Better odds of getting your bags

My plan is to send my bag ahead,to the closest hotel to where I will be(even if I am not staying there) 1/2 the price, better insurance,an actual tracking if it does go slightly astray, and well, one less thing to stand in line for in a sweaty,crowded,rude airport...

Except for a few personal items, Jeans, BibAlls, and Shirts, I take nothing, and buy whatever I need when I get where I am going ... Just easier than than going thru all the Bullshit at the Airport ... And I never Fly anymore unless I absolutely don't have the time to drive ... Going overseas, I take a Tramp Steamer or a Freighter, unless I am really pressed for time ... When possible, I take a Train, and enjoy the ambience of the Dining Car and the Club Car ... Never liked Flying anyway .......

Last time I was at an airport was to deliver one of my pedigree kittens to cargo, for export to Italy. If people were subjected to all the paperwork, medical examinations etc. that one small kitten has to go through to get on an aircraft, they would never fly. Once I'd got to small animal reception, three different passes for security gates etc with my precious cargo, file of documents the size of War & Peace, it was great. All the staff instantly fell in love with the kitty & she got VIP processing. She went on to become an International Grand Champion.
Last time I was on a commercial flight ..... 1960! Four engines, propellers, fuel stops, overnight stops. The overnight stop in Wadi Halfa (somewhere on the River Nile) was especially memorable, as the hotel overflow accommodation was a ship with cabins moored on the river. It was the frog-breeding season & the frogs croaked all night. Fuel stop in Khartoum - was like walking out the plane into a roasting oven. Then refuelling/lunch break in Niece. Well, what an experience! After years of eating scrawny African goats or whatever, here was boeuf bourguignon, tasty & tender & french fries, which I'd never met before. I think that sparked off my interest in cooking. Then - ...... my poor parents, travelling with 4 kids, eldest 11, youngest 18 months & the delights of a 1960 airport. Suddenly, flying was not glamorous.
When I was a baby, so, alas, have no memory of it, my parents did the sea-plane flight into East Africa and the sea voyage on the Union Castle line to Mombasa & thence on the East Africa railway to Kampala. What a tale to tell.
I don't have to worry about baggage - just hurl stuff into the back of the car & take off. I can take the car on a ferry to Ireland or Europe & then there's more ferries to other places. I think RY's wheels are an ideal solution - no hotel bills!

JALOPKIN~ Hooray! A man who knows you can buy toothpaste & deodorant anywhere, except places that you can't & then it doesn't matter 'cos everybody else stinks, too.

Great stories Ivan and Hazel, good day to you early birds!

Good morning, to the sleep-deprived, the expatriates, and the residents of the rest of the civilized world! Peterman has done it again, tippy-toed away for the weekend, after first planted the seeds of anarchy & profanity, by giving us a topic which reminds us of one of man's modern achievements: preengineered frustration.
I'm scheduling a flight from my home to St. Louis next week, not an enormous distance in miles, but what I describe as "too far to drive, not far enough to fly." We need to take a deposition of an "unavailable witness." Seems the definition of "unavailable" gets expanded when you're a professional athelete, rich & famous. "Normal" people would have gotten a subpoena, and a voucher for an airline ticket to Cincinnati.
Greater Cincinnati Airport is actually not in Cincinnati, hell, it's not even in Ohio. Northern Kentucky is farther away than Dayton, Ohio, although Dayton's operation is not exactly "breathtaking." Just a smaller city, with just a smaller airport, but at least you can park long-term within walking distance of the terminal, and the people are friendly.
I don't mind the $25 charge for luggage, other industries conceal the actual total cost of their products by hidden charges all the time. Nobody would want to buy the stripped-down base line automobile whose sticker price appears in the classified ads, as bait to get you into the showroom.
I do have a problem with bag charges, when all I travel with for an overnight stint is a small unit that's not much bigger than a gym bag. And I get really upset when someone insists on checking it with the luggage. The contents may only be valuable to me, but they may contain confidential or impossible to conveniently replace materials, and showing up without a bag, because somehow it got routed to another destination renders me virtually helpless. My script, for lack of a better term, is inside. Copies of my records for impeachment are inside, and the local newspaper would have a field day recovering them from someone as leaked information.
Hazel, I'm giving serious consideration to putting my stuff in a box, and putting a big sign on it: "Show kitten enclosed, handle with care, vibration and temperature sensitive." Help me out here, girl....I want my bag in the passenger compartment, where I can see it from a seat in the back of the plane.....

