RULES OF THE ROAD

I know that I am not alone in having some crazy things happen on the road, and hope that those who take the time to read this can relate to some of the stories.  For those people who rarely travel, this may provide an insight into the glamorous (yeah right), fun filled world of the traveler, who leaves the office at odd hours and returns at even odder times.  All those people who don’t travel think of it as a great way to see the country and in some cases that can be true.  For the most part however, it’s the tedium of moving from one airport to another, Pizza’s, pretzels and peanuts, same hotels, different city.  And for most of us, we wouldn’t take a desk job if our life depended on it!  We all like to think of ourselves as unique individuals with our own minds and personalities, but I have to admit, when I am in O’Hare airport on a Friday afternoon I feel like a little ant following hundreds of other little ants to the ant gate so that Captain ant can fly us to our destination where after a few hours we will just be more ants in another place.  It’s not until I stop traveling that I feel normal again and gain some semblance of individuality! 

As you read this book, I want to emphasize that even though each one of these stories is true, I am not criticizing the airlines, my fellow passengers or the flying as a terrible means of transportation, far from it.  However if I had written a book based on the normal humdrum of a road trip it would have had little interest:  ‘Got up, showered, went to airport, plane took off on time, landed ok, got to meeting on time’ would have been of little interest to anyone.  I am sure that the stories that follow are the exception rather than the norm but if you multiply them by the vast number of people who fly every day, there must literally be thousands of people with similar experiences and millions with none.