Age 44: Learning to Travel

I’m sitting at the gate at the airport in Phoenix. My two boxes of wine are checked, I’m through security and it couldn’t have been smoother.

I’ve realized that I’m not as experienced a traveler as I thought. Or, more accurately, I’m more rooted in being an on-a-shoestring-traveler than I’d previously realized. So much so that taking advantage of hotel bell services almost feels like an immoral act.

The first time I went anywhere by plane was when I came to the US when I was 18. Before that, nearly all my vacations had been by car or train and we’d either stayed at a camping site or a hostel. When I first began staying at actual hotels I would never let anyone help me with my luggage. I can carry my own bags and why would I waste my money on such an unnecessary luxury? Similarly, I never buy popcorn in a movie theater. Even though I can easily afford it, it’s deeply ingrained in me that this is an overpriced frivolity to be avoided. We can make popcorn at home for a small fraction of the cost!

When I arrived yesterday at the hotel with two wine boxes that would be impossible for me to carry at the same time, it never crossed my mind that there would be staff there to help me. Brandon and I pulled up and asked if we could leave the car outside while we carried two boxes to my room, and the person at the bell desk said “we have carts and we can take them to your room.” What a revelation! Then, as they dropped the boxes in my room I asked about next morning: “Can I come pick up one of these carts for when I check out?” The in-retrospect-obvious answer: “Just call the bell desk and we’ll come get them for you!”

When I got to the airport shuttle bus that my company had arranged (there were 8-10 of us leaving at the same time) the coordinator noticed my boxes and immediately said “let me call ahead to the airport so someone will meet you with a cart.” When we got to the airport, not only did a woman stand there with a cart at the ready, she also followed me in, pushing the cart, until I’d dropped the boxes at the check-in desk.

And so an inconvenient ordeal turned into smooth sailing. Simply by allowing myself to take advantage of existing services. And realizing that they aren’t sinful for ordinary people like me.