TA022737 Tammy EXPRESS - February 27-March 5, 2017 - Page 11 SASKATOON
Travelling has become a trial of patience
I
in the bottle doesn’t matter. have always maintained And don’t argue about it or that travel can provide you might get put on the noanyone and everyone with fly list. the best education possible. In most instances, today’s If you cross this country from traveller will have an added end to end, the interactions expense for luggage and with people and experiencoccasionally carry-on bags. ing their lifestyles will help Gone are the days when airdevelop more understanding lines offered a meal or snack of regional differences. More during your flight. The best importantly, you will find that you can hope for is water or people are more alike than tepid, stale coffee along with different. Columnist five pretzels in a package or On my first visit to the a biscuit (at least I think it’s a biscuit.) Maritimes, I realized they had a vast Yes, you can buy an over-priced snack ocean of breaking waves teeming with fish and Saskatchewan had vast fields of pack on board, but you would be better off eating the carton than the food wheat waving in the breeze. In speakcontained in it. The seats are cramped ing with fishermen on the dock, their and smaller (or then again, maybe I’m concerns sounded eerily like farmers. Fishermen talked about the price of fish larger) and getting a seat with leg room means an extra charge. In fact, the only the same way farmers talk about the price of wheat, the role weather plays on thing that doesn’t generate an extra their industry and the seasonal nature of charge is use of the tiny toilet facilities, their business. They take as much pride although that too may be coming to an end. in their seafood as we do in our beef. The most recent concern came to Travelling outside the country broadlight when a pilot with the keys to the ens one’s perspective exponentially. Here a 100-year-old building is consid- jet passed out in the cockpit. How in ered derelict and ready for destruction. hell did this guy clear security and get In Europe, 1,000-year-old buildings are on the plane in the first place? Apparstill viable. But then, they built things ently the federal government doesn’t to last; we build for the short-term. They impose any regulations on airlines to test pilots for sobriety or medication are far more pedestrian than we are, but they have more moderate climates. impairment before they fly because it would be a breach of a pilot’s rights. They have great public transportation, but their population base is denser, their But what about the rights of paying land mass smaller and driving a private passengers who may be cruising 35,000 feet in the air, inside a tin can, being vehicle is not an option for most. flown by someone who has no control Europeans don’t buy items in bulk because their living accommodations are of his or her faculties? The government smaller and no one (or very few) in their leaves it to airlines to monitor their own cities have a basement, garage or yard. personnel and points to this incident as Thus, fresh markets and small groceries to why that works. The question is, how many other times did a pilot fly while “a thrive. little off” and get away with it? In short, the geography and climate I know people travelled in days of may be different, cultures and traditions may be different, but citizens of any na- yore without a cellphone, but in today’s world taking a cellphone is the norm. tion are pretty much the same. But travel education may be coming Last year, when vacationing with the family in the United States my daughto an end for the average citizen, not just because the cost is getting prohibi- ter-in-law, a customer of Rogers, periodically used her phone to check in at tive but because the wrongdoing of a home at a cost of $5 a day. On the other few has caused inconvenience for the hand, if I used my SaskTel cellphone I many. would be lucky to get five minutes for Gone are the days when you could hustle into an airport a half hour before that price, although SaskTel has recently offered a similar package now for travel departure time and hop a plane to in the U.S. wherever you wanted to go. Now it is This year, in checking travel costs an exercise in patience to leave your with a friend going to Australia, she will own territory and wander into another. Add a couple of hours on to your travel use her Rogers’ phone for $10 a day to schedule to account for security checks. a maximum of $100 for the month. No such offer is available with SaskTel; I wasn’t overly bothered by this at however, there are minimal use plans. first because I would rather be inconThe joke is my friend is on a month-tovenienced than have the plane I’m on blow up. But the inconsistent nature of month plan with her carrier and I am bound by contract to SaskTel, and she security services is annoying. In some airports, you remove shoes, outerwear, pays significantly less monthly than I jewellery, wallets, etc. In other airports, do. To add to my annoyance, I couldn’t even take an old cellphone when travelyou don’t. I have travelled through four airport ling and buy a local SIM card at point of destination unless I pay SaskTel $50 to security screening stations carrying a take their lock off my old phone. But as small blunt-ended pair of tweezers in the nice young lady at SaskTel informed my purse without a problem, only to me, SaskTel cannot compete with the have them confiscated at the last security check because an officious security big companies on the global market. I’ll remember that when my contract agent decided they could be used as a weapon. A half-full 5.2-ounce bottle of renewal comes due. I think I just talked myself out of hand cream will be taken because the rules only allow for 3.4 ounces. The fact travelling. ehnatyshyn@gmail.com that there is less than three ounces left
ELAINE HNATYSHYN
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