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It’s fun to travel. So far today, it has not been a good day to be me. Security at Sea-Tac took over 20 minutes. I don’t have my frequent-flyer number for British Airways. I’ve been in the back of the plane twice, which qualifies as an indignity to any sufficiently frequent flyer. The Phoenix Sky Harbor Airport, which is about the size of Rhode Island, had two walkways out of service, on the day where I get to walk from the very end of the A concourse to the very end of the B concourse. I’m being crowded by a large gentleman in the middle seat who jabs me with his elbows and knees as he reads the George W. Bush strokefest “A Man of Faith”. And I’d complain about the food, were it not for the fact that one has to pay for it on America West now. Not that it would bother me too much if I could get good food on an airplane, but since I can’t, it’s Pizza Hut for me. Rung up by a cashier who was so slow, I could feel my Personal Pan Pizza getting cold in my hands. And there’s gum stuck between my seat and the window. Gum!

My flying experiences may not improve until at least July. I have a flight on Sunday to JFK, which at least is direct — but it’s on Delta. No frequent-flyer love for me again. I’m flying to San Jose in June, which will at least be on Alaska — but the San Jose airport sucks big fat rocks.

These are all things that Normal Matt can handle. But all together, they cause Travel Matt to sink further into his latent misanthropy. Travel Matt will be further let down if he has to eat salad — or worse, a PowerBar — in the absence of a suitable vegetarian meal in Atlanta.

At least Travel Matt has much of what he needs for a 2-day trip: three changes of clothes, workout gear (including sneakers), sketch pad, notepad, writing utensils, travel kit, laptop, cell, iPod, Palm, Harper’s Magazine, the Economist, and emergency snacky treats. Yup. Traveling real light this time. Next time, I’m bringing the kitchen sink.