider what “getting away from it all” really means though.  Taking a vacation with your family is getting away from work, sure, but is it getting away from everything?

The purists out there will say that there is no better way to experience a destination than to explore it by yourself. They’ll say it’s easier to meet locals because you are more approachable then you are if you are a couple. They’ll say that sitting alone in a bar or cafe makes you more likely to start a conversation with a local. They aren’t wrong.

Consider the structure of a family vacation: There is no sleeping in because the children will be up bright and early waiting to experience the next attraction. Where you go is decided by the entire family and typically planned weeks in advance to avoid last minute confusion.  That alone limits the possible adventures. It almost instantly removes the ability to be spontaneous.

...or with family?

An argument can be made that structure is one of the ways to be a tourist, but not a traveler. That’s an argument I won’t delve into during this article but one you should consider. Waking up in the morning in a distant country without an alarm clock or children jumping on the bed allows you to appreciate your surroundings in greater detail.  There is no need to rush through things because the children have to be fed at a certain time or breaking away from a tour to find a bathroom in the middle of a remote area.

There is of course nothing wrong with making these types of compromises in our daily life. In and of themselves they can be quite rewarding and nothing (in my opinion) can top the experience of sharing a place with your child for the first time.  I’m not a solo traveler by trade but I have taken solo vacations.  I’ve seen both sides of the fence.

There are advantages to both lifestyles, advantages to both types of travel.  Which one you choose is entirely up to you.  I won’t presume to offer advice on which is best for you.  The advice I will give is quite simple:

Regardless of who you travel with and regardless of how you travel, the most important thing is that you take time to savor your destination.  If you can do that with your family then more power to you.  Before you decide which type of travel is best for you, though, take the time to experience both.

You just might be surprised at how different they truly are.

Brian Searl is the founder and CEO of InsiderPerks.com. Combining his passion for broadcasting and knowledge of travel, Brian launched Insider Perks in March of 2009 as the first travel website to focus on professionally produced unbiased travel videos.  The site features over 2,000 travel videos from over 200 destinations around the world in addition to complete travel guides, news, blogs, social media integration and much more.

Brian still visits most of the locations filmed for Insider Perks to personally oversee the production of each series of videos and also routinely travels outside of work which gives him extensive and unique insight into travel, which he has shared a part of in today’s post.

The Brooklyn Bridge

I just took my fourth trip to New York City this summer.  It was only my second time setting foot in Brooklyn.  I finally did what so many New York tourists are encouraged to do: Walk the Brooklyn Bridge. The Brooklyn Bridge is one of the oldest suspension bridges in the country (finished in 1883), and is nearly 1600 feet long.  My cousin, who moved to Brooklyn this summer, was more than game to join me, as she hadn’t walked the Bridge yet, either.

I highly recommend the walk.  As long as you’re in reasonably good health, it doesn’t take that long (20-25 minutes if you’re not stopping to take photos every few minutes, but you probably will be).  You can walk across from Manhattan and then take the subway back; take the subway to Brooklyn and walk back; or do what my cousin and I did: Walk both ways.

Cables, cables everywhere

It was a neat experience.  There are cars passing down below, and at times, you can feel the bridge move.  If you go mid-day, you’ll see all kinds of people–tourists, joggers, bicyclists, school groups; you name it.  Keep to the right, because otherwise you’ll get run over by bicyclists or rollerbladers.  Men and women set up shop with their coolers selling cold bottles of water for a dollar on the bridge.  (The downside being that if I heard the chant “Cold water, one dollar” one more time, I was going to scream.)

View from the bridge

The main reason to walk the bridge (aside from being able to say you did it) is the view.  You can get terrific views of the harbor, Staten Island, the Statue of Liberty and ferries, along with the Manhattan skyline, Brooklyn, and nearby bridges.

View from the Bridge

To make the experience complete, you’ll want to stop for lunch on the Brooklyn side just to say you did.  I recommend a place most New York City guides won’t:  No, not Grimaldis, that’s the one the others recommend.  Me, I prefer not to have to wait in line in the hot sun for pizza–no matter how good it might be.  I recommend trying No. 1 Front Street, which is next door to Grimaldi’s in a beautiful old bank building.

No 1 Front Street

Oh sure, we headed for Grimaldi’s first, because that’s what everyone does.  But when we arrived, already overheated from the walk across the bridge, there was a line.  In the direct sun.  And it wasn’t moving.  My cousin, God bless her, is a lot like me when it comes to needing to eat on a regular basis.  We were both pretty famished by this time.  We looked at each other, then at the restaurant we’d just passed in a white building on the corner, and said “Let’s try that place instead.”  We were so glad we did.

No 1 Front Street bar

No. 1 Front Street has a lovely white stone exterior and equally lovely brick  interior with lots of dark wood, a bar area with seating and plenty of two top tables in front of large windows.  It also has glorious air conditioning, which is most welcome on a hot day.

No 1 Front Street

I was a little nervous when we first went inside, because we were the only customers, and you know what they say about the quality of food in empty restaurants.  But apparently, they had just started serving lunch in June.  My cousin got the BLT sliders (mini-Angus burgers with bacon, lettuce and tomatoes), I got the portobello sandwich, and both of us got sweet potato fries.

