I learned this one the hard way: just buy the stupid travel insurance, the kind that lets you cancel for any reason.
I think of myself as a person who does not cancel or change trips. But the evidence, and my experience, is to the contrary.
From now on, I’m going with the flexibility.
I already fly Southwest whenever at all possible, because none of this matters for those flights – they are all completely transferable to other dates.
Sally shared this:
This week, I learned that when they tell you to empty your pockets at airport security, they mean it- I had to have two full body x-rays because I had a tissue and a hair elastic in my pocket. And I feel lucky, compared to a woman who had the same experience in this article:
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/11/19/business/19security.html?pagewanted=1&_r=2&hp
[From Jane: Wait she really means the same 2 items in her pocket!]
On a very early morning at Logan, Sally learned that you don’t actually need to haul over to another terminal to find breakfast somewhere traditional, such as Dunkin’ Donuts. It turns out that every vendor serves breakfast! Including Boston Beerworks, and way beyond beer.
I learned, for at least the second time, that Veteran’s Day is the BEST day to commute in and out of Boston! The bus FLEW in both directions! It was shocking. And wonderful!
It’s worse!
I have learned that the molasses-like morning traffic in the rain is not the only thing slow about this bus.
Even though the wireless connection says Signal Strength:Good, internet access is c..r..a..w..l..i..n..g…..!
Screens are blank while they load over what feels like hours. Yikes. There must be too much demand on this bus or on the service in general -whatever that blue-blink-box is connecting to in the sky.
So the lesson is don’t count on getting anything done on the ride in.
I want a do-over. To nap.
It’s not a political statement, but a practical consideration: I learned to AVOID the back of the bus on the Longwood Medical Area Shuttle.
We used to have cute little vans with cute little drivers, one of whom sold cute little jars of jam.
When we lost all cuteness, and a schedule that made sense, we got a variety of buses, including some huge honkin’ long ones.
I learned, the hard way, that sitting in the back can be downright painful. As in actually hurting.
First the driver missed the Beth Israel speed bump, completely. And by missed, I mean missed slowing down for it. He hit it full on. We went flying. Really. It hurt.
Then he managed to find other obstacles to hit, on roads that looked generally flat to me. It was a ride of rounds of “Ow!” and “Sorry!”
Go for the front.
Before you choose where to sit on the bus, stop and notice if some nearby passengers have REALLY strong cologne or aftershave or other scent. If so, keep looking,
I just learned that the Yelp app on my blackberry is amazing. I don’t even remember how I got it. I think Kat downloaded it in NYC when the browser version was so lame it was unusable.
It finds restaurants near my current location (using cell tower triangulation I’m sure) which would be handy if I could get this bus to pull over for a hot bagel.
I looked up burgers in my town and the first review I hit was by Sally who I think has some kind of yelp jedi level status or something
Wicked cool tool!
I should have learned by now that if people are talking to each other across the bus aisle when I get on then they are probably going to do it the whole long ride. Lesson is sit elsewhere.
Gale learned and taught me this:
Don’t rely on your GPS when out for a walk unless you bring your reading glasses as well.
Jane's Lessons Learned 