Flying and Buying
I’m headed to the West Coast again. The flight left late, and now, a couple of hours into it, there’s still almost four hours to go.
For the past hour or so I entertained myself by leafing through every page of the Sky Mall catalog that United has thoughtfully placed in every seat pocket. The cover promises “over 500 new products!” I turned the page from electronic gadgets to security doo-dads, from office furniture to pet houses, from swimming pool toys to massage tables. Most of the time I stared in amused disbelief at the golf accessories and pampered pet products and hidden video cameras . Who would buy that innovative new tie rack that conveniently holds 76 neckties? Or that pop-up hot dog cooker, just $49.95?
In between my sneering, of course, I found a few things I myself could force myself to buy if I had the extra cash. I’m not completely immune to the consumerist lure; this is, after all, a G4 iBook I’m writing on at the moment. But the catalog’s obvious pitch to people with scads of extra money clarifies how class-based our economy really is, and how easily people with money become accustomed to finding a product to rid eliminate every inconvenience. Flying offers an experience where disposable income is assumed, from the in-flight shopping to the airport stores to the ads for ever-more-expensive vacation paradises.
Bus, the other end of interstate travel, offers a different experience. My May bus-and-ferry trip from Portland, Oregon to Vancouver Island took a whole day, long enough to remind me of my long-past coast-to-coast bus trips. Bus travel reveals different assumptions — people with limited funds, bus stations with junkier food, dirtier bathrooms, inconvenient connections. Still, I’ve always liked it — the slower pace lets you see where you’re going, the tired passengers are more varied and often pretty friendly, you get to see the drivers pay attention to the road. And now that passengers can’t smoke, the actual journey is no more uncomfortable than flying (though still not as pleasant as taking a stroll through a train).
I expect to do more bus travel later in the summer and fall; it remains a great way to make a lot of stops without expensive one-way plane flights. I’m looking forward to it.
But maybe first I’ll get one of those travel cushions Sky Mall is selling. Could come in pretty handy, after all.