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| Hank over Chicago without Steven Spielberg |
HANK PHILLIPPI RYAN: Yeah well, traveling.
It can be wonderful, it really can. A
fun window seat over a cool recognizable city like Chicago. Sitting by, say, Steven Spielberg. I mean, it could happen. It didn't, though. Yet.
Oh, now, this isn’t what I was going to write, but hmm. Who would I love to sit by, more than anyone? Not counting any of you, of course, because that might really happen. But what if you got on the plane, sat in the widow seat, got organized and say (because this is a fun thing), you looked really great. And as you settle in, you hear a little rustle. And you look up. And about to take the empty seat beside you is—WHO?
Oh, now, this isn’t what I was going to write, but hmm. Who would I love to sit by, more than anyone? Not counting any of you, of course, because that might really happen. But what if you got on the plane, sat in the widow seat, got organized and say (because this is a fun thing), you looked really great. And as you settle in, you hear a little rustle. And you look up. And about to take the empty seat beside you is—WHO?
While you contemplate, say hi to our
Jungle Red stalwart pal, the fab David Burnsworth! He travels. A lot. And he can take the seatmate quiz, too. Right
after he gets his luggage back.
DAVID BURNWORTH: I travel for both my day job and my writing.
And, as I’m sure with most of you who travel, I have some stories. Some of them
good. Some of them not so good. I happen to be on a trip to South America as I
write this, so the challenge of travel is fresh on my mind.
My first trip outside of North
America, I was to meet a friend in Customs in the Brussels Airport. My
departure was from Knoxville and he was flying standby from Atlanta. A problem
for him, and soon for me, was this was the same time that the World Cup was
being played. In France. And he was flying standby. See the problem here? So,
my first time out of the country I had no idea what I was doing. As the first
hour and then the second ticked by while sitting in the airport in another
country waiting and he didn’t show up, I started to wonder that there might be
something wrong. And there was. He was still in Atlanta. I had to figure out
the phone system and make a few calls back to the states. Long story short, it
was my first trial in travel and I had to figure it out on my own.
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| David's actual finicky toiletries |
Fast forward twenty years to my
current travel challenge. I thought I had everything covered: a four-hour
layover in ATL before the long flight, a spare set of underwear in my carry on.
Only, and this isn’t the first time I’ve experienced this, Atlanta shuts down
all ground activity because of lighting and heavy rain. Apparently they value
the ground crews’ lives. (Kudos to you, ATL!) So, my fifty-minute flight from
GSP (Greenville Spartanburg) took four hours thanks to a few loops over Atlanta
and a two-hour stopover in Chattanooga for more fuel. Lucky for me, I walked
off that flight, stopped for a quick restroom break, and walked right on my
flight to Chile.
The challenge this time was while I
made it, my bag didn’t. Turns out I can buy most of my finicky toiletry choices (ed. note: see above) in Santiago which is great. But transferring clothing sizes from US English
measurements to metric isn’t so easy. My waist didn’t really just add fourteen
units of measurement? Was it that extra pastry on the flight?
I love to travel. But I find that it
requires patience and a willingness to be flexible.
My best experience? There’s two: Five
years ago, my wife and I got a free upgrade to a suite in Portsmouth, New
Hampshire. The downside? She likes suites now.
The second great experience?
Stuttgart to Atlanta, I got a first class upgrade.
The latest book in my Brack Pelton series, Big City Heat, Brack travels from Charleston to Atlanta to help a
friend find a missing woman. He also faces some challenges, some of them a
little bit more involved than missing luggage.
Do you like to travel? If so, what
are some of your stories?
HANK: Or hey, Reds and readers—tell me
your answer to the seatmate quiz! Only one choice. I’d pick—Stephen King!
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
David Burnsworth became fascinated with the Deep South
at a young age. After a degree in Mechanical Engineering from the University of
Tennessee and fifteen years in the corporate world, he made the decision to
write a novel. Big City Heat (April 2017, Henery Press) is the third
title in his Brack Pelton series. In It For The Money (September 2017,
Henery Press) continues the story of Private Eye Blu Carraway from the
cross-over novella, Blu Heat (March 2017, Henery Press). Having lived in
Charleston on Sullivan’s Island for five years, the setting was a foregone
conclusion. He and his wife call South Carolina home.
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