Five for fun: Planes, trains, and automobiles

1. What's your favorite method of travel? Why?
Definitely car -- I love love love road trips... although maybe if I had a luxurious sleeper car, I could get into the train thing, too, for really long trips. The things I love best about going by car are that I can leave on my own schedule, I can pack as much as will fit in the car, and I can stop wherever and whenever I want. And I can listen to my music as loud as I want, without the scream of the plane's engines in my ears, and no one bangs on the back of my seat or lowers their head into my lap while I'm eating dinner. And now I have a road-trip buddy -- Lazarus seems to do really well in the car, and, fingers crossed, we'll go on many trips together.

2. What's the longest road trip you've ever taken? Where?
Philadelphia to Albuquerque, New Mexico, in June 1993, over five days with two friends, three cats, and a carload of stuff I was moving out west with me. We stayed in Motel 6's the first three nights -- Roanoke, Virginia, Nashville, Tennessee, and Little Rock, Arkansas -- and in another little motel I can't remember the name of in Shamrock, Texas. The motel in Roanoke was scary -- both the front door and the bathroom door had putty and small wood braces to repair what clearly looked like doors kicked in and broken down. Did someone get stalked and murdered there? Did someone fall down and die in the bathtub and no one figured it out till the bill went unpaid and the other guests complained of a smell? We packed up and left very, very early the next morning. I had gotten my driver's license about a month before (at the tender age of 27) and did okay till we hit Nashville, then my friends (Agatha and Rosanne) tactfully took over. The final day, the car conked out going up the hill into New Mexico, and we barely managed to make it to a campground to rest and call someone, and I had my usual (at the time) mild panic attack because things weren't going smoothly and my three cats were getting restless after five days in the car. (The car just had vapor lock and we did finally make it to Albuquerque, and the apartment complex I had rented in unseen had a lovely pool where we relaxed the evening away.)

3. How many plane trips have you taken in your life?
Hmmmm... maybe 12 or so, probably more business (back in my "real" employment days) than leisure. Shortest: Denver to Albuquerque, during a powerful August storm that tossed the 25-seat plane around like a beach ball; longest: Los Angeles to Ireland (via Britain), which I don't recommend for restless or claustrophobic travelers.

4. What method of travel do you fear so much or intensely dislike that you avoid it? Why?
Air travel... because I hate airports and all the people and feel claustrophobic in airplanes. I love the view and the speed, but it's almost not worth all the rest of the rigamarole. Especially now -- I've always had a bag or two searched, for some reason, but now the security check involves getting Lazarus' stroller and car seat taken completely apart, having to get wanded and take my shoes off, emptying out my laptop bag and having to explain why I'm carrying all these wires and other implements... And I always have this sense that at one of the many checkpoints through the maze leading to my way-too-small seat, something is going to hang and -- boom. Anna has a meltdown (see #5 below).

5. Describe the worst travel experience you've ever had.
Los Angeles to Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic, for a mission trip in 1997. The plane got into Santo Domingo around 3:00 in the morning, and we had to stand in line for what seemed like hours to show our passports, go through security, and pay to get into the country. There was some confusion as to where our group was supposed to go, so we kept getting herded here, then there, and I had two very heavy bags to carry and hadn't slept in 24 hours. I don't do well on little or no sleep, and I don't do well in crowded, chaotic situations, so of course I had a complete meltdown -- crying, dry heaves, hyperventilation... it was ridiculous. We ended up having an amazing time there, though (tarantulas and rats and airplane-sized mosquitoes notwithstanding.)