Travel Happy
Since 9/11, it has been easy to focus on all that is wrong about travel. New rules… more stringent regulations on shoes and liquids… scanning machines generating great controversy. Traveling is definitely different than it was before. I can remember taking a trip from Atlanta to see my sister to Houston in 2000, and getting stuck in traffic on my way to the airport. Sweating it, I arrived at the Park N’ Fly 20 minutes before takeoff. I begged the driver to get me to the terminal quickly, and I made it. Barely. Today, that would be highly unlikely to happen. Getting through security at any airport, even the smallest ones, takes extra time, not to mention the time it takes just to get to the gate at an airport as large as Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport But things are looking up, in many ways. Recently, I saw a friendly sign from the TSA at Newark-Liberty airport advising kids under 12 that they didn’t have to remove their shoes through security. The industry has a vision of a hassle-free checkpoint someday in the future; I think we’ll get there.
New challenges notwithstanding, part of the joy of any journey has always been the people I’ve met on the way. As a mom who sometimes travels with my son on both business and personal trips, I am often humbled by the kindness of strangers. On my last trip from Austin to Chicago, I had a two-year-old, a backpack, a stroller, and a computer bag to navigate, and I really needed an extra arm to do it efficiently. On the way off the plane, a father traveling on business sitting across from me saw me gathering up my convoy and offered to carry my laptop bag off the plane for me, through the narrow aisle of the 737. I accepted, gratefully. When I’m striding through the airport with my toddler, people smile at us, and it connects us, traveler to traveler. Maybe they’re thinking, “I hope you’re not sitting next to me with that child,” but I like to believe they’re reflecting his sweet face and my happy one to be traveling with my son.
When I’m traveling solo, I go out of my way to return the favor. I offer assistance to moms with kids in the security line. I hold doors for parents with strollers entering stores I’m not planning to go in myself. I allow the person in the wheelchair to go first, because they need just a little extra time, sometimes. And when I’m delayed, I try not to take out my frustration and ire on every worker at the airport. It’s certainly not the woman’s fault at the snack stand, selling me a sandwich, that I’m stuck in Newark that night several weeks ago. And in fact, she offered me a sweet smile and made me feel a little better.
My first job out of college was at the front desk of a hotel, and everyone was shown a film on orientation day called “Ripples”. The idea was that one harsh and unpleasant comment planted a seed of negativity that had a ripple effect across an organization such as a hotel. For example, if a guest was unhappy and yelled at the front desk clerk, and the clerk reacted in kind, that would result in both the guest and hotel worker coming away from the encounter with bad feelings they would likely share with others throughout the day. But if the person at the front desk tried his best to empathize, be patient, and kind, the negativity is blunted and dissipates.
Some of the most interesting people on your journey are cab drivers. They know their city, and they are often eager to share their knowledge with you. If you’d rather look at the window in silence, please go right ahead; and every once in a while, consider engaging with your chatty cab driver and see what they have to teach you. Even when you’re at a business meeting and you only get to see the airport, the cab, and the inside of your hotel, you might learn something new, and enjoy the ride. When I was leaving Halifax this fall, my car service driver was a gentleman in his 60s and asked me a few questions about why I was there, what I did for a living, etc. I started to read the local paper and he asked me another question. I was going to give him a one-word answer to halt the questions, and then I stopped, put the paper down, and listened. I was rewarded with a story about the Halifax explosion of 1917 and how his family survived. The school where the driver’s two uncles went to school was leveled instantly, killing all inside; as it turned out, his uncles had decided to play hooky from school that day and lived. He recounted the story of how his uncles got in big trouble for skipping school, even though it meant that they escaped the explosion. This is the colorful fabric of life on the road… you can make a quilt out of it, or you can toss the scraps aside as you wish.
Try it when you travel. Instead of complaining that your airline no longer serves free pretzels, or that you’re delayed, or that your flight attendant is not as friendly as you’d like, take a look around. Enjoy Katherine Lee's "Deltalina" safety video on Delta (she is mesmerizing every time!). Savor the experience of riding on the train. Play games in the car and ignore the road rage. You don’t know what the people around you are going through, and maybe they have a good reason to be distracted, or grumpy, or brusque. That’s not to say you should accept shoddy treatment; that’s a different issue. Use your own ripple effect and offer a smile, hold a door, or help a parent who is juggling a baby, multiple kids, and their luggage. Your gift will be a better travel experience for yourself and for whomever you are reaching out a hand to help.
What kind of ripple do you want to start when you travel this holiday season?