Benson's Travel Notes

Did you notice...

Thought for the Day
If you park your car at the long-term parking lots at the airport, don't park under a tree! Even in the dead of winter, there are birds around and any tree is fair game. I came home to a car covered with bird s**t after a few days away.

...that there is left-handed luggage? How do you tell? If you're using one of those pullman-type of luggage with the wheels and extendable handle, stand it up on its end with the wheels and handle (the bottom) facing you. There's a handle on top. The position of the side handle determines whom it was made for. If the side handle is on the right side, then it's made for right-handed people; it works conversely for left-handed people.

Huh? Suppose you need to put the luggage in the trunk of a car. Do you lift the luggage from the end? Not really. You'd have lift it very high with the end handle to get it into the car. What you're actually going to do is start the lifting with the end handle and then grab the side handle (along the length), preferably with your stronger arm, and lift it into the car; you don't have to lift it as high to get it into the car. I bought a neat piece of luggage recently, only to find out that it's awkward to load into a car.

However, I had thought this was the reason why the ticket agents at the airport always put my luggage front-down on the conveyor belt. I think this is so the wheels are up and the luggage won't roll off the belt.

Note to fellow travellers:

Know those individual-sized soaps and shampoos that the hotels leave for their guests in the rooms? They're for the guest to do with as they please. I tend to take mine home since I bring all of my own toilettries when I travel (which is why my luggage is always bigger than average) and I suggest that you do the same. Here's why:

You can use that stuff in your gym bag when you go work out. You might not want to carry large soaps and shampoos with you to the gym.
If you have guests over, you might want to leave out that soap and shampoo for *their* personal use.
However, the real reason that I collect the small hotel soaps and shampoos is that I donate them to charity. When I collect a whole box of soaps, shampoos, lotions, and mouthwash, I drop off the box at the local shelter; in my case, that's the Pine Street Inn in the South End of Boston. The shelter can give out the same volume of toillettries to more people than if they had large bottles of shampoo and large bars of soap. I hope you will consider doing the same.