More musings from my travels to the Great White North, which thankfully was not so white, but rather many shades of spring. This post has a bunch of snapshots, taken in my favorite Ontario village; read on…
Spring growth; my mother-in-law's lawn in Canada
One of my favorite things to do when I visit my relatives in Canada is to spend at least one day in St. Jacobs Country, a community in the Kitchener-Waterloo region of Ontario. This picturesque little village was originally settled by Mennonites who made their way over from Pennsylvania during the late 18th century. The area still has a fair number of Old Order Mennonites who maintain the quiet, traditional way of life of plain dress and agricultural livelihood. Many of them keep farms.
A farm in St. Jacobs CountryA Mennonite rides through St. Jacobs
There are fun shops with things for the home, crafts, quilts and local maple syrups. There are quaint little eateries with good German sausages. There are older establishments still making things the old way, like the Hamel Brooms shop which still makes gorgeous corn brooms. There’s my personal favorite gourmet shop, the Farm Pantry, which sells yummy food items.
Hamel Broom shop, St. Jacobs VillageShelves of good stuff inside Farm Pantry
There is also an amazing market disctrict where local farmers and vendors sell their wares to the public every Thursday and Saturday: an amazing display of grown-in-the-area fruits and vegetables, food stands, fresh meats, freshly bottled maple syrups, baked goods and a little flea market area of cheap stuff. There’s usually a manure smell, since farmers also bring livestock to the market. I’ve come to pseudo-appreciate this smell for two reasons: first, it’s synonymous with Spring in a place that endures several cold months out of the year, and second, as someone who lives in a metropolitan area, this smell reminds me that some people are still doing things the good old-fashioned way. That’s what St. Jacobs is all about. And by the way…you can’t beat produce fresh from the farmers market–check out my bowl of giant strawberries that I got from there 🙂
Hi readers! Sorry I was away so long–I took a fun trip to Canada to visit family. Now I’m back, and am glad to share some musings on my travel…
Something I find incredibly charming about the Kitchener-Waterloo region of Ontario (where my husband and his folks are from) is its abundance of old-fashioned markets. There are farmers markets including that of St. Jacobs, one of the best known in Canada. Because K-W has welcomed so many foreign settlers over the years, there are several specialized markets and butcher shops that cater to the immigrant populations in the area: German stores, Portuguese stores, Polish stores and many others. There is a strong reliance on butchers among these meat-loving peoples.
EuroFoods, a Polish store in Kitchener that apparently has the best sausages ever.
Before landing at Toronto’s Pearson airport earlier this week, my dear father-in-law made sure to head to the butcher first to stock the fridge full of veal bologna, head cheese, salami, pork chops, sausages and hams (for the record, I absolutely refuse to eat head cheese). Cured meats, cured meats and more cured meats, with some uncured meats stuck in between. One night, I enjoyed a delicious gluttonous dinner at the in-laws’: porkchops, Oktoberfest sausages, heads of garlic and green onions,asparagus, and avocado and cucumer salad. One afternoon, I had a German-style smoked sausage for lunch in the Mennonite village. Later that evening, I had some delicious pork chops and homemade sausage at a good friend’s house for dinner. Two days later, my dear brother-in-law lovingly prepared a big pork roast for lunch to feed all of us. The day before flying back, my father-in-law insisted on preparing pork shish kabobs and Oktoberfest sausages for us.
When I first started dating my husband, his regular consumption of such foods puzzled and worried me. I felt that his traditional Romanian diet needed a great overhaul, for health’s sake. After all, he wasn’t going to get nutritional guidance from his family. Case in point: his 89-year-old grandfather came over for dinner during the gluttonous feast and had two full plates of meat. He refused to take one single vegetable. This is a man who had triple-bypass surgery a few years back.
Over the last nearly 6 years that my husband and I have been together, I’ve slowly given up the diet-overhaul ghost. Eventually, that salty smoked flavor gets the best of you. Each time I visit Canada, I eat a little more pork. I never really used to eat sausage, but now I know them all. Seriously–I now know the difference between Italian sausages and Hungarian sausages, German sausages and Polish sausages. I’ve learned to tell the difference between smoked, boiled, fried and grilled sausages. I know all the different slabs of pork. So I’ve become a seasonal Romanian eater–gladly, albeit moderately, partaking in this unhealthy deliciousness during my twice-yearly visits to Canada.