I never check anything that I can't afford or want to lose. Traveling always has been an adventure when one should expect most anything to happen. I smile and treat airline and hotel people with respect even when there are problems and try to dress impeccably when flying. Gets you upgrades and other perks. When I file claims, I itemize everything I pack and its replacement cost. I know everything in my bags. A couple of quick pics on the iPhone for backup is always good. All my claims have always been paid because of this detail. As I have stated in the past, keep a detailed travel journal. Bon Voyage!

In Canada and the Upper Peninsula of Michigan, I leave cold weather clothes because I know I'll be back.
After hundreds of flights, I have never had one cancelled or lost any luggage and I know that's lucky.
I have been patted up and down without having set off the metal detector and I learned from watching the man ahead of me that it isn't a good idea when your inseam is being examined to say anything-- especially-- "Oh, yeah baby," if you want to make your flight, because he wasn't on it.
Before a trip, I have shirts and pants laundered and that professional folding is perfect for packing.
One more thing, when they say that laptops must go through x-ray alone, they mean alone in a tub not bouncing along on the rollers.

Bert~ I'd love to help, but as a non-flyer, I don't know the rules. Best I can suggest is big pockets in your jacket. Toothbrush, clean sox & knickers, credit/debit card, ID ..... as far as I am aware, they check the weight of your baggage, but don't charge extra for obese people, unless they need 2 seats. So pack your pockets, not your bag.

Travel isn't half the fun it used to be.  When I left the Presidio of Monterey in June 1968 after graduating from language school, I flew home to Michigan.  I had bought a pistol out there to keep in practice, and certainly would not check anything so valuable in a suitcase.  In fact it and a box of ammunition were in my brief case.  No baggage search back then.
I do check my baggage and grit my teeth at the fees.  A few airlines are even charging for carry-on bags.  I do not want to change what is in my dopp kit.  At least on international flights they do not charge.
When it comes to making a bag identifiable at the baggage carousel, I add a large initial to the bag, front and back.  I bought a smallish red cloth bag a few years ago on the assumption that it was unusual.  Within six months there were red bags all over.  So, I carefully stenciled a large black "M" (for my last name) on the front and back.  I have a large hard-shelled bag that is grey (they call it "champagne").  I found a company that does large decals of initials and bought two red M's.  The things were made for wall decoration (???) and required a little trimming of the circle framing it.  It is wearing well, better than my attempts with tape or stick-on letters.  And my bags are instantly identifiable.  I do wonder with all the investment why the airlines can't tweak the baggage system so they don't destroy suitcases.  I've had two damaged beyond use.
Hazel, your trip sounds like something out of Indiana Jones.  I'd love to travel that way.  And Jalopkin, I can understand going by ship to Europe.  Seven or more hours on a plane is way too many.  I have an adverse reaction, though, to Amtrak.  I've used it twice and had a bad experience both times.  The new cars have the ambiance of a Greyhound bus.  The dining car staff were surly and obnoxious.  I took my daughter on a train from North Hampton, Massachusetts (my stepdaughter had just graduated from Smith College School of Social Work) to Rochester where my daughter was to hook up with her maternal grandparents and head for one of the Finger Lakes.  In fact, this train originated in North Hampton, and though we got to the dining car early, they were out of hamburgers and steaks - the two things my daughter wanted.  I traveled back and forth in the early 1960's from NYC to Michigan (I was a Columbia student).  I could check my bags, the seats were plush and comfortable, the dining car was elegant and the food good, and for an extra $8 I could get a sleeping compartment from NYC to Detroit.  The whole experience was grand.  Amtrak was in my experience hideous.  Our train to Rochester was 5 hours late, for no apparent reason.  Never again.  European trains, yes.  We took one in October from Madrid to Algeciras (and taxi to Gibraltar).  The train ran at 125 mph and was very comfortable.
We just finished a major refurbishment of our 55 year old house: painting inside and out, floors sanded and refinished, electrical work, etc.  We await the tiles (on a cargo ship from Italy) and then all will be done.  At this point, it is like being in a new house.  We got a very reliable company we'd dealt with before.  The extra price is more than worth it.  We spent some days in a hotel because of massive varnish fumes, but even that was fun: a romantic vacation in Falls Church, so to speak.  And I am enjoying our taking our time getting things back in the newly painted shelves, cupboards and closets.  A lot of sorting, and I am making some needed improvements, doing some modest carpentry, etc.  So, it is good to be back and able to participate again.