Sliders

Those were the best sweet potato fries I’ve ever eaten outside of Vermont.  (I have very high standards when it comes to my sweet potato fries.)  The sandwich was pretty tasty, too.  It was plenty enough food to fill us up, so dessert was out of the question.  Plus we still had to walk back across the bridge again.  Not something you want to do on an overly full stomach.

Portobello Sandwich

Service was fantastic–whether because for most of the time we were there, we were the only customers, or because it’s always that way, I can’t say.  Our waiter was very attentive, and the manager even took the time to see to it we were happy with our meal.  We had an enjoyable lunch and the best part?  We each got to order what we wanted (as opposed to making compromises over a shared a pizza).  We left the restaurant with full bellies, quite pleased with our discovery.

Having lunch at No. 1 Front Street

Old Montreal

Recently I wrote about 7 Things About Travel That Stress Me Out.  Little did I know how prescient that post would be for my trip to Montreal that weekend, where I experienced numbers 4, 5 and 6 from my list of 7 stressers.  I also realized I missed one:  When the unexpected derails your best-laid plans. When travel throws you a curve ball, the most important thing to remember is: Don’t panic.  The second most important thing is to (try to) learn from your experiences.  Here’s what I took away from my weekend in Montreal:

Lesson #1:  Always assume the drive will take longer than you think.

I kind of knew this one already, but had never experienced it on this particular drive. Normally, it takes 2 hours to drive from Burlington to Montreal.  Between a 30 minute wait at the border and a 30 minute delay due to an accident on the highway going into Montreal, my drive took three hours.  Had I been on a schedule, I’d have missed it by a mile.  Thank God I stopped to pee halfway there.

Lesson #2: Always bring your own toilet paper into public restrooms.

Coming home from Montreal, I urgently had to stop for a potty break at Martin’s Store and Mobil Station in Highgate Center (off exit 22, on the Vermont side of the Canadian border).  The unthinkable happened:  The bathroom was out of toilet paper. And me without any on me. Rookie mistake!

Lesson #3:  Always call a day or two ahead to confirm your lodging arrangements.

Via email exchange a week before my trip, I had arranged to stay with my friends Jeana and Marc, who live in Verdun.  When I arrived at their house, guess who wasn’t home?  Turns out Jeana thought I was coming the following weekend. . .and as it turned out, they were out of town until Sunday.  She offered to have a friend meet me with a key to their house, but I decided to just get a hotel room Downtown instead.  No harm, no foul.

This incident could have been avoided had I called a day or two in advance of my trip (the way I always do when I’m staying at a hotel) to confirm my arrival time. We would have realized the date conflict and I could have changed my plans to come up the following weekend. Lesson learned.

Lesson #4: Don’t panic, just fix the problem.

I had my credit card on me, so getting a hotel room wasn’t anything to panic about.  When I realized Jeana and Marc weren’t home, I’d gone to the only other Montreal location I had programmed into my GPS, the Hyatt Regency (where I stayed last year).  I had gone downstairs there to the Underground mall to use the bathroom and get some food.  After that, I went upstairs to see if I could get a room.  At first, the clerk told me they were full because of Pride Weekend. But when she found out there was just one of me, she found me a room. (Sometimes, it pays to travel solo!) Once I had moved my car to the parking garage and settled into my room, it was just like any other weekend away in Montreal.  Had I panicked about the last-minute change of plans, I’d have stressed myself out for no reason.

Lesson #5: Make sure you always have plenty of cash on you.

I brought $40 Canadian with me on my trip.  I figured that would be plenty if I paid with my credit card for most of my needs.  Trouble is, I kept paying with cash. I spent Saturday afternoon and evening hanging around Montreal with bloggers Jeannie Mark of Nomadic Chick and Lauren McLeod of Globetrooper and two of their friends, Felipe and Daniel. We all wound up at a microbrewery that night, where I discovered that I should have withdrawn some more cash from an ATM earlier in the day.  After buying lunch, dinner, a mid-afternoon drink and cookie, and a one-way metro ticket, I had maybe $10 cash left on me and the beers here weren’t cheap.  I asked if they took credit cards, and the waitress said only if I had a $25 tab. No way was I drinking $25 worth of beer and then trying to find my way back to the hotel.  It was their loss more than mine, as I was perfectly content to sit and sip tap water; I was there for the company, not the beer. Still, lesson learned. More cash, just in case.

Lesson #6:  Bringing a flashlight only works if you have it on you at all times.

#6 on this list references #6 on my list of stressers (I’m nightblind)  By midnight, I had a hard time keeping my eyes open.  The metro shuts down around 1am, and I had a sneaking suspicion my young friends were not going to be going home any time soon. So I got directions from Lauren to the nearest Metro station and said my goodnights and headed out. Almost immediately, I cursed myself for not remembering to transfer my pocket flashlight from my big knapsack to my mini-backpack. The walk was very dark in places, including past a deserted park.  But there really wasn’t anything to do except keep going.  I walked with purpose, as if I knew where I was going, and made it to the Laurier Station just fine. Still, that flashlight would have made it a lot easier.

