It’s all about joy!

I used to dread flying across the country. Living in Upstate New York, most cross-country flights take six or more hours. That doesn’t even include layovers or delays. Since I’ve been doing more traveling lately, though, flying to the west coast - or anywhere really - is much more enjoyable. I’d like to think it’s because I’ve learned a few things.

In particular, the following tips have helped make flying infinitely nicer for me:

Avoid Busy Airports, Period. If possible, avoid the larger, more congested airports like Chicago O’Hare, New York’s JFK, Atlanta’s Hartsfield-Jackson International, Los Angeles International, or Dallas/Fort Worth International. This is especially true later in the day, when airplanes start piling up on the runway and delays become inevitable. This is why I prefer to fly through (and even from, if I can help it) quieter airports.

Time Your Flights Strategically. There are two parts to this tip. The first is to know yourself, and plan your flight departures and arrivals accordingly. For instance, I absolutely need my sleep, and don’t sleep well on planes. So, to accommodate this, I avoid red eyes at all costs. I took one once, and that’s all I needed before I realized I am NOT a nice person after having been awake all night! Also, I know that if I book a flight from the east coast that arrives on the west coast any time after 9:00 p.m. PT (which is midnight “my” time), I’d better not have any early starts the next morning. I’m an early-to-bed/early-to-rise kind of gal, so when I travel, I plan for that.

The second part to this tip is to book your flights on days and times when all airports are quieter. Traditionally, that’s a Tuesday or Wednesday between 7:45 a.m. and 11:30 a.m. I’m here at the airport now (8:30 a.m.) and I’m one of twenty people in sight. Plus, no one was in line at security when I arrived. How fantastic is that?!

Book Flights with Short Layovers (or Fly Direct). I am a huge fan of booking my travel through Cheapair.com. Part of the reason is that this portal site shows me the duration of all flight options on the days and in the price ranges I’m looking for. I don’t enjoy long layovers or long “total duration” flights, and have been able to, through CheapAir.com, fly cross-country with layovers that last no more than 40 minutes. My total travel time is sometimes as little as six and a half hours. Talk about fast and efficient!

Pack Snacks & Bring an Empty Water Bottle. I hate being without the healthy food I love, so when I’m traveling for more than four hours at a time, I pack granola bars, a peanut butter and jelly sandwich on whole wheat bread (doesn’t require refrigeration!), dried fruit, and an empty water bottle that I can fill up in a fountain. Part of the reason I do this is because I don’t like buying stuff at airports. It’s always more expensive, and rarely healthy (an exception is JFK where I’ve found a couple organic snack shops, much to my delight). Also, for environmental reasons, I don’t like buying bottled water, so I carry an empty one with me. It makes me feel better and keeps me well hydrated.

Bring Entertainment. Whether it’s for the plane, itself, or to keep myself occupied during layovers, I always have:

• My iPod Nano (which plays video)
• A book and a magazine
• My laptop
• My phone

Having all of these things gives me options when I travel, and let’s me decide what I’m in the mood for. Sometimes I can read for an hour, but often, I get impatient and need to switch it up with something else. Variety is the spice (and oftentimes the joy) of life.

Bring a Travel Pillow. I recently bought a buckwheat-filled travel pillow for my east-to-west coast trips. It fits in my carry-on, and lets me nap somewhat comfortably when reading, watching TV, or typing wear thin. Plus, the one I bought smells like lavender, so it’s a nice place to bury my nose when the smell of jet fuel overwhelms me!

Bring Ear Plugs. God bless ‘em, but invariably, there’s an unhappy baby or small child on the plane when I travel. To tune them out, I always have with foam ear plugs with me. They also serve me well in hotels where hallway noise, rowdy neighbors, or the sound of elevators beeping throughout the night can disturb my sleep.

Give Yourself Enough Time. Gone are the days of “just in time” air travel when one could arrive at the airport with just twenty minutes to spare. Before September 11^th, I did that a few times (and it felt great, breezing through security and then stepping onto my plane seconds before it took off). However, in today’s world where check-in and security lines are a crapshoot, rather than stress myself out, I make sure to arrive with plenty of time to spare. That’s usually within an hour and a half of my flight taking off, but sometimes up to two full hours before. Again, this is where the laptop, iPod, book, etc. come in handy!