Now I’m back home after enjoying my sporadic foray into Central and Eastern European fare. I’ll be eating extra-healthy food and working out hard for the next 6 months to earn my next food vacation. Happy eating!
Enjoying sausage at the St. Jacobs farmer's market.
Hi readers! Sorry I was away so long–I took a fun trip to Canada to visit family. Now I’m back, and am glad to share some musings on my travel…
Something I find incredibly charming about the Kitchener-Waterloo region of Ontario (where my husband and his folks are from) is its abundance of old-fashioned markets. There are farmers markets including that of St. Jacobs, one of the best known in Canada. Because K-W has welcomed so many foreign settlers over the years, there are several specialized markets and butcher shops that cater to the immigrant populations in the area: German stores, Portuguese stores, Polish stores and many others. There is a strong reliance on butchers among these meat-loving peoples.
EuroFoods, a Polish store in Kitchener that apparently has the best sausages ever.
Before landing at Toronto’s Pearson airport earlier this week, my dear father-in-law made sure to head to the butcher first to stock the fridge full of veal bologna, head cheese, salami, pork chops, sausages and hams (for the record, I absolutely refuse to eat head cheese). Cured meats, cured meats and more cured meats, with some uncured meats stuck in between. One night, I enjoyed a delicious gluttonous dinner at the in-laws’: porkchops, Oktoberfest sausages, heads of garlic and green onions,asparagus, and avocado and cucumer salad. One afternoon, I had a German-style smoked sausage for lunch in the Mennonite village. Later that evening, I had some delicious pork chops and homemade sausage at a good friend’s house for dinner. Two days later, my dear brother-in-law lovingly prepared a big pork roast for lunch to feed all of us. The day before flying back, my father-in-law insisted on preparing pork shish kabobs and Oktoberfest sausages for us.
When I first started dating my husband, his regular consumption of such foods puzzled and worried me. I felt that his traditional Romanian diet needed a great overhaul, for health’s sake. After all, he wasn’t going to get nutritional guidance from his family. Case in point: his 89-year-old grandfather came over for dinner during the gluttonous feast and had two full plates of meat. He refused to take one single vegetable. This is a man who had triple-bypass surgery a few years back.
Over the last nearly 6 years that my husband and I have been together, I’ve slowly given up the diet-overhaul ghost. Eventually, that salty smoked flavor gets the best of you. Each time I visit Canada, I eat a little more pork. I never really used to eat sausage, but now I know them all. Seriously–I now know the difference between Italian sausages and Hungarian sausages, German sausages and Polish sausages. I’ve learned to tell the difference between smoked, boiled, fried and grilled sausages. I know all the different slabs of pork. So I’ve become a seasonal Romanian eater–gladly, albeit moderately, partaking in this unhealthy deliciousness during my twice-yearly visits to Canada.
Now I’m back home after enjoying my sporadic foray into Central and Eastern European fare. I’ll be eating extra-healthy food and working out hard for the next 6 months to earn my next food vacation. Happy eating!
Enjoying sausage at the St. Jacobs farmer's market.
Thanks to today’s technology, I always have either my snapshot camera or my cell camera with me, enabling me to snap pics of random stuff around me, since you just never know what you’re going to see.
Just think, in the pre-cellphone era, I couldn’t have taken the following picture that I snapped this morning while sitting at a red light: a man on a bicycle carrying part of his barbecue grill.
Thanks to today’s technology, I always have either my snapshot camera or my cell camera with me, enabling me to snap pics of random stuff around me, since you just never know what you’re going to see.
Just think, in the pre-cellphone era, I couldn’t have taken the following picture that I snapped this morning while sitting at a red light: a man on a bicycle carrying part of his barbecue grill.
To sit alone in the lamplight with a book spread out before you, and hold intimate converse with men of unseen generations – such is a pleasure beyond compare.” – Kenko Yoshida
Hi all.
Thanks to a dear and loving husband who knows just the thing to thrill me, I’ve enjoyed reading books on my Kindle for almost a year now. I love my little literary machine. There’s a Team Kindle/Team iPad battle going on since Apple released its new supercool gadget. I got to play around with the iPad yesterday, and found that I quite love it. But the two machines have completely different purposes as far as I’m concerned. Will I get an iPad? Yes. Will it replace my Kindle? Nope. There’s room in my heart for both. That said, I thought I should send some Kindle love out into the universe right now, so I put together a little list of what I love about my reader. Please bear in mind that I didn’t write this list to knock the iPad, but rather simply to share what I love about the Kindle.