As most have said, the  key to airline travel is to travel light. I pack only what I can carry on. Recent trip to Greece -11 hour flight - was pleasant, reading, dozing. Just plan to wear the same things a lot, wash out what needs it and dry overnight, and purchase new if you have to get something you forgot. Considering how many fly ( and how many nuts they have to deal with), the airlines do pretty well. I do like those big planes with the center seats best. Once got asked to sit in first class coming back to Atlanta from LA, and that was nice! Let's give the post office and airlines workers some slack. ( Yes, I know some have rotten surly attitudes, but we never know what else they may be dealing with.)

The  Eurostar  from  London  to  Paris  under  the  English  Channel  is  fantastic.   Other  trains  make  the  same  run,  for  substantially  cheaper  fares,  but  the  accommodations  &  service  leave  a  LOT  to  be  desired.   With  a  few  friends  and  a  dozen  teenage  girls  in  tow,  I  finally  got  to  sleep  {seems  the  next  car  on  the  train  contained  a  group  of  teenage  BOYS,  hence  my  job  as  hall  monitor  &  chaperone's  degree  of  difficulty  increased  exponentially}.   We  stopped  in  Switzerland,  for  a  routine   check  of  passports,  normally  done  all  at  once  on  the  platform  by  the  crew.  When  the  process  finally  ended  (including  inquiries  about  some  "curious"  destinations  stamped  on  my  passport),  we  bounced  on,  finally  arriving  in  Paris  2+  hours  late,  which  was  considered  to  be  normal....since  the  train  &  crew  were   Italian.  

The  Eurostar  from  London  to  Paris  under  the  English  Channel  is  fantastic.   Other  trains  make  the  same  run,  for  substantially  cheaper  fares,  but  the  accommodations  &  service  leave  a  LOT  to  be  desired.   With  a  few  friends  and  a  dozen  teenage  girls  in  tow,  I  finally  got  to  sleep  {seems  the  next  car  on  the  train  contained  a  group  of  teenage  BOYS,  hence  my  job  as  hall  monitor  &  chaperone's  degree  of  difficulty  increased  exponentially}.   We  stopped  in  Switzerland,  for  a  routine   check  of  passports,  normally  done  all  at  once  on  the  platform  by  the  crew.  When  the  process  finally  ended  (including  inquiries  about  some  "curious"  destinations  stamped  on  my  passport),  we  bounced  on,  finally  arriving  in  Paris  2+  hours  late,  which  was  considered  to  be  normal....since  the  train  &  crew  were   Italian.  

LYNN:  The only bad time I ever had on AMTRAK was when a  Cook, who was stoned out of his mind, became incensed when I - very quietly - sent my meal back, and ordered something else ... He attacked me with a Butcher Knife, and I ended up beating him severely and rearranging his face, thought seriously about cutting his nose off with his own knife, but instead I just threw him off the Train not far from Tuscaloosa , Alabama ... The only injury I sustained was that he had, with his flailing thrusts, cut a long gash in a three hundred dollar Silverbelly I was wearing at the time ... If I had known he hit my hat at the time I was hitting him, I probably would have killed him ... The Railroad returned the Price of my Tickets, gave me a Thousand dollars for my hat, comp'd all further meals and beverages, and I have never been refused Passage since, nor had any other unseemly occurance aboard a Train ... They did ask me to sign a release (a promise not to sue) which I did ... Three months later while the Judge of the Court in which this Stoner-Cook was suing me was admonishing me that I should have shown some restraint blah blah blah blah ... I told him that I had shown great restraint to preclude making the mountain of paperwork any worse than what it was ... He asked me, "Just how did you exercize Great Restraint ???" with his officious snark ... I pulled my coat back slightly so's he could see my Badge and my Gun, and I told him, I could have Shot the SOB !!!  He dismissed the case ... That was my second and last Tour of Duty as a Brig Chaser .......