Lesson #7:  When buying a metro ticket, buy the return ticket as well.

When I bought my first metro ticket earlier that evening, I just bought a one-way ticket, assuming I could buy another one-way ticket home later on.  Unfortunately, there was no attendant at the Laurier station when I arrived, just a ticket machine.  I tried swiping my credit card to pay for a ticket, but the machine wouldn’t take it.  Thankfully, I had just the right amount of coins in my pocket from the change from my dinner tab to purchase one one-way ticket, but if I hadn’t, I really have no idea what I would have done, except walk back to the bar in the dark and hope my friends were still there.  I should have just bought both tickets at the same time earlier, or bought a day pass.

Lesson #8: Avoid parade weekends at all costs.

I like going to Montreal on the weekends, because traffic is generally much lighter than during the work week.  Not this weekend. This weekend the city was hosting its very popular Pride Parade, which brings a lot of people into town. I should have done my research ahead of time and gone a different weekend.

When I checked into my hotel, they let me know that Rene Levesque (the only exit route from the hotel for anyone driving) would be blocked off on Sunday from 1-3pm.  I checked out of the hotel early on Sunday to move my car south of the parade route, finding a spot on St. Antoine, just off University, my escape route from the city.  I thought I dodged a bullet.

But traffic got progressively worse. It wasn’t just Rene Levesque that was blocked off.  Many of the side streets leading down the hill from St. Catherine Street were also blocked off, causing traffic on the remaining open streets to be jam-packed with vehicles. After lunch with Marc and Jeana (who were back in town by now), we realized I was 10 minutes over the expiration for my parking ticket. Had we been able to find a pay meter that covered the same area, I could have added extra money, but we couldn’t get near one.  Traffic was very heavy and being detoured away from the parade route.

Jeana and I finally got out of the car and crossed the parade on foot, leaving Marc to struggle with the traffic.  We were in luck.  With all the parade craziness, the meter maid hadn’t been to my car yet and I didn’t get a ticket. However, it was bumper-to-bumper traffic on the street where I’d parked. I couldn’t turn around to take my planned route out of town. (Here’s where #5 from my list of stressers comes in.) So Jeana jumped in the car and rode with me for several blocks, long enough to point me toward an alternate route out of town.  (Good thing she did.  At this point, my GPS was useless.  As it did last year, it kept telling me to turn around and go back into Montreal. I kept telling it to shut the hell up.)

In between all this craziness, I had a fabulous weekend with old friends and new ones, wandering around Old Montreal, taking pictures, and enjoying some great meals.  Was it more stressful than a weekend at home?  Sure.  Was it a lot more fun than a weekend at home?  You bet!  The most important lesson I learned this weekend was that yes, travel can be stressful when things don’t go as planned.  But as long as you roll with the punches, it’s still totally worth it.

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Do you have a negative perception of solo travel because you’re single and spend a lot of time alone in your everyday life anyway?  Maybe you think “Why would I want to travel alone, I’m alone enough as it is!”   Don’t write it off so quickly.  Single living and solo travel aren’t necessarily the same.

I’ve been thinking lately about how ironic and odd it is that I love solo travel so much when I have also concluded, after too many years doing it, that I don’t particularly like being single.  (Though it’s certainly better than living with the wrong person.)  Still, you’d think if I like one, I’d like the other.  So why is the experience of living alone so much less fun than traveling alone?

When I  travel alone, the emphasis tends to be on the benefits of being able to focus on a fascinating new place and any new people I should meet along the way, not the drawbacks of living alone within the same four walls 365 days a year.

I love traveling alone.  I love having the ability to go where I want, spend what I can afford to spend, and focus on what interests me, without having to worry about whether my companion is having a good time.  If I want to stop and take hundreds of photos of something or sit at a coffee shop and write in my journal, I can.  If I want to spend an entire day in the same museum, I can.  I might have the occasional pang of loneliness, but usually, I’m too busy exploring, seeing, and experiencing new things to think about the lack of a companion.  Since I can only afford to travel three or four times a year, we’re only talking about a month of “alone time”; I think that’s a healthy amount to indulge in for anyone, partnered or not.

Unfortunately, at home, while I have the same ability to do what I want, when I want (outside of work hours, of course), I also have the burdens of being alone. There’s no one waiting for me when I come home from a lousy day at work, wanting to vent or just needing a hug.  There’s no one else to take out the garbage, cook, clean, or take the car to the garage.  Mine is the only income in my household, for better or worse.  I don’t have a built-in companion for those Saturday nights when I feel like going out on the town. Being alone for three or four weeks per year is a whole lot different from being alone fifty-two weeks out of the year.  Which leads me to. . . .

I’m better at meeting people when I travel than I am at home.

I can’t figure this one out.  You’d think the skill set would transferable, wouldn’t you?  When I travel alone, I meet as many people to spend time with as I want to.  I chat up strangers, they chat up me, we talk about where we’re from and suddenly decide to share a meal together. If you’ve traveled solo, you know what I’m talking about when I say that, as long as you’re friendly, people find you more approachable because you’re alone instead of part of a couple or group.