When All Else Fails, Practice Patience & Rise Above with Spirituality. When the best laid plans fall apart (planes are late, lines are long and everyone’s grouchy), a fallback option is to rise above the situation and practice patience and spirituality. This is where my “going with the flow” attitude serves me, and allows me to really enjoy what’s happening as opposed to trying to control it. Instead of being mad about delays and other stuff I wish were different, I become an observer - of others and myself. I remind myself that everything happens for a reason, and maybe the plan I had for myself when I set out to travel is not what the Universe had in mind for me. I try to take things in stride and be in the moment with all of it. Invariably, this kind of attitude helps and I’m one of just a few people smiling when everyone else is crabby and complaining.

Another blog with some good travel tips is (of course!) ZenHabits, where Leo wrote a post awhile back entitled, “36 Great Tips for Keeping Travel as Simple as Possible.” Check it out and read some other ways to make travel, in general, more enjoyable.

Last week, I decided to change my winter wardrobe over to spring. That’s a pretty easy switch because I don’t have a lot of clothes. Still, it requires putting away a few pairs of corduroys, heavy tweed and wool pants and replacing them with chinos, linen pants and a few skirts.

I’m not sure about you, but despite my tenacity to donate what I don’t wear the instant I realize it’s been sitting untouched for more than a couple of months, I still have those “just in case” items I hold on to. They tend to be nicer, one-of-a-kind things purchased years ago that are too big for me now. One was a beautiful handknit J. Crew wool sweater I always received tons of compliments on. Another was a nice pair of Ann Taylor dress pants that, when they fit, looked fantastic. Still another was a beautiful lambswool and cashmere turtleneck sweater that, because of the lambswool, always felt too itchy to wear.

I also had a couple pairs of “skinny” pants that I purchased a year and a half ago after my regular pants started falling off of me. I’d lost some weight, and apparently more than I realized because without a belt, all it took was a firm tug and my old pants came right off. I tried a few of those “skinny” pants on again last week, but they were a tad, uh, snug. J

In the past on this blog, I’ve talked a lot about releasing and giving things away (viewpoints, people, possessions, etc.) in order to let newness in. Well that’s what I decided to do when I changed my wardrobe over. I took two big bags and filled them with those “just in case” items I’d been holding on to. In some regards, it was easy (I’m happy to say that itchy sweater no longer haunts me!). In other cases, it was harder. That J. Crew sweater was a tough donation. I remember when I bought that sweater: I was 14, and adored J. Crew. Every few months when the catalog came I’d pour through it and pick out one or two things I absolutely loved. We didn’t have a lot of money when I was younger, so my grandmother helped us out by buying me clothes. However, J. Crew was beyond our means. So, instead she’d let me charge one or two things to her credit card every few months and then pay her back as I earned enough money to do so. The day that sweater arrived, I felt like someone. It was $88 (back in 1990), and incredibly unique. The first day I wore it to school, one of the coolest kids (Trevor Black, a senior with a keen eye for fashion and a fellow J. Crew aficionado) commented on it. I was in heaven!

Alas, it’s now in someone else’s hands and hopefully they’ll enjoy it as much as I did.

On a lighter note, the other thing that struck me as I gave away those skinny pants that no longer fit was that in doing so, I let myself off the hook. Rather than holding on to those pants and thinking, “If I just work out harder and eat a little less, I’ll fit into them again,” I released myself by releasing those pants. I don’t need that kind of pressure or guilt related to how good I think I need to be (or how thin, pretty, popular, <insert adjective here>). By keeping those pants, I was not only holding on to a reminder of who I used to be, but I was dishonoring who I am today. I was subconsciously reinforcing that I’m not good enough the way I am. I was also unconsciously telling myself that if only I do X, Y, or Z, I may some day be as good as I was back then.

Nonsense!

The most important moment in my life is now, and I decided to celebrate who I am now by giving away the parts of my wardrobe - and life - that simply don’t fit any more.

Great joy, indeed!

I was in San Francisco again last week for a few days. While I don’t know my way around the city yet to any great degree, I do know one thing: downhill is good. As a matter of fact, it’s one of the ways I keep track of where I am and where I want to be. Uphill gets me deeper into the city and further away from my home base (the hotel). Downhill gets me closer to the water, which is, in more ways than one, where I ultimately always want to end up.

Life’s a lot like that, too. When I’m struggling uphill for too long, I know I’m out of sync and that things aren’t quite right in my life. When it feels like I’m cruising downhill, on the other hand, I know I’ve aligned myself with the power of the Universe and that my behaviors, beliefs and intentions are in flow.

Granted, in a world of duality, context and perfect harmony, we need both the up- and downhill’s to balance things out. However, I try to remind myself that I don’t always have to feel like I’m struggling uphill in order to be accomplishing the significance I want from life. There are (many) times when it’s ok if things feel “easy.”