I haven't flown since I've had a choice (retirement) and the caught-in-a-converyer-belt ruination of my J. Peterman Genuine Gladstone Heirloom Rich Brown full-grain cowhide leather, replete with brass fittings throughout, Bag (No1006), Owner's Manual No 82B, pg. 4.
 
Being the first of my family to be able to own such a treasure, I think I had only some small sense of how good I looked when I walked down the street carrying that treasure. Imagine if you can how it is now...having to wear a grocery sack over my head with eyeholes cut out so no one will know who I am without my Gladstone.
 
"Ain't it funny how pride goes before the fall", Doo-Dah! Doo=Dah!

A Santo-rary:
http://www.npr.org/2010/12/04/131805199/last-dance-for-a-symbol-of-the-joys-of-baseball?ft=1&f=1001

Guest forgot to mention that owing to friends and business connections (a lot of his customers are loaded), he is able to fly tag-along on private and corporate jets and has a personal preference for Gulfstream.
His story about one of his hosts, Cornbread, and no outdoorsman, is funny. The guy is driven into the hangar, the door is closed, he boards, they open the door, taxi, fly  and then, the reverse procedure is followed at the other end.
Hey, a guy's hair could get all mussed out there.

Personally, I find there to be something kind of life-sucking about airports.

George ~
That is very sad.

and he proly NEEDS that tax cut if he is to keep the heat on in that hanger

Jalopkin, 'twould have justifiable, sir! Anchors aweigh!!

There have been several stories about the unclaimed baggage store down in Alabama. Check out their site. They buy all the luggage from the airlines and it is interesting what turns up there. Used to be some really good deals in the old days. Makes you wonder if its somebody's brother in law down in baggage claim.
 
 
http://www.unclaimedbaggage.com/

Jalopkin: What a great story!  Amazing how a badge can change the court's mind.  I am amazed that Amtrak didn't charge the idiot.  You certainly could have.  Assault with a deadly weapon could have put him away for a while.  Oh well, the direction he was going, one could assume that he was headed for incarceration anyway.  There's something said about druggies and alcoholics that their lives are unmanageable.  If they get unmanageable enough, someone will step in to do the managing.
With the clear example of the European trains, Amtrak just does not seem to get it.  We took the Renfe from Madrid to Algeciras and had a grand time.  It was only 3 plus hours, so the dining was not elegant, but adequate.  And Atocha Train Station in Madrid is really nice and very passenger-friendly.  There are no long walks to trains.  And everyone is very friendly and helpful to the passengers.  English is rarer than I expected, so some Spanish is helpful
I have such nice memories of trains: the NY Central between NYC and Michigan and the Rock Island line between Chicago and Des Moines.  That was American trains at their best.

Ivan and Lynn- The train for me is the epitome of romance. I love the Dining Car and I imagine I am Cary Grant in North by Northwest and then later grab a nightcap and strike up a conversation before getting the turndowwn service by the porter and the sleep you get hearing the rhythm of the rails beneath your head. You are onto the difference between getting from point A to B and really having an adventure. Strange but train scenes make me think of my favorite holiday movies whiich is not really a holiday movie but darn funny- Some Like It Hot. I love that flick.

Ever see the private rail cars at the turn of the last Century? Or Coca Cola's? or the steel mag-a-nate's?

RY- Before the income tax there were some truly rich in this country, A trip to the Biltmore in Asheville, NC also verifies that fact. But look at the products those fatcats and the high paying manufacturing jobs. Pullman, Illinois for instance.

We have a Train Museum down in Galveston, and there are a number of Great Old Private Coaches, including one that belonged to Fred O. Grimes, who was the REAL King Maker, from Texas ... Those Old Cars are still works of Art ...
 
LYNN:  I am not sure when, or if the Stoner ever found his way back to the Train Station ... surely he landed with a thump, and the Train was going 80mph ... It was some Do-Gooder in the Dining Car who took issue with me thru the Railroad ... and all the Railroad wanted to do was put the whole thing behind them and git on down the Track ... and as I said, if I had seen what he did to my Hat, never mind how close he came to running that knife into my Brain, I would have killed him ... I was simply trying not to use excessive force to stop the guy from hurting me or someone else ... I cut the Brim of that Silverbelly down about two inches, and used it as a knock-around hat after that ... What really pissed me off was that it was a Gift to my Dad from John Connally, and my Dad gave it to me as he preferred his hats about Three Gallons smaller ... Never did fix the hole in the Crown .......