Me and my Kindle
10 Things I Love about My Kindle:
1. As an avid reader who currently lives in a space-challenged condo, my slim little Kindle’s got plenty of room to house all the books I love.
2. My Kindle screen looks just like a paper page out of the book (sorry iPad, but my eyes quickly got tired on your lit-up reader app).
3. Lots of the classic reads are free downloads. While I haven’t started on it yet, I’m proud to say a free copy of Sun Tzu’s The Art of War patiently awaits me on my home screen.
4. My Kindle leads to fun conversations with strangers. I take it with me everywhere, and someone–usually a fellow book lover–always approaches me to ask about how it functions and whether I like it. This is always a fun exchange of words.
5. When I travel, I get to take my historical novel along with my current nonfiction read. Without my carry-on bag bursting at the seams.
6. I’m never puzzled by any author’s lingo because my Kindle has a user-friendly dictionary built in.
7. It weighs nothing! And it fits in my purse.
8. I get to highlight stuff in it, and type in little notes wherever I want and dog-ear pages that I like.
9. I get to read samples of books for free before deciding whether I want to shell out the bucks to buy them.
And lastly, and perhaps most importantly:
10. The Kindle was made with hardcore book lovers in mind. I meet people all the time who have zero interest in reading books. Not zero time; zero interest. I always think two things to myself when I meet such people: first, I think ‘how is that possible?’ and then I think ‘how sad.’ I am blessed to have had parents and older siblings who helped instill a great love of books in me at a very young age. It’s a quintessential old-fashioned way to stimulate your mind without being wired into something. I don’t want to read a book, and close it up so I can check email. I don’t want to read a book, and then close it up so I can check facebook every ten minutes. I don’t need to surf the web or download music or stream movies while I read–if I want to read, chances are I’m looking to shut out all of that. For me, a book is sacred quality quiet time. That’s what I think is so brilliant about the Kindle–it found a way to modernize the collecting and reading of books without adding a thousand modern distractions to the medium. That is, in a nutshell, why I love it so much.
Hey all! Sorry I’ve been away–life called me to participate in certain must-be-there occasions that kept me from updating lately.
Anyhow, I’d like to give a shout-out to my good friend Elena for alerting me to an incredibly fun new website. She was watching a Jimmy Fallon interview with wonderful renaissance man Alan Cumming, and Cumming mentioned his current involvement with the site < itsasickness.com > . One of the many reasons I adore my best friends: they know me all too well–she sent me a late-night email urging me to check it out, describing it as a cool site where you can join groups for things you are obsessed with, and then you can share ideas/info with other people who are obsessed with it too. itsasickness describes itself with the following plotline on its Facebook fanpage:
it’s not about illness, it’s about sickness. your sickness is what makes you …extraordinary. that thing you geek out about, that is what makes you amazing.
itsasickness then celebrates our sicknesses and the most hardcore sick people with short films;
Alan Cumming is the itsasickness emcee.
itsasickness: obsession-based programming for an obsessive-based culture.”
*By the way, the all-lowercase writing is their thing, not mine. Just wanted to re-create their voice accurately.*
I went over to the site and my jaw dropped. What a fabulous idea for a website! People who are obsessed with things just like me, creating little worship corners for these things, exchanging information and inspiration about these things. In some ways, it’s sort of like Twitter, but more interesting for me because it has an intense focus. While Twitter is fueled more by stream of consciousness, itsasickness is fueled by cultivated obsession. Of course, the two sites serve different purposes, but I can’t help but draw a slight comparison since itsasickness is constantly updating in real time, and you can “follow” different members.
Cumming is essentially the emcee of the site, although I’m not quite sure what that means yet. In any case, he seems to be the public face of the site. You can create a profile, and upload a pic to personalize it. There is a “lounge” which is the part of the website that features “people like you geeking out about their sickness; whether it’s hula hoops, Doctor Who, or politics.” If you click on the “lounge” link, you’ll be directed to a page with celebrities talking about particular obsessions that they have, i.e. actor Jason Bateman has a video on there and he talks about how obsessed he is with classical music; actress Marisa Tomei talks about how she’s obsessed with hula hoops. My favorite page though is the “see all obsessions” page where you see an A-Z list of all the obsessions compiled so far. I think of it as a list of kindred spirits I haven’t met yet: Hello fellow human being, allow me to introduce myself–I’m someone who is as obsessed with cast iron cookware as you are!
