Traveling provides an opportunity to enhance our knowledge, meet new people, and enjoy the taste and atmosphere of far-away places.  Traveling can be interesting and fun, unless something goes wrong.  Flying is one of the safest ways to travel, but there are risks.  A few days ago, a Spanair MD-82 flight to the Canary Islands crashed on takeoff and killed 153 people. Nineteen people survived the crash.  No amount of preparation can get you ready for this type of accident, but most trips end up uneventfully.  People get to where they want to go in spite of the delays in the airports, and they accomplish their business or they have a good time.

As I was walking in the living room today, the porcelain figurines on my bookcase caught my attention, and I thought about travel.  These ceramic figures are the only survivors of a trip that I took to Europe many years ago.  I had gone to Spain and Italy on business for a couple of weeks.  When I did not work, I took the opportunity to know the countries better.  In Spain, I drove a rental BMW from Madrid to Costa del Sol in Andalucía, which is by the Mediterranan Sea.  I visited cities like Torremolinos and Marbella, but I did not get as far as Gibraltar.  Many faces in the south of Spain reminded me of my maternal relatives.  I am sure that some of my ancestors came from there.

One of the interesting things that you can do on a trip is to gather souvenirs.  You can look at them later and remember where you were and re-imagine your adventures.  As I traveled in Spain, I encountered some beautiful ceramic figurines and bought four of them.  The price was about $15 Dollars each because they were Tengra ceramics, rather than the more expensive Lladro ceramics.  My statuettes were carefully wrapped in multiple layers of paper and placed in large boxes.

After one week in Spain, I spent another week in Pisa, Italy.  From there, I drove to Rome where I stayed overnight in preparation for my trip back to the United States.  After I packed everything in the car to go the airport, I went to check out of the hotel.  During the time that I was checking out, someone jimmied the car open and stole all my luggage.  The thief probably had a small car and could not fit the bulky boxes with the ceramics.  I went to the police station and filed a report.  I received a copy of the complaint, and drove immediately  to the airport.  I checked-in the boxes with the figurines with the airline and took the flight home.

When I arrived in Washington, D.C., I waited at the baggage return for my boxes, but they never came.  I went to the airline counter to ask about my lost boxes, and they told me that they would investigate.  So, there I was with only the clothes on my back after a two-week trip to Europe.  The customs agent eyed me with suspicion, but let me through.  My boxes with the four figurines arrived safely several days later.  They had been loaded on a different flight by mistake.

I spent the next few weeks going over my receipts to make a list of what I had lost.  I submitted claims to my employer, to the car rental agency, and to my home insurance.  Of course, the insurance agents asked me if I was in financial trouble, trying to figure out if I was pulling an insurance scam.  In the end, I got reimbursed for most of my losses.  I only have these ceramic figures to remind me of that trip, and I also know that somewhere in Italy, an Italian thief is wearing my clothes.

Last Sunday, a 19-year old driver fell asleep at the wheel as she was driving on the Chesapeake bay bridge.  The bridge has two spans which normally carry one-way traffic in different directions, but on this day, there was two-way traffic because one of the spans was closed for repairs.  The car with the sleeping driver drifted unto the oncoming traffic and a collision involving several vehicles sent an 18-wheeler tractor-trailer plunging into the Chesapeake Bay.  The driver of the truck was killed.  The sleepy driver was hospitalized and was reported to be in good condition.

Sleep deprivation may cause paranoia, hallucinations, as well as cognitive and psychomotor impairments. In one experiment, people who drove after being awake for 17-19 hours performed worse than those with a blood alcohol level of .05 percent, which is the legal limit for drunk driving in many western European countries.

Always get a good night’s sleep before you drive or operate machinery.  If you feel tired while driving, stop to rest and take a nap.  Think of the consequences.  What kind of life will you have after an accident?  If you survive, you may end up disabled or feeling guilty for the rest of your life for having injured someone through your negligence.

I have only run out of gas twice in my life.  The first time, I had been moving from one apartment to another, and I had a very busy schedule.  I completely forgot that cars ran on gas.  Lo, and behold, as I was driving down the street, my car started to sputter.  Dazedly, I looked at the gauges, and sure enough, the gas tank was completely empty.  This was in the days before there were red little warning lights on the gauges that let you know that your gas was low.

Fortunately, it was my lucky day!  The car stopped right in front of a house where the owner was mowing his lawn and he had a can of gas right there.  Seeing my predicament, he poured his gallon of gas into my tank and would not take any money.  Of course, gas cost about 50 cents per gallon in those days.  It was not a major investment like today.  I thanked him profusely and went on my merry way - directly to the gas station.

The second time I ran out of gas was because of an accident.  I was driving in my Buick Century down a freeway with my son, and all of a sudden, the car in front swerved to the left.  By the time I realized why he had swerved, I was on top of a big chunk of metal that probably had fallen off a truck.  Clink! Clank! Thunk! These were the sounds that I heard as the metal hit the underside of my car.  My tires were OK, but as I continued further, I noticed that my gas gauge was dropping quite fast.  I looked back in the mirror and saw a trail of gasoline.   My first thought was “I hope the car doesn’t catch on fire”, as I kept going.  There was an exit coming up.  I ran out of gas as I entered the exit and coasted right into a gas station that was in the right place at the right time.  I was really lucky!  The gas station specialized in gas tank repairs.  I called a neighbor to give me a ride home and lived happily ever after.

Don’t Forget to Stop your Mail

If the high gasoline prices are not going to keep you from traveling this summer, you should prepare for your trip. If you travel frequently, you probably keep all your travel items together and you are not likely to forget something at home, but when you are an occasional traveler, it is always frustrating to have to buy something that you forgot at home. When you buy on the road something substantial, like a camera, it is almost always inferior in quality than what you left at home. You are not going to spend several hundred dollars on another Canon or Nikon because you need your cash for the trip, so you end up buying a disposable camera with a bad lens.

Avoid oversights, check this handy Travel Checklist and Travel Tips