Reading today's dialog is akin to sitting in an old General Store while crusty old farts play checkers and fill the air with the smell of hand rolled Prince Albert...I love it!

I remember being on the Rock Island Line on a summer afternoon in the early fifties, and sitting in the club car with my mother.  The huge windows showed the landscape passing by, all the Midwestern farms of Illinois and Iowa.  It took a good chunk of the day to get from Jackson or Detroit to Des Moines where my maternal grandparents lived.  I was a decently polite and curious young lad, so the waiter in the dining car showed me the kitchen.  They actually used wood stoves with compressed wood logs.  As you used the logs, it freed up space, and was thus easier to use than gas or oil.  The Rock Island dining car was the first time I had pheasant in a restaurant (yes, I was adventurous then, and my Mom encouraged it).
And I remember sitting in the dining car of the NY Central, dressed in tie and blazer, white shirt starched and grey flannels pressed, having tea and an English muffin, and feeling nicely elegant. I'm not sure Amtrak permits that, much less the airlines.  That's why my wife and I prefer foreign carriers when traveling abroad.  Except for Air Canada who handle baggage worse than anyone.  We took them and changed planes in Toronto enroute to Dublin.  They made no attempt to transfer luggage (attested to by the airport baggagemaster in Dublin).  We got our stuff the next day.
Jalopkin: Sheplers still sells the Silverbelly, I notice.  Great hat.  Just the sort that Connally and Johnson and other distinguished Texans wore.  I graduated from high school in 1961, a year after Kennedy refused to wear a hat at his Inauguration.  Within a year, the hat had disappeared, and I was so disappointed.  One of the rites of passage from the caps of boyhood to the hats of manhood had been snatched away!  My Dad wore a brown fedora in winter and a straw version in summer.  Hats were rarely thrown away - they graduated to use when doing yard work, etc.  The only place you still see hats is in the desert southwest and the area just west of the Rockies, Montana and south.  And the ubiquitous baseball cap is eroding that.

My favorite Spokane to Whitefish, Montana and the Christmas lights in town viewed from the old train station with Big Mountain looking over your shoulder and a cup of hot buttered rum waiting.

Rayla Givens still wears a Stetson...of course he's a fictional character in a tv show.
 
My Dad wears a Stetson most of the time as well. Having lived in Texas for over ten years he adopted wearing a hat and even though he's lived back in Kentucky for almost ten years he can't break the habit.
 
Being a short fella I find I can't quite pull it off. So it's the ubiquitous ball cap for me sad to say.
 
I have shopped at Sheplers in OKC and at Langstons in Stock Yard City but all I could find to fit were a few  shirts and a belt.
 
Maybe a fedora is in my future...I'll go hatless before considering a bowler or derby.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lCiJ4QQG9WQ

The Peterman catalog offered an "international orange-"duffle bag that I have used as a checked bag for several years. It is chromatically dictatorial. Even at considerable distances it can't not be seen.

I once joked with a traveling companion that my bag burns retinol to look at it, and that I need to dose up on vitamin A after the trip.

Half the fans at the Packer game tomorrow will be wearing blaze orange... it may not be the best choice with a cheddar-head but there you go.

It may no longer be available, but a large take-it-to-the-office sized box of Krispy Kremes was a dandy thing to pick up at Penn Station for a twenty-four hour train ride to Chicago.
Even the iron-willed weakened before it was over.

The key thing is to know the model of plane that you might typically fly.  Most larger planes will be no problem for regulation carry-ons, but some of those small puddle jumpers have very limited in-cabin storage, i.e. what passes for the 'normal" allowable size bring-on-board bag will not fit in the storage compartments. 
 
I know how you feel -- while I usually don't mind (too much) if I am separated from my carry-on, I freaked one time when carrying my laptop in my tote and they wanted to take it from me.  Having my laptop usually means I'm traveling on a professional commitment, and the laptop has my life in it in those cases.  When I know I'll be on a small connecting plane, I take a small carry-on that I KNOW will hold my really important items, even if that means the laptop goes in a smaller case.  'All the more reason to buy a netbook, sometime.
 
