Traveling

I've been traveling too much lately. I've traveled so much, I'm starting to know which airport/airline treats you the best, worst, and other odd facts.

How the Akron Airport will change your reservation at the last minute to an earlier flight at no extra charge. They've even re-routed me just because they thought it might make for a smoother connection. Of course the downside is that there's nothing to do in if you happen to be stuck there. No place to buy a good book or cup of coffee, and there's Fox News on loud every place you sit. So I usually choose Pittsburgh over Akron, but Cleveland is the last choice every time.

Then there's the airlines. Like American that charges extra for baggage and tries to discourage you from carrying your luggage. They have this little metal cage to slide your bag into in order to determine if it fits in the overhead compartment. The ticket guy slid my bag into the metal cage last week, and then he couldn't get it out again.

I'm always interested in the airplane food, as well. US Air serves microwaved burgers if you're flying across the country at lunch. And a little salad that you don't want to unwrap because, for some reason, it has this amazing odor of fungicide.

I'm never sure which is worse--canned food or microwaved food. I remember eating canned hotdogs once when I was a child. ( Did I only imagine that? ) It seemed like everything came in a can, and it made you wonder how long ago it had died. A friend told me they used to serve canned burgers too. I'm not sure about that one. She said they were grey.