At home,  it is the exact opposite. I have a core group of friends, of course, but most of them are married, some with kids.  They squeeze me into their schedules when they can, but it’s not usually on the weekends, when I have more free time. Trying to meet people and make new (single or otherwise) friends here is like slogging through mud. People almost never chat me up while standing in line or sitting next to them at the bar of a restaurant.  It’s always up to me to make the initial approach (which can be exhausting after awhile, especially for an introvert).  Rarely does it lead to an exchange of emails and phone numbers or a promise to keep in touch.

I’m not really sure why this is.  Is it Vermont?  Or is it me?  Am I a different person when I travel?  Am I  more approachable for some reason?  Or are people just so preoccupied with their everyday lives at home that they don’t have the time–or take the time–to get to know someone new outside their circle?  Is it due to the transient nature of our short-term friendships on the road versus the time commitment required for a long-term friendship at home?  Is it because when I’m on the road, I am a mystery, new and interesting to everyone I see, whereas at home, I’m like the painting on the wall:  Something that has been there so long, you don’t really notice it any more?  I really have no idea, and it perplexes me.

When I travel alone, being single doesn’t bother me, and I don’t feel pressure to “pair up”.  At home, I am constantly reminded of my singlehood.

Almost everyone I know is paired off–especially those around my age.  Friends, family, colleagues, neighbors, and complete strangers–almost everyone I run across is paired up.  People who are coupled tend to spend social time with other couples, just as parents of young children tend to spend social time with other parents of young children. Like is attracted to like.  But what happens when you don’t know very many people who are single, like you?  You spend a lot of time alone.  Or at least, I do. Sometimes I feel like the more time I spend single and alone, the more people are going to convince themselves there must be something wrong with me.  Because why else would I be alone all the time, right?  It used to bug me that my mother would always ask me when I was going to get married.  About ten years ago, she stopped asking.  I think that bugs me even more.  (Just kidding, Mom. Don’t start asking again.)

When I travel, on the other hand, no one knows my story.  For all they know, I could be traveling on business, I might have a boyfriend or husband at home, or I might be fresh from a break-up.  They might be curious about why I’m traveling alone–and I’ve certainly gotten quite a few questions along those lines–but in general, people don’t know enough of my personal story to judge me.  Many of the friends I make on the road tend to be couples, and they seem delighted to have my company and don’t make me feel the least bit awkward for being alone.

My point?  Even if you live alone and you’re not particularly happy with that arrangement, that doesn’t mean you won’t like solo travel.  Traveling solo is a lot more fun than living solo.  For one thing, you’re traveling to places you’ve always wanted to visit!  Isn’t that better than sitting home alone on a Saturday night…again?

Interested in long-term solo travel, but not sure where to start? You can now buy The Art of Solo Travel: A Girl’s Guide by Stephanie Lee, which contains all the basic information you need to get started on your long-term solo journey. Read my review of the book here.

Nat King Cole hasn’t written a song about it, but in Canada, driving the Trans-Canada Highway from end to end is a dream.

In 1980, Terry Fox–who lost a leg to bone cancer–embarked on a journey across Canada. His goal was to run from St. John’s to Victoria to raise money and awareness for cancer research. I was 5 years old at the time. Terry ran for 5,373 kilometers before it became too much for him. The cancer in his body was spreading. He had no choice. Unfortunately Terry died June 28, 1981. This hit Canada hard. He was an amazing man, with a noble quest–to run across Canada for cancer. For me, Terry is a part of the highway.

In the summer of 1986, Rick Hansen (a paraplegic) returned to Canada after wheeling across 34 countries on his Man in Motion Tour.  Rick spent the next 6+ months wheeling across Canada. It was the final stretch in his Man in Motion Tour. Rick wheeled through the Prairie Provinces in the dead of winter–an incredible feat. When all was said and done, Rick’s tour had raised $26 million for Spinal Cord Injury research, $16 million more than his original goal.

Lake Louise, Alberta, Canada

The Trans-Canada Highway (or Trans-Canada HWY 1) is the world’s longest national highway. It stretches 7,821 km from Victoria, British Columbia to St. John’s, Newfoundland.

I’ve driven many highways in my life. I couldn’t tell you the names of them all. They’re highways. Why would I remember a highway? In contrast, I can remember each and every time I’ve driven the Trans-Canada Highway.

I remember when I moved to Alberta from Ontario. Driving west towards Calgary, I squealed with excitement at the sight of the Rocky Mountains in the distance. They’re like a present sitting under the Christmas tree the night before Christmas. You just want to be there. Now.  The Rocky Mountains are your reward for hours of Prairie scenery. I cried. No lie.

The terrain is as diverse as the cultures found within our borders. Crags of rock, lush green forests and hills, prairies full of wheat and canola, cattle ranches, horse farms, rocky mountains, lakes, rivers, oceans and more.

An ‘ideal’ cross-country road-trip on the Trans-Canada Highway

*Note: Driving times are estimates. They will change depending on traffic, weather and other factors.