I am a confirmed bag-checker, except for items that I cannot leave out of my sight.  'Worth the price, especially if I'm not a direct flight -- less to wrestle in the restroom and in the restaurant on the layover.
 
Speaking of which, Peterman and Eye-ers -- where are your favorite airports for layovers, i.e. where to kill time in a reasonably pleasant way, even if air travel isn't as glamorous as it once was?  I'll start: the one saving grace of LAX is the flying-saucer Encounter restaurant and lounge.  With Sinatra on the music system and lava lamps adding personality, and a view of the runways, you can remember the fun of flying.  Then there's Memphis Airport, which I pick when I HAVE to change planes somewhere when heading south -- barbecue and a glass of red wine on layovers at a place in the terminal is great.  Finally, I love the terminals in Zurich and Amsterdam that have bars dedicated to serving champagne.  Since I usually have to get to the international terminals early for the trip back to the U.S., toasting a good trip is a good send-off.    ...and yet another reason not to be schlepping much luggage.
 
Disclaimer: a favorite column of mine is in the Tuesday edition of the New York Times where a frequent traveler is interviewed for travel stories and Q & A insights.  The last question is often good: Secret Airport Vice.

Yeah Lynn, The Rock Island Line is a Mighty Good Line ... The Rock Island Line is the Road to Ride ... The Rock Island Line is a Mighty Good Road ... If You Want to Ride You Gotta Ride It Like You Find It ... Get Your Ticket at The Station For The Rock Island Line .......
 
Got a few Stetsons too, among the sixty-odd hats in my Closet ... Some of them older than I am ... Been wearing hats of one type or another since I first started walking ... Carried a work hat and a Dress Stetson with me on Active Duty, and also a News Boys' Cap, or what Peterman calls the, "Handsome Thug" Cap ... Everybody wore hats when I'm growing up, and my other Grandfather who was a Station Master for Southern Pacific even got me an Engineer's Hat which I usually wore when plowing or mowing, driving the Tractor ... Hats are just how we dress down here, Older Folks that is ... Just don't feel quite right bare headed, and I always wear a Kippot on my head in the House, especially on Fridays, and when I am cooking I will make a Kippot out of a Brown Paper Bag, like a Painter does, so's I don't get a Silk one or a Wool one soiled ... Straw Fedora with a Guayabera Shirt and Jeans is a good summertime outfit for cruising with the Top down, or playing Bocce with the Elders ... The more some things change, the more they remain the same ...

There's potential here for a very lame joke in response to my saying that the men's room at the Las Vegas Airport has slots.
I put in a buck, won one hundred and when I told the Beauty, she smiled and said: "Ninety-nine."

This conversation today awakens a memory of my first train trip. I was 11 and my two sisters and I went from Memphis to Knoxville to visit our grandmother. Looking back, I remember that it was an exciting adventure....three young girls on our own and I've always wanted to take another train trip, but until today, I really hadn't even thought of that first trip. I wish I was a better storyteller, but details aren't my forte

Jalopkin: Since I am bald on the top, I have been wearing a cap for years, ones that are trimmer than a newsboy's cap.  Sometimes they're referred to as driving caps.  Used to find them in the stores all over, but now I only buy them in Europe.  Marks & Spencer in the UK is good, though I got two fine ones this summer in Scotland.  Nothing like Scottish wool.  I have a black homburg for real fancy, as well as some Stetsons that I wear occasionally (not popular here in Virginia), and some fedoras, both felt and straw.  And a fine straw boater that I bough in Chicago 44 years ago.  My stepmother threw out all of my Dad's hats, unfortunately.  I guess at 67 I'm old enough to wear what I please.  And I have one baseball cap, with the Vietnam Veterans of America logo on it.  I wear a Tilly field hat when mowing or whatever.  And I have a Chinese rabbit fur winter hat with ear flaps that is for serious cold.

