Letters to the Editor
-
RE: kids
Okay, I have a question related to the whole "kids on planes" thing. When I was little (mid-70s) it was pretty much standard practice to give kids a dose of Benadryl or Dramamine before long trips. In my family, we were always told it was because "we got carsick" or suddenly "sounded a little stuffy." Bullshit. None of us EVER got carsick. We got Dramamine because it conked us out and our parents didn't have to listen to us whining...and then we didn't have to get yelled at by exhausted parents because we were whining.....and then they didn't have to listen to us sobbing because we'd just been yelled at...and because we were bored AND frustrated AND uncomfortable, and finally, really, really tired, but too frustrated, upset and uncomfortable to sleep.
Solution? Dramamine=long refreshing nap=happy parents and kids=more enjoyable trip.
All of a sudden there's this idea out there that dosing the kids with a mild sedative before a long train, car, or plane trip is akin to shooting heroine into their tiny arms with a dirty needle. How come? Everyone says "Ohhh, it would be so wrong to DRUG my children, I could NEVER do that." That's crap. Parents give their kids Benadryl or Dimatap all the time when they have a stuffy nose and can't sleep. Why not twice more every year so you can all get to grandma's for Christmas and back in relative sanity?
Besides, a lot of times kids scream on planes because they ARE motion sick or because their little noses ARE stuffy and their ears won't clear. Hell, they probably actually NEED a mild over-the-counter something precisely FOR it's intended anti-histamine or anti-nausea properties, and NOT because it puts them to sleep AT ALL!!!
Or, at least...that's what you can tell yourself while you're doing it.
-
Sleeper Cars?
Why have airlines never adopted a very old concept from trains: the sleeping car? Replace the seats with little bunks so that we can lay down, feet toward window and head to center of plane, stack them three pods high, and you might be able to fit the same number of people in the same space, provide more privacy, more comfort, and achieve the horizontal position that we all seem to want in flight.
Japan has had "capsule hotels" for some time, which I imagine to be similar. Amusingly, in The Fifth Element, a commercial spaceship came equipped with exactly the sort of bunks that I'm thinking of.
I'm also curious as to whether that the prone position would be safer in a crash.
It's not for the claustrophobic, I know, but I think it would be a much improved way to fly. Provide us with double wides, and we can all join the mile high club, too.
-
OT kids and antihistamines do not always interact the way you want
Well, sort of on topic: putting kids on antihistamines with the intent of making them sleepy is kind of a crapshoot. Some kids get really drowsy, but some kids -- and not an insignificant number, either -- go TOTALLY OFF THE RAILS. I mean they get crazy, bouncing-off-the-walls hyperactive with exactly the same drug that puts their agemates into La La Land.
So be very, very careful with the advice that traveling parents dope their kids up, lest you be the one who finds yourself sitting next to some Benadryl-dosed five year old who is standing on the arm of your seat trying to climb into the luggage bin above your head.
-
A boffo idea!
ctbland wrote:
Seat the salesmen with other salesmen, the teachers and academics together, the doctors together, the lawyers together, etc.
THAT is a boffo idea, if the airlines could make it work. Personally, unless I am traveling with wifey - I detest being stuck next to some dork salesman, or worse - a pie-eyed, religious fanatic trying to press her pamphlets and "salvation" recipes into my mitts. I just feel like popping her upside the head.
Keep all these type together, segregated from the rest of us. Then the religous bozos can proseltyze to each other to their heart's content and leave me alone. The salemen can make their pitches to each other, and we (solar or physics researchers) can converse on the latest updates, research....OR ...just read whatever papers we brought with us.
As for kids, they need to make a noise-proof bubble area in the rear of the plane and keep all the rug rats there. Maybe give 'em a valium and let them sleep and their parents can visit them and burp them every twenty mins. or so.
Worst experience I ever had was flying from Atlanta to Fort Myers in 1986 and some squallering little mouth behind me would not stop. At least 190 decibels with each scream and his clueless Momma didn't know whether to shit or go blind. Next time, retire the twerp to a sound proof cube or leave him with a sitter!
My hearing is down 70% since that!
-
Carryons, and food
Start strictly enforcing the carry-on size limit. I fly 100,000+ miles a year on business, and NOTHING makes me crazier than to see people hogging the overhead compartment with stuff that quite clearly wouldn't fit into the size-checking bin at the gate. Recently I got stuck on a completely full flight from LGA to ATL having to put my rather small laptop case under the seat reducing my footspace, (a not-inconsiderable thing when you wear size 14 shoes) so as to make room for some inconsiderate moron who somehow escaped the gate agent's attention while bringing on at least three shopping bags, each of which were about the size of a max-legal-size carry-on.
Oh, speaking of the max-legal-size rollaboard carry-ons, ubiquitous among business travelers such as myself: Generally speaking, when they're "expanded", they're not carry-ons anymore, people.
Oh, and make sure there is real food available (for purchase is fine by me) on every flight longer than two hours or so. 2 weeks ago I rode on an ATL-SFO flight that had no actual food available - the best I could get was a three-dollar can of Pringles.