Day 1| Victoria to Vancouver (4-6 hrs)

It’s a short day of driving, but you can’t just drive right through Vancouver without stopping to experience it. Driving from Victoria to Nanaimo takes about 2 hours. The ferry from Nanaimo to Horseshoe Bay will take another 2 hours. Once you’re in Vancouver, find yourself a hotel or hostel and check out the town!

As a photographer, it’s hard for me to drive through British Columbia without stopping to take an obscene amount of photos.

Kamloops

Day 2| Vancouver to Kamloops (5-7 hrs)

British Columbia is the Province of Mountains and occasional mudslides.  The drive is crack for the eyes. Yummy green forests, massive Rocky Mountains, bears, moose, hot loggers in plaid shirts. . . .(Oops, wrong post!)  The highway skirts around mountains and lakes and is not meant to be a raceway.

A stop in Chilliwack for some fresh BC-grown fruit is essential. I go gaga for BC cherries. Mmmm nummy.

From Hope to the Rocky Mountains, the Trans- Canada Highway takes on a whole new look. There is nothing like mountain driving. This is a busy section of highway almost any time of year. As someone who has driven this road in both summer and winter, I highly suggest summer.  Driving through Roger’s Pass at night when it’s snowing is scary as hell.

Kamloops is such a great name for a city! The drive from Vancouver to Kamloops is one of the most beautiful sections of the Highway. The Fraser Valley is fabulous and serious eye candy. Take your time, enjoy the scenery, drive with your windows open, and use Mother Nature as your soundtrack.

Day 3| Kamloops to Banff (6-7 hrs)

Be sure to stop in Lake Louise on your way to Banff. It’s a really busy spot, and for a reason. The lake is gorgeous and worth fighting the crowds. End your day in Banff. There are a lot of hotel and hostel options in town and some great restaurants. I recommend a reservation at Giorgio’s Trattoria. Expensive, but fabulous!

In many ways, Alberta has a very prehistoric feel to it, and it should. Alberta is home to one of the largest dinosaur deposits in the world (in Drumheller).

Moosejaw

Day 4| Banff to Moosejaw (7-8 hrs)

Moosejaw is another great city name. It’s also a great place to hang out for a night. But if it’s not your cup of tea, Regina is about an hour East along the highway.

Crossing the border into Saskatchewan, your eyes are treated to open skies and fields of wheat. There is something peaceful about driving through farmed land, rather than the barren feel of Manitoba. Saskatchewan is a province that wants to be different. It has its own time zone (Central), which never changes. What I mean is that they don’t observe daylight savings. It’s always the same. Saskatchewan is also home to great town names like Swift Current and Moosejaw, both of which are located along the Trans-Canada.

Day 5| Moosejaw to Winnipeg (7-8 hrs)

A good meal is necessary before driving across the prairies.  The Prairie Provinces require more prep than the stretch of highway in Ontario. Why? They’re flat. That may not sound bad, but if you’re tired, it can be tedious.  Winter in the Prairie Provinces can get pretty scary, so if you’re going to traverse the Trans-Canada Highway, I suggest spring through fall.

Manitoba is quite different from most of the Prairies; it’s a Province of rivers and lakes. North of Winnipeg is an experience like no other, sparse towns, lots of water and wildlife.  Southern Manitoba is flat as a pancake and almost as interesting.

Buy lots of fresh fruit and water. This part of the drive is the tedious part. I’m sure you’ll create a music playlist for your road trip before leaving home. Make sure you have some that will keep your blood jumping. This is where I listen to metal music. It gives me the extra push I need.

Day 6| Winnipeg to Thunder Bay (9-10 hrs)

I love, love, love driving in Northern Ontario and you will too!  Why?  The towns in Northern Ontario are very spread out. A stop at the diner just off the highway in Kenora (on the way to Thunder Bay) is a must.

Day 7| Thunder Bay to Sudbury (12hrs)

I love the crags of rock that border the highway. Mix those with lush green vegetation and the occasional sightings of moose and you have the perfect drive.  It’s a LONG day of driving, but worth it. Sudbury is famous for two things, Science North and the Big Nickel. Both are worth a visit.

Day 8| Sudbury to Ottawa (10-12 hrs)

Traffic will play a huge role in this portion of your drive. You may not be able to make it all the way to Ottawa if you’re stuck in rush hour in Toronto. You may wish to stop in Toronto for the night and do your big driving push the next day.

Quebec City

Day 9| Ottawa to Quebec City (6 hrs)

This is a short day’s drive. Quebec City is one the oldest and most historical cities in Canada. If you have the time I highly recommend you stay for more than one day in Quebec City.

Day 10| Quebec City to Fredericton (6-7 hrs)

Welcome to the Maritime Provinces! They’re beautiful, cozy and full of wonderful people, music and food.

Day 11| Fredericton to North Sydney (6-8 hrs)

New Brunswick and Nova Scotia are beautiful Provinces. The drive is coastal and gorgeous.

Day 12 | Ferry ride from North Sydney to Port aux Basques (4.5 – 6 hrs)

The ferry from North Sydney to Port aux Basques costs $28.75 per adult and $81.50 per vehicle. Day crossings take 4.5 – 6hrs. Night crossings take 4.5- 8hrs. (Night crossing will cost extra if you want a berth, rather than a seat on the ferry.) St. Christopher’s Hotel offers amazing ocean views!

