hand luggage

I love to travel. To see new places and meet new people is a great joy to me, and I enjoy travelling by myself. Not that I don’t enjoy travelling  with someone, but when you are on your own you get to move in your own pace, you sit down and watch people, drink a cup of coffee or a glass of wine, you get in touch with people who address you just because you look a bit helpless when you turn the map or traveller’s guide in all kinds of directions… and it does not help a bit and you just look very disoriented… which I am all of the time, but that is a well kept secret…. Until now…

Being blond and having blue eyes does not assure people I know what I am doing either. But you know what? I have never met anyone anywhere who was not nice and helpful.

One of the things I appreciate is to check in my baggage and just hold on to my handbag; let someone else worry about getting my suitcase to its destination.

I have never lost luggage, yet, so I have no bad experiences on that department. My well used, worn out brown suitcase, with pink flowers on it, always gets where it is supposed to end up: on the conveyor band in the pick-up zone. Thinking about it now the strange look of it might have something to do with my successful luggage experiences. It does not scream “exclusive contents”, to put it mildly.

Now… most airlines state you are allowed to carry one hand luggage, and there are limited measures for this hand luggage, in order to make sure there is room for it in the luggage rack. Problem is: travellers have a lot more in their hands than just the one allowed hand luggage.

So, people pack a small suitcase in order to not check in their luggage, they want to bring it into the plane in order to make sure they do not lose it, or they just want to be able to leave the destination airport as soon as possible, without the hassle it is to wait 5 minutes for it to arrive, so they trolley their suitcase, with wheels rumbling on the tiles, because it is amazing how heavy a small suitcase can get when you pack with determination.

Then they have their handbag the size of a traveller’s bag, where they keep everything which did not fit into the suitcase, and then they need to stop by tax free shops to get some bottles or snacks or make up or whatever they fancy… (In big, international airports I often see cars displayed. Do people actually buy cars at the tax free on airports? I always wonder when I pass the fancy line up of cars.)

By the time last call is announced for my flight, people line up to check in struggling with everything they have to make sure they remember to bring.

I take my time; the plane will not leave without me as long as I am there in time and my boarding card is ok.

So I sit and wait for the busy passengers who want to get there, where ever “there” might be. (I am not sure if they think the plane will leave early if they push, if they just enjoy being on board so much they will  board as soon as possible or if they know they have so much on their hands they need to get there early to occupy a luggage rack in order to get all their items and bags stuffed in there.)

In either case: when I enter the plane I am waiting in the isle for forever. People stack their suitcase, their computer bag, their handbag, their shopping bags and their jacket or coat and it takes time. Things fall out and need to be carefully nudged in place so they can close the hatch.

Eventually people sit down, with a relieved sigh, and I get to find my seat. I place my handbag under the seat in front of me and struggle to find place for my feet. I do not even think about placing it in the luggage rack, I am not tall and my one experience doing that was an avalanche of things over my head and 3 very annoyed fellow passengers.

On long flights you get a blanket and a pillow… with my handbag under the seat and me struggling to find comfortable room for my feet, there really isn’t a lot of room for the blanket and the pillow… so they end up in my lap.

It is hard to fold down the table when you have a blanket and a pillow on your lap, but even worse is how warm it gets. The temperature in an airplane full of passengers is high, and with the blanket and the pillow on my lap I feel like having the world’s longest hot flash… getting worried this is the exact time my menopause sets in. Not yet, but I have an idea of what it will feel like.

When you have been on a trip, it is normal to mention you have been away, and those you talk with will always comment upon what you tell and give their anecdotes from their own travels.

When I get to the part where I complain about how difficult it is to get comfortable on the plane they burst out with an enthusiastic tirade about how genius it is to bring the suitcase and handbag and computer bag and shopping bags and coats into the plane and just stowe it away in the luggage rack… no sweat!

Democracy, freedom of speech and such...

Sometimes it really gets on my nerves to live in this country. It is a small, but very long country… if you place a pin in the very southern spot on the map, and turn the country around, the circle will cover a large part of Europe… far south into Italy and Spain.

Our straggling country, with its challenging landscape; weather-beaten shore, wuthering heights, narrow valleys, sparsely population, idyllic towns and really, really poor infrastructure (the roads are a nightmare, even in broad daylight) and, at best, cool temperature offers a good life for those of us who think unpredictable conditions a challenge and an adventure rather than a struggle.

Part of living here is the knowledge we live in a free and open democracy. We are considered liberal and open minded, in spite of our set ways of thinking and doing things.

We are all different, and we accept we have differences… so much so that we at times think that our constitution is an obstacle.

Our constitution is founded on Christian objects clause. We used to say grace in schools and kindergartens, but due to so many children coming from non-Christian homes this is no longer the case. We approve of gay marriages (not necessarily all of us, as individuals, but as a country with a state church we do) and all congregations, regardless of religion, get state contribution.

All of this is fair and reasonable, at least I think it is, but like any other free and democratic state we all have our own mind on matters like these.

You see: living in a free and democratic country has the disadvantage of living, working and functioning with people with different ways and different opinions, and there is no law against being stupid. Sorry but true… or maybe I should feel relieved?

We risk getting insulted and provoked because part of living here is the right we have to practice freedom of speech. On the other hand we do not have to agree and tolerate it by not standing up for ourselves. We should speak up when we disagree or feel molested. Even more so if we think someone else is unfairly spoken about.

Freedom of speech is not the freedom to express discrimination or to put others down. Freedom of speech boils down to be freedom to utter what you feel about matters in general, not to specify or frame individuals. We accept that freedom of speech implies responsibilities and limits. To be protected from becoming a victim of racism and degrading acts are more important than a person’s right to say whatever he or she wants.

Still… Have you ever tried to make two lists: one for synonymes to boy/man and one for synonymes to girl/woman. Add all the proper words you would find in a dictionary and all the words you use in your everyday language among family and friends (and be honest).

Boy/Man	Girl/Woman

I think you will be surprised over the result. And as you look at your list and count how many expressions you added, consider this: Are there more positive names than negative? What does the list tell you about how you regard people around you? The strangest part of it all is that what you wrote is most likely not conflicting the freedom of speech.

I embrace our democracy and the privilege it is to live in a country where we include and acknowledge individual differences, but it does not mean I don’t find it annoying.