I have a collection of Harley mechanic hats. They do not make them anymore,sadly. I have looked everywhere, and the ones I have are probably worth something,besides to me. They are quilted,pill box style eith a very small soft brim. That was why I liked them-they stayed on at 100 mph. I have worn them for 25 years, almost like a signature, like a painter wears a beret`. I will upload a hat pix

The most hold-your-breath bit of baggage handling I ever saw was our trusty black Ford Consul being hoisted in a cargo net into the hold of a steamer to go to the other side of Lake Victoria. No ro-ro ferries in those days. On the Kenya side, the ferry docks at a place called Kisumu, where we stayed for a few days. It being a small world, many years later I sat next to an African lady in a college canteen & got chatting, asked where she was from .... You wouldn't know it, she said, a little place called Kisumu. She must have been feeling homesick, as she was overjoyed to tears meeting somebody who had been to her home town & could speak a few words of her own language.

There are definite advantages to getting older, the main one of course being, Getting Older ....... Still got my Boater from fifty years ago, when I was singing with the Society For The Preservation and Encouragement of Barber Shop Quartets Singing in America ... I wear it with a Drill Cien Suit during the Summer ... Spiffy, No???
 
Dress to suit yourself(No Pun intended) I figure, nobody else is paying my bills, so why the hell should I care ???  And besides that, if I dress a little, "Outre" it softens the grotesqueness of my appearance to a little less startling ... If people are looking at my Bow Tie, they don't hafte look me in the face, or waste time trying to figure out where it is ... I just dress in that which makes me comfortable, and always have a hat .......

Jalopkin, you mention you always have a hat. A customer at one of my favorite coffee shops has a collection of hats and wears a different one each time he stops there. Some recent examples: A sombrero, a top hat, a bowler and a cowboy hat. He and his hats add to the delight of the place. i have several hats of my own and have started wearing a hat each time I go there.

lotlot:   GOOD  ON  YOU !!!  and your Koffee Klatch Kousin Too !!! 
 
Maybe y'all can spark a return to an age old Custom !!!
 
 
How is it, that a Proper Gentleman can Tip His Hat to a Lady ....... if Gentlemen don't wear hats ???
 
And Ladies !!!  Ladies should wear Hats Too !!!
 
My Aunt Esther always wore hats outside, Summer or Winter ... I asked her once why she always wore a hat, especially when she was just in a Housedress, hanging out the Laundry ... Without even looking at me or thinking for a second, she said, " Keeps the Bird Crap Out of My Hair ..." Esther had Domestic Help, but no one touched her"Unmentionables" but Esther ... She would hang a Bedsheet to dry on the Front Line, and another on the Back Line ... and then hang her Foundation arments on the Lines in the center, so's they could not be seen from the street or across the back yard ... When dry, she would Press them folded, and then wrap each item in Tissue Paper before storing everything neatly in a High Boy ... I had thought it all to be some Leftover from the Victorian Era, but Esther said, "its to keep Critters from walkin' all over stuff thats gonna be right up next to my ....... skin ..."  My Cousin Leo had told me about all these very different antics of his Mom's, and caught hell from Esther for blabbing, when I just asked her, Howcome ... a hundred times ...
 
Most of my young life, a High Boy was a tall piece of furniture with a buncha drawers fer yer drawers and such ... First time I saw a '32 Ford Roadster with the Body sitting on top of the Frame, rather than being channeled down around it, with a Full-Race Flathead w/3X2's and straight pipes ... The term High Boy took on a whole nuther meaning for me !!!  Great Stuff !!!  Especially with the original, "War Wheels" ...

JANE...............you never have to apologize for your posts because I ALWAYS look forward to them and you are quite full of detail, so there!
 
IVAN..........I love your stories and like your Aunt Esther I too hang clothes out on the line & I hide my "unmentionables" by the plum tree..........I really have no desire for people to see them blowing in the breeze...................

Eons ago, an airline lost my luggage. I reported it, filling out multiple forms. Gave an estimate of my loss.

No response. i contacted the airline's lost and found department.

No response.

I went up the chain of command.

No response.

Finally, I contacted the airline CEO.

By return mail, I got a check for the full amount of my estimated loss.

Since then, i skip dealing with the underlings when i have a problem. Customer service people more often that not offer little in the way of customer service.

Instead, I immediately go straight to the top.

That way, I get satisfaction.

And I get it fast.