You'll find plenty of fellow Trekkies at itsasickness.
I’ve already started creating obsession groups. I’ve made three: one about Amadeus (my fave film), one about alligators (among my top 3 fave animals), and one for squash fruit (to address my obsession with pumpkins and various heirloom squash). Then I panicked because I found out you can only create five–kind of a bummer because I had already made a mental outline of about 20 obsession groups I wanted to create. Oh well, I’ll just have to wait for some kindred spirits out there to create them.
I can add interesting articles, pics and videos related to each of these groups, and others who decide to share my obsession can also contribute info. If I see someone else’s obsession group that I like, I can join that obsession. For instance, I love luxury travel, so I joined the ‘luxury travel’ obsession that Alan Cumming created. If I come across a picture of a particular luxury hotel abroad that I’d like to share with the group, I can click on the ‘add content’ button on the group and post it there.
I think this is one of the most innovative social networks I’ve ever seen. Cumming mentioned that after joining an obsession group for truffle oil, he discovered a lot of new info about the product thanks to others who shared useful articles on the magic culinary substance. His experience represents the extreme loveliness factor of this website. It’s social networking with a focus on common ground, and could become a place for a genuine sharing of interests and information. Hey, you never know–that guy or girl who loves Madagascar Vanilla Red Tea just as much as you do may end up being your soulmate.
Hey all! Sorry I’ve been away–life called me to participate in certain must-be-there occasions that kept me from updating lately.
Anyhow, I’d like to give a shout-out to my good friend Elena for alerting me to an incredibly fun new website. She was watching a Jimmy Fallon interview with wonderful renaissance man Alan Cumming, and Cumming mentioned his current involvement with the site < itsasickness.com > . One of the many reasons I adore my best friends: they know me all too well–she sent me a late-night email urging me to check it out, describing it as a cool site where you can join groups for things you are obsessed with, and then you can share ideas/info with other people who are obsessed with it too. itsasickness describes itself with the following plotline on its Facebook fanpage:
it’s not about illness, it’s about sickness. your sickness is what makes you …extraordinary. that thing you geek out about, that is what makes you amazing.
itsasickness then celebrates our sicknesses and the most hardcore sick people with short films;
Alan Cumming is the itsasickness emcee.
itsasickness: obsession-based programming for an obsessive-based culture.”
*By the way, the all-lowercase writing is their thing, not mine. Just wanted to re-create their voice accurately.*
I went over to the site and my jaw dropped. What a fabulous idea for a website! People who are obsessed with things just like me, creating little worship corners for these things, exchanging information and inspiration about these things. In some ways, it’s sort of like Twitter, but more interesting for me because it has an intense focus. While Twitter is fueled more by stream of consciousness, itsasickness is fueled by cultivated obsession. Of course, the two sites serve different purposes, but I can’t help but draw a slight comparison since itsasickness is constantly updating in real time, and you can “follow” different members.
Cumming is essentially the emcee of the site, although I’m not quite sure what that means yet. In any case, he seems to be the public face of the site. You can create a profile, and upload a pic to personalize it. There is a “lounge” which is the part of the website that features “people like you geeking out about their sickness; whether it’s hula hoops, Doctor Who, or politics.” If you click on the “lounge” link, you’ll be directed to a page with celebrities talking about particular obsessions that they have, i.e. actor Jason Bateman has a video on there and he talks about how obsessed he is with classical music; actress Marisa Tomei talks about how she’s obsessed with hula hoops. My favorite page though is the “see all obsessions” page where you see an A-Z list of all the obsessions compiled so far. I think of it as a list of kindred spirits I haven’t met yet: Hello fellow human being, allow me to introduce myself–I’m someone who is as obsessed with cast iron cookware as you are!
You'll find plenty of fellow Trekkies at itsasickness.
I’ve already started creating obsession groups. I’ve made three: one about Amadeus (my fave film), one about alligators (among my top 3 fave animals), and one for squash fruit (to address my obsession with pumpkins and various heirloom squash). Then I panicked because I found out you can only create five–kind of a bummer because I had already made a mental outline of about 20 obsession groups I wanted to create. Oh well, I’ll just have to wait for some kindred spirits out there to create them.
I can add interesting articles, pics and videos related to each of these groups, and others who decide to share my obsession can also contribute info. If I see someone else’s obsession group that I like, I can join that obsession. For instance, I love luxury travel, so I joined the ‘luxury travel’ obsession that Alan Cumming created. If I come across a picture of a particular luxury hotel abroad that I’d like to share with the group, I can click on the ‘add content’ button on the group and post it there.
