My best friend is off to Italy next week to see her daughter get married. She's a little nervous about this adventure, not having flown to Europe in a long time, perhaps not since 9/11. Everyone gives her advice. My advice was to let the AAA set it all up. That worked great for me the time I went to Italy, a trip I took with another friend in pursuit of her art history research.
I must have mentioned it to you, the time I went to Italy; I never shut up about it, my lone experience of European travel. It was a couple of years ago, and I thought it was divine. But instead of the AAA my friend let her daughter make the arrangements, which involved a 13-hour layover in the Munich airport on the way to her Italian destination. This was unacceptable to her, so she changed it to a much shorter stop. I tell you what, I could live in the Munich airport, although somewhat more comfortably if I had money for luxurious perfumes and clothes, and if there were no restrictions on my diet. My word, the food. I could just do a vacation in the Munich airport. I love that airport. But
chaque'un a son gout, as they say.
Anyway she is now engaged in pulling together the minutiae for this trip. Her beloved hair mousse is out, since it will look like a bomb to the TSA. I like to fly with a tiny bottle of jojoba oil to keep my hair in line, and it's good enough for me, but Lesley is better-looking than I am and requires more upkeep. Also I have no daughter to criticize my looks.
So what's good? I want to throw this open to you world travelers out there. Annamaria, help me out. What do you need to know to get successfully from here to Italy and back? What needs to go in the one-quart plastic baggie? What needs to be in the carry-on? If you check baggage through, will you ever see it again? If it were me, I would make sure to carry on the dress I planned to wear to the wedding. I still remember the night of the Malice Domestic banquet, when the lock broke on the door to our hotel room, trapping Robin Hathaway and me on the outside of the door and our beautiful evening clothes on the inside.
Leave a comment at your earliest convenience. It's time for her to start packing.
Kate Gallison
My rules:
ReplyDelete1. Take the hair gel but put it in the checked luggage. I put it in a baggie, but only to protect my clothes in case the container leaks.
2. carry on your meds if you use any and in this case the wedding ensemble if the wedding is soon after arrival. You are right about that, Kate
3. Don't carry on any liquids at all.
4.NEVER change planes at Chas. De Gaulle.
Luggage can get delayed, but only .005% ever gets lost for good.
If Leslie really is better looking than you (which I find hard to believe), she can show up for the ceremony in a a black trash bag and still look stunning. You are right, though, about the standards to which daughters hold their mothers. It's part of being human!