Day 13| Port aux Basques to St. John’s (10-12 hrs)

Newfoundland is beyond beautiful with lush vegetation and cliffs surrounded by the ocean, friendly people, great folk music, and more. Yes, you can drive from Port aux Basques to St. John’s in a day, but if you have the time, do some camping along the way. You won’t be sorry!

Canada is a misunderstood country with diverse landscapes and people.  Sure, we’re only 147 yrs old, people make fun of the Prime Minister (okay, we make fun of him as well), and our army is … wait, we have an army?  We’re quiet, but we’re proud.  Just check out the music video for Oh… Canada by Classified. It’s hilarious and irreverent and embodies how Canadians feel about our country.

Pamela MacNaughtan, author of Spunky Girl Monologues and Knocking Around Canada, is a solo traveler and spunky woman who has given up her job in retail to travel.

Photo credits: rainbow and Lake Louise by Pamela MacNaughtan; Kamloops by Robert Nyman; Riders on the Storm by Tegan Barr; Quebec City – Governor’s Park & Chateau Frontenac Hotel by David Paul Ohmer.

Renting a car for your road trip?  Reserve now with Thrifty and save 15% on your next weekly rental in Canada when you use any American Express Card. Use promo code AXCN. Offer ends 12.31.10

If you’re reading this blog, then it’s no secret to you that I love to travel. I love seeing new places, meeting new people.  I love researching my trips ahead of time, figuring out what I want to do, where I might want to eat.  I even love flying and taking public transportation.  For the most part, I’m a pretty mellow and happy traveler.  But that doesn’t mean I don’t experience some stress surrounding travel, too.  Here’s my list of the travel-related things most likely to cause me to stress out or lose my cool.

1. Figuring out multi-city trip logistics. Single-city trips are easy.  But when I started researching a potential multi-city Europe trip, I found myself getting aggravated and frustrated with the process of trying to figure out the best/cheapest way to get from one city to another–and how to book it.  The inexpensive air carriers seem to fly out of remote airports, so I would have to figure out the best way to get from city center to the airport and how much that will cost, and then decide if it’s worth it.  Oh, and figure out their luggage requirements and extra baggage fees.

As difficult as that is, it’s nothing compared to the train system in Europe, with its smorgasbord of choices that seem intent to confuse and paralyze my feeble mind.  We complain about airlines and hotels with their ad hoc fees, but how about this double-dipping practice of making you pay for a ticket and pay for a reservation too in order to take the train?  What is up with that?  Shouldn’t buying the ticket be considered your reservation?

It’s easy to see why so many people allow travel agents to book their arrangements for them.  Who has time to figure all this out?

2. Delays and Cancellations.  Who’s with me on this one?  I live near a regional airport, so almost none of my flights are ever direct flights.  I have to connect at a hub airport to a new flight to my final destination.  So if my first flight is delayed too long, I run the risk of missing the connection.  Over the years, I have had to run for connecting flights many times, and it is no fun at all–especially when the connecting flight is in another terminal altogether.  I’ve learned in the past couple of years that it’s wise to book my flights with a three-hour layover to give myself a good buffer in case of weather-related or mechanical flight delays (although even that’s no guarantee).  Cancellations are even worse.  You and 200 other passengers now have to be booked onto new flights (more, if several flights have been canceled due to weather).  It could take days to get where you’re going. These things stress me out if and when they happen, though my strategy to avoid the stress is to not think about them until they do–since most of the time, my flights go pretty smoothly.

3. Loud People.  I don’t mean to come across as a misanthrope, but I do find the hubbub of humanity around me to be trying at times when I travel.  I mean, Good God, the noise of it all.  Why do public places have to be so loud?  My biggest annoyances are shrill, hyperactive or crying children, who shred my last nerve.  I also can’t stand people who talk very loudly on cell phones or in an enclosed space, like, say, an airplane.  If I’m able to escape to a quiet corner, I do.  But when I’m stuck on a plane or bus with such people, I suffer.

4. Lack of adequate food, water, and bathrooms.  I’m like a baby, if my three basic needs of eating, drinking, and being able to pee aren’t satisfied on a regular basis, I become a cranky bitch.  Naturally, I try to carry snacks and water on me at all times, but sometimes, the supply runs out.  Then, look out.  Hunger transforms my personality the way anger transformed David Banner into the Incredible Hulk.  Trust me, you wouldn’t like me when I’m hungry.

5. Driving in a strange place – I can do it, but I don’t particularly like it, especially when I’m alone. My GPS helps alleviate some stress (by reassuring me it knows where I’m going), but not all. I always need an acclimation period to get used to traffic levels that are higher than Vermont (which is pretty much everywhere).  Once I’m used to it, I’m okay. . .for the most part.  Although roundabouts still confuse the hell out of me.