I think this is one of the most innovative social networks I’ve ever seen. Cumming mentioned that after joining an obsession group for truffle oil, he discovered a lot of new info about the product thanks to others who shared useful articles on the magic culinary substance. His experience represents the extreme loveliness factor of this website. It’s social networking with a focus on common ground, and could become a place for a genuine sharing of interests and information. Hey, you never know–that guy or girl who loves Madagascar Vanilla Red Tea just as much as you do may end up being your soulmate.
By charging for the toilets we are hoping to change passenger behaviour so that they use the bathroom before or after the flight. That will enable us to remove two out of three of the toilets and make way for at least six extra seats on board.”
Mr. McNamara should have been more bluntly honest in his statement and explained that the airline is actually trying to force humans to act like lap dogs. Bathroom breaks OUTSIDE the plane? Puh-leeze. I don’t usually use airplane lavatories, but this is just demeaning. Airplane travel is uncomfortable enough–they ought to be offering you a free drink just for fitting inside that Smurf-sized bathroom. So a pregnant woman who needs to urinate more often than usual (as is common during pregnancy) is gonna shell out dough because of her condition? A guy who needs to whiz several times during his flight because he’s dealing with an enlarged prostate is gonna pay every time he has to relieve himself? At least the spokesperson stated the ugly truth that the airline will remove three-quarters of the bathrooms and stuff more passengers into that space. An extra six or seven people you’ll have to fight for the porcelain throne.
But while that’s bad, I don’t think it’s as insulting as Spirit Airlines CEO Ben Baldanza telling the public that there is a “beauty” to the airline’s new policy of charging money for carry-on bags. Apparently I’m supposed to believe there is something beautiful about paying $30 for a carry-on item placed in an overhead bin. Spirit passengers who are enrolled in the Fare Club (a $40-a-year club) will pay $20 for their carry-ons. The surcharge is just for stuff you want to put overhead though; you won’t have to pay for something that fits under the seat in front of you (you can kiss whatever little leg circulation you had goobye now that you have to keep your stuff at your feet). Baldanza’s colleague, Spirit Chief Operating Officer Ken McKenzie also talked up the new policy in a statement, explaining that the new rule will make flights more efficient and safe because reducing the number of carry-on bags will speed up the boarding process and the deplaning process. “Bring less; pay less. It’s simple.” Simple for you Mr. McKenzie; I doubt you even fly Spirit.
CEO Baldanza, however, issued the statement that broke the camel’s back for me:
The beauty of it is they will do what they think is best for them and will now have the choice.”
Paying for the damn carry-on is bad enough. Telling me that paying for the carry-on is the best thing ever since sliced bread is insulting to my intelligence. So these airlines not only want to screw you, they want you to love every second of it too.
Airlines are looking for a way to speed up the boarding and deplaning process? Here’s an idea–load the plane back rows to front during boarding, and actually stick to that rule; don’t allow front-of-the-plane passengers to wedge their way in. Makes boarding much easier. And by the way, deplaning doesn’t take that long–it’s waiting for the airplane doors to open that adds time to the process, essentially an airport/airplane issue that has little to do with the passengers. I’m not bothered by the wait anyhow; if you can’t cool your jets for five or ten minutes to make your way off the plane, go see a head doctor. Once passengers start exiting, it only takes a couple of minutes to leave anyway.
Airlines are out of control with their fees and surcharges. And it’s not like you can complain at the airport–they’ll treat you like an enemy of the state. I remember a time a few years ago when oil prices were high and cruise passengers were sometimes forced to pay a fuel surcharge on top of their fare. But when oil prices dropped, cruiseline fuel surcharges went away. For whatever reason, they never left the airlines.
I’ve never had a fear of flying. I don’t hate aiports. I always loved traveling. But it’s harder for me to love traveling when I have only one way of getting from point A to point B, and that one means is nickeling and diming the hell out of me just because it can. And don’t tell me to pack lighter. First of all, the industry standard was two suitcases for decades–they’re just taking advantage of passengers now because our options are limited: it’s not like we always have time to take a roadtrip from Miami to San Francisco. Secondly, how does packing light help my situation? I’m supposed to pack light for my three week trip and buy a whole new wardrobe when I get to Point B?
