Travel Blog Post #2 - Don't be that Traveler

It was a fairly light travel year for me in 2015. I spent almost 30% of my year being in and around the tri-state area supporting local client engagements. By the end 2015, I traveled to 5 countries, over 50 cities, round about 75,000 miles and a little more than 125 nights on the road for work and leisure in total.

Recently, I thought about putting my travel experiences into good use and began with the 1st set of my travel blog posts about my visit to the emirates (Link). The next set of posts will focus on people and interactions, improving your overall travel experience and in-transit productivity. If there are any additional topics you'd like me to cover, feel free to comment below or shoot me a personal message.

I am in the process of putting together details around my Turkey visit too, so watch out for this space for some picturesque updates! 

Folks, over the course of my travel experience (and your’ s too, I'm sure) you come across a wide variety of individuals and personalities right from the time you go through security, to waiting for the flight, in-flight and during baggage claim. In fact I am writing this article in-flight (as a part of my maximize your in-flight time - blog post to follow) and sitting next to a no. 7 personality #notaverypleasurabletravel:

Don't be that traveler:

1. The Line Breaker - These individuals will find every opportunity - during security check, while boarding, or buying food @ the airport shops to break the line and get ahead (and no, it’s not a New York thing!). If you are in such a hurry to get somewhere, why don't you just buy your own chartered flight, right?
2. The Loud Speaker - Nope, we don't want to know about how great you are, or how much you miss your family, or how frustrated you are about the 15 minute airline delay. All of us might have been there and done that! You'd rather be cognizant of people around you and lower your voice. Thank you!
3. Let me board in an earlier zone - Interestingly, such people do exist. I do see why they would do it, but I guess it comes down to their ethics and conscience. So, it’s your choice.
4. Let me try and carry more than two carry on bags - As you know, most of the airlines allow only one carry on and one personal item, but these looney tunes will try and carry more than two and challenge the check in officer. I mean, why would you do that and necessarily hold up the others during the flight boarding process, why?
5. Only I have the right on my overhead space - You will see these people way more than often. They tend to be overly possessive about their overhead space and will try to spread and place their bags in such an inefficient manner that it occupies the full overhead space.
6. Hey Air-hostess, let me help you by shutting the overhead bin - I have never been able to understand the thought process of these people, honestly! Usually a large population of the no. 5's naturally flow into being no. 6. Even if there might be additional room in the overhead bin, they will go ahead and shut the bin only to make sure no one else can stuff their baggage in. Also, they turn into self-appointed overhead bin inspectors i.e. if anyone tries to open the closed bin to check for space, they will holla at them and let them know the bin is full. God bless these people!
7. I have paid for one seat, but is it okay if I use two? I can confidently say, every traveler has had an experience with such a person, need I say more? #thankgodforairlineupgrades
8. Oops, I spilled it again - Sorry! - These notorious individuals know that they are messy by nature and with the added in-flight turbulence they will spill more food than otherwise but still won’t take any precautionary measures. Carry some dry food, and some extra napkins the next time please?
9. Nope, I will not gate check my over-sized carry on! These are the individuals who you will see dragging their bag down the flight after everyone is done boarding. Yes, they were warned by the flight check in officer that it would be wise to gate check their bag but they chose to ignore this and here you go, they are doing just that after they failed to find a place / fit their carry-on bag into an overhead bin.
10. I know I have a snoring problem, but I can sleep best in-flight: You guys should get your snoring problem fixed, or take measures to ensure you don't disturb your co-passengers in-flight! I have some good friends, who make a conscious effort to stay awake during their flight journey just because they have a snoring problem - respect!
11. "Oh, can you help me get my bag as I keep texting someone" - Sure, why not? That’s precisely why I am at the baggage claim for! Sometimes, I feel walking out of such situations is best, at least these phone-aholics will realize who are they dealing with.
12. "I'm in a hurry, let me get out before you" (once the flight lands) - Sometimes people do have legit reasons and helping them out would be a good thing. But most of the times people just want to rush out of the flight out of turn by pushing and bypassing their co-passengers. Really, would 5 minutes make such a big difference guys?

We have all become so selfish, that we will put ourselves before others and won't leave any occasion to discomfort our co-travelers. Take a step back and ask yourself if there is anything significant you will gain if you decide to be "that traveler". Let me give you the answers, you will not. All your co-travelers have paid an amount for the flight ticket (maybe more than yours) so please be respectful of that and avoid putting anyone through unnecessary inconvenience. If some people will argue, it was a ticket booking through reward points / miles - oh common, they traveled enough to accrue those points/miles to book it!

Make travel a pleasure, not only for yourself but for the people around you too!

Cheers,
Adi