6. Walking anywhere after dark - I’m a solo female traveler, and I’m nightblind. Not a good combo.  For one thing, if I get disoriented, I can’t read the street signs.  At home, I know the streets.  I know which ones are well-lit and which one aren’t.  I bring a small flashlight with me to light the sidewalk so I can see where I’m walking.  Still, I’ve occasionally almost walked into people I didn’t know were there until I was almost on top of them.  Even at home, I do get a little stressed sometimes walking home at night.  To avoid the stress of trying to find my way around on darkened city streets when I travel, I tend to take cabs, or I stick very close to my hotel.  This also makes sense for any solo female traveler from a safety perspective.

7. Getting Lost – I know a lot of travelers love getting lost!  You discover the most interesting things that way.  Yeah, well, you can have it.  I’m a bit geographically- and directionally-challenged to begin with, not to mention a bit anal-retentive about schedules, so getting lost leads to a lot of confusion, wasted time, and yes, stress.  If it starts getting dark while I’m still lost, my stress levels go up exponentially.  If I get hungry, too–we’re talking Defcon One level stress.

That’s my list.  What stresses you out about travel?

I had the best seat in the restaurant.  Looking out the large front window at Thai 51, I got to watch people passing by on East 51st Street, New York City:  Twenty-something visitors headed to the Pod hotel next door, he with an over-sized backpack on his back, she rolling a small suitcase behind her; a dark-haired woman with manicured nails wearing a flower-patterned dress and heels, on her way home from work, smoking a cigarette and talking on her cell phone;  a pony-tailed young woman out for an evening jog in her grey sweatshirt, pink shorts and sneakers, headphones on; a young couple dressed up for a night out on the town, her hair pinned up, the nape of his neck still damp from the shower, his hand resting comfortably on her lower back. I marvel that neither his blue shirt and pressed pants nor her black dress are limp from the humidity, as my clothes have been for the last four days.  I watched them all pass by, in the midst of living their lives, and enjoyed the notion that I was witnessing a half hour in the life of a real neighborhood and not tourist central.

When I had walked in the front door of the restaurant, I thought I would have to ask for a window seat, but the waitress greeted me and immediately led me in that direction.  I was stunned when I saw where she was leading me:  To a table for one. Literally.  It was a two-top that was pushed right up against the wall, with just one chair and one place setting, facing the window.  It was clearly intended for a solo diner.  I couldn’t believe it.  But I knew instantly this was the restaurant for me.

My waitress was Asian.  She was pleasant and smiled a lot, but didn’t try to be my friend, which was fine.  When she walked away to get my water, I had a chance to look around. The restaurant was small, not as loud as you might think with a party of six sitting behind me (two of them children), and I could still hear the top 40 music playing in the background. I took advantage of the Early Bird special–3 courses for $17.  For an appetizer, I ordered the vegetable dumplings. They were delicious–moist in the center, with the added crunchiness of a topping that might have been fried onions or crushed wonton strips.  I’m not sure. For the life of me, I can’t recall what the  dipping sauce was, or what it tasted like.  I was too taken with the street theater for which I had a front row seat.

Veggie Dumplings

My main course was the chicken with Thai fried rice.  The presentation was fairly plain–a huge mound of rice, scattered with bits of pineapple, tomatoes, onions, scallions and egg, with the chicken tucked away inside.  Digging out the chicken was like unearthing buried treasure.  It was a fine meal, but not the best Thai I’ve ever had.  I found myself missing the ginger chicken stir-fry from Tiny Thai in Essex, VT.  The water, by the way, came in a pseudo Mason jar with a handle.  Cute, but it didn’t feel very Thai to me.

Chicken and Thai Fried Rice

Next to the table for one, my dessert was the biggest surprise to me.  I ordered the coconut Thai pudding.  It was quite hot.  I wasn’t expecting that.  It had the consistency of custard, with a mild coconut flavor.  It was all right, but I probably wouldn’t order it again.

Coconut Pudding

I would, however, return to Thai 51 whenever I stay at the Pod Hotel.  It’s conveniently close, reasonably priced, and the food and service is solidly good.  But most of all, I would want to reward any restaurant with the thoughtfulness and foresight to include a table for one in its floor plan–especially one that looks out onto the street for people-watching.  I will try to ignore the cynic in me that is whispering that it might have been the only way they could squeeze another table into the place.

Jetblue airplane

I sat in my comfy leather seat, gripping the armrests nervously, trying not to sweat as the plane began to descend into New York.  I had already unplugged my earbuds from the jack in the arm rest. I couldn’t concentrate on the TV screen in front of me any more.  I looked around me at the other passengers, who seemed not to have a care in the world as they craned their necks to look out the tiny windows at the New York skyline. Does anyone else ever go through this? I wondered.  Or is it just me?

Was it a fear of flying that was causing me such anxiety?  Heck no.  It was a fear of getting off the plane and forgetting my carry-on in the overhead bin. 

Last year, I wrote a blog post weighing the pros and cons of checking one’s suitcase versus going carry-on only for flights.  So many travel bloggers extol the virtues of being able to pack everything you need for a week or a month in a backpack or a carry-on before boarding a plane, so that they can avoid checked-bag fees, have their luggage with them at all times, and skip the trip to the baggage claim. It keeps them light and nimble, they say.   Me, I like my big suitcase.  I can fit everything I need in it–and then some–pass it off at the check-in counter and not have to worry about it again until my plane lands.