At risk of sounding like a grounded teenager on a Friday night, it’s just not fair. We need a viable alternative to air travel in this country. We need a good-quality high-speed train system here. I told my husband over breakfast this morning that I’m considering doing most of my US travel by car now, even if it means tacking on a few extra days to allow for driving. I know this won’t always be possible, but this South Florida gal has grown tired of giving the bully her lunch money.
By charging for the toilets we are hoping to change passenger behaviour so that they use the bathroom before or after the flight. That will enable us to remove two out of three of the toilets and make way for at least six extra seats on board.”
Mr. McNamara should have been more bluntly honest in his statement and explained that the airline is actually trying to force humans to act like lap dogs. Bathroom breaks OUTSIDE the plane? Puh-leeze. I don’t usually use airplane lavatories, but this is just demeaning. Airplane travel is uncomfortable enough–they ought to be offering you a free drink just for fitting inside that Smurf-sized bathroom. So a pregnant woman who needs to urinate more often than usual (as is common during pregnancy) is gonna shell out dough because of her condition? A guy who needs to whiz several times during his flight because he’s dealing with an enlarged prostate is gonna pay every time he has to relieve himself? At least the spokesperson stated the ugly truth that the airline will remove three-quarters of the bathrooms and stuff more passengers into that space. An extra six or seven people you’ll have to fight for the porcelain throne.
But while that’s bad, I don’t think it’s as insulting as Spirit Airlines CEO Ben Baldanza telling the public that there is a “beauty” to the airline’s new policy of charging money for carry-on bags. Apparently I’m supposed to believe there is something beautiful about paying $30 for a carry-on item placed in an overhead bin. Spirit passengers who are enrolled in the Fare Club (a $40-a-year club) will pay $20 for their carry-ons. The surcharge is just for stuff you want to put overhead though; you won’t have to pay for something that fits under the seat in front of you (you can kiss whatever little leg circulation you had goobye now that you have to keep your stuff at your feet). Baldanza’s colleague, Spirit Chief Operating Officer Ken McKenzie also talked up the new policy in a statement, explaining that the new rule will make flights more efficient and safe because reducing the number of carry-on bags will speed up the boarding process and the deplaning process. “Bring less; pay less. It’s simple.” Simple for you Mr. McKenzie; I doubt you even fly Spirit.
CEO Baldanza, however, issued the statement that broke the camel’s back for me:
The beauty of it is they will do what they think is best for them and will now have the choice.”
Paying for the damn carry-on is bad enough. Telling me that paying for the carry-on is the best thing ever since sliced bread is insulting to my intelligence. So these airlines not only want to screw you, they want you to love every second of it too.
Airlines are looking for a way to speed up the boarding and deplaning process? Here’s an idea–load the plane back rows to front during boarding, and actually stick to that rule; don’t allow front-of-the-plane passengers to wedge their way in. Makes boarding much easier. And by the way, deplaning doesn’t take that long–it’s waiting for the airplane doors to open that adds time to the process, essentially an airport/airplane issue that has little to do with the passengers. I’m not bothered by the wait anyhow; if you can’t cool your jets for five or ten minutes to make your way off the plane, go see a head doctor. Once passengers start exiting, it only takes a couple of minutes to leave anyway.
Airlines are out of control with their fees and surcharges. And it’s not like you can complain at the airport–they’ll treat you like an enemy of the state. I remember a time a few years ago when oil prices were high and cruise passengers were sometimes forced to pay a fuel surcharge on top of their fare. But when oil prices dropped, cruiseline fuel surcharges went away. For whatever reason, they never left the airlines.
I’ve never had a fear of flying. I don’t hate aiports. I always loved traveling. But it’s harder for me to love traveling when I have only one way of getting from point A to point B, and that one means is nickeling and diming the hell out of me just because it can. And don’t tell me to pack lighter. First of all, the industry standard was two suitcases for decades–they’re just taking advantage of passengers now because our options are limited: it’s not like we always have time to take a roadtrip from Miami to San Francisco. Secondly, how does packing light help my situation? I’m supposed to pack light for my three week trip and buy a whole new wardrobe when I get to Point B?
At risk of sounding like a grounded teenager on a Friday night, it’s just not fair. We need a viable alternative to air travel in this country. We need a good-quality high-speed train system here. I told my husband over breakfast this morning that I’m considering doing most of my US travel by car now, even if it means tacking on a few extra days to allow for driving. I know this won’t always be possible, but this South Florida gal has grown tired of giving the bully her lunch money.
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