It’s just more convenient for me, since I generally have to catch a connecting flight at a hub airport. Have you ever had to run for a plane? I have. . .several times.  Within thirty feet I’m huffing and puffing, my lungs burning, sure I am going to stroke out before I get anywhere near my departure gate.  And that’s just with my backpack on my back.  Imagine me trying to run with my backpack on my back, dragging my carry-on behind me.  I’d miss my flight for sure.

“Traveling light” sounds good, but I’m a big believer in being prepared, too. That means packing a pair of shoes for every occasion, a virtual pharmacy in case I get sick, two changes of clothing for every day (casual for daytime and dressy for nighttime), plus an extra set of clothes in case I spill something on myself, an umbrella in case it rains, a sweater in case it’s cold. . .you get the picture.

But for my two trips this summer, one a 2-night trip and one a 3-night, 4-day trip, I decided to accept the challenge to go carry-on only, getting encouragement from carry-on advocates Janice Waugh (@solotraveler) and Robin Locker Lacey (@MyMelange).  Janice even sent me several videos of different packing methods to try out.  (I went with number five, since it seemed to solve the wrinkle problem better than the rolling method.)

Of course, having never gone carry-on only, I’ve also never used the overhead bins.  My knapsack (stuffed full with camera gear, snacks, water, a change of clothing, something to read, travel documents, and my mp3 player) always goes under the seat in front of me.  My biggest fear during these two trips was that I was going to exit the plane and head for baggage claim on “autopilot,” forgetting my suitcase in the overhead bin. Thankfully, I managed to escape that humiliation.

How did the experiment work for me?  With mixed results. On the one hand, I was extremely proud that I did it!  I actually fit everything I needed for a 4-day weekend into a carry-on. That packing method of layering everything before folding really works at squeezing things in without wrinkling them.  See?

Packed carry on suitcase

My carry-on is pretty tiny at 21″ x 13″ x 7.5″.  It seemed to be one of the smaller carry-ons I saw in the overhead bins.  Even using the rockin’ new folding method, I had to make some sacrifices.  Since I was going to have to bear the weight of both my knapsack and my carry-on throughout the entire travel process, I didn’t want to overstuff my knapsack like I normally do, but not everything was going to fit in the carry-on, either.  I decided not to pack my DSLR’s wide-angle lens, since I had my new point-and-shoot to take wide-angle photos.  I only packed one pair of shorts instead of the two I wanted to pack and one fewer pair of shoes.   I brought no reading material.  Hardest of all was my decision to jettison my daily vitamins. But it didn’t kill me.  It didn’t even give me the sniffles.

To save even more space, naturally, I bought travel sized versions of as many toiletries as I could.  I also utilized some stackable MyTagAlongs containers I had received in the mail for free from a publicity agency.  They were very handy for storing tiny amounts of things, like sleeping pills, ibuprofin, and earplugs.

MyTagAlongs stackable packables

I was able to avoid bringing a regular container of vaseline by scooping just what I needed to remove my eye makeup into one of these containers.  The containers screw one on top of the other, making storage convenient.  And cute, to boot.

See how small they are?

So as experiments go, it was a success.  I was able to do it.  And yes, it was nice to bypass baggage claim at the airport.  But did it change my mind about going carry-on only? No.  Truth be told, I hated having my luggage with me in the airport.  I feel like enough of a pack mule with my knapsack on my back; the last thing I need is to lug around a suitcase as well.  I disliked the last-minute scramble to dig my ziploc bag of liquids out of my bag to show to security.  I kept getting stuck in the door of the bathroom stall at the airport, because trying to squeeze me, my carry-on and my knapsack through at once was awkward and clumsy.  When I had breakfast at an airport restaurant I couldn’t find anywhere to put the damn suitcase where people wouldn’t trip over it.

Most of all, I hated having to pack fewer clothes than usual. When my Monday night flight home was canceled, and I had to stay in the city an extra day, I had to re-wear an outfit I had already soaked with sweat in the sweltering heat of New York City that weekend.  Yuck.  Fortunately, the guy sitting next to me was in the same boat so we jokingly agreed to sit there and smell bad together.

Having to lift the carry-on over my head to stow it in the overhead bin also posed a problem.  It wouldn’t have been a big deal for me a year ago.  I’ve been lifting weights for years and had pretty good arm strength.  But I injured my shoulder in January, which brought to the surface a whole host of chronic pain issues.  I got a reprieve on that one flight home, when my sweaty seatmate gallantly retrieved it from the overhead bin for me. But on the other flights, I was on my own.

It’s now  a moot point, since my orthopedist has pretty much told me no more lifting weights above my shoulders (forever). So I’ll be going back to checking my luggage in any case.  To be honest, I’m not-so-secretly relieved. Yes, I’ll have to pay the checked bag fees whenever I fly select airlines, which my cheap little heart will hate with a passion. But to me, the convenience of being able to bring as much as I feel I need on a trip and have someone else tote it around from Point A to Point B is worth it, even if I have to pay extra for it.