On the Move
Now boarding: cartoonists
Hi! Hallo! Oi! Hai! Hey! Amy Kurzweil here, bringing you the good toons. Given that I am currently on an Eastward trek that began in California and will end in Berlin, this week’s theme is TRAVEL.
At the time of writing, I am in Massachusetts. When this goes out, I’ll be in Maine. Let me now tell you how great a traveler I am: I only get nauseous on planes, cars, buses and boats (trains are totally fine!). I’ve only missed one of the two flights I’ve taken in the last year and half, I’m an expert at turning my phone on airplane mode just exactly when the plane’s wheels touch off ground, and I pack great: I’m only traveling with one suitcase full of art supplies. Did you know that some scissors are totally fine to bring through security? I learned this recently when my bag of art supplies was inevitably rummaged through, the scissors found, and the security guy, inspecting the scissors very diligently, said “oh, these scissors are fine.” Now I know. Even though my bag of art supplies is heavier than my actual suitcase, I cannot part with it and so cannot bear to check it. (It was forcibly checked during my missed flight debacle and I actually cried, alone, in the Chicago airport.) It’s all to say airports are a huge source of inspiration for me. Let’s see what aspects of travel inspire the toons of our jet-setting Stackers...
Amy Hwang
There was once a time in my life when I travelled a lot. I racked up so many miles, I often upgraded my ticket with excess miles or got bumped up to business class if I hadn’t. Eventually, I grew weary of the multi-course meals, champagne, and warm nuts, opting instead for only water, salads, and hot fudge sundaes. Plus, I had to sit around other people flying business, and don’t we all secretly despise them for being in business class and not economy?
Now that I have a child, flying requires much more logistical and mental planning, including preparing for every worst-case scenario that could happen from the time we sleep through the alarm to the time we are asked to get off the plane before take-off because we are being too disruptive. It’s much easier to travel child-free, and when I do, I am now happy to sit packed in with the regular folks, preferably with crying babies around me. I’ll close my eyes to take a nap and think, “Now this is luxury travel.”
Jason Chatfield
An excerpt below from an angry twenty-something version of myself when I lived in Melbourne about 12 years ago. I had a long-standing travel curse that followed me all over the globe. I called it Le Curse, since it first struck in Paris. It strikes me now that airline travel has become exponentially worse every year since, and this tale is no longer “The mother of all bad airline stories.”
“What seems to be the problem?” I said.
“There appears to be a problem with your ticket, sir.”
“Oh yes, and what’s that?”
“We’ve already sold that seat – and the person has boarded.”
I laughed. At that stage I don’t know whether it was out of incredulity or I genuinely thought they were having a joke, but when her ghost-white face didn’t flinch, my laughter stopped rather promptly.
“What’s that?”
“We’ve sold that ticket already -”
“You’ve?”
“Sold it. That seat.”
“So … hang on, Why did you do that?”
“It looks like it’s a problem with our system – it’s processed the same seat twice, so your ticket isn’t valid.”
“But I’ve paid for it – I paid $140 for this ticket, plus $30 to choose my own set – see? 1C.” I pointed at the ticket.
“Yes, I can see that – but the system has processed the same seat twice, and now that person is on board.”
“Okay – so… what happens now?”
“Well, we can put you on our next flight out-“
“When’s that?”
“It’s at 9:40am tomorrow morning…”
I looked at her. Just checking one last time that she was serious. This seemed so utterly farcical that it couldn’t possibly be for real.
She continued, “It’ll cost you $74 to transfer the ticket over that flight – would you like to do that now?”
Continue reading The Mother of all Bad Airline Stories...
Kendra Allenby
Airport capitalist hierarchies. Ug.
Ellis Rosen
I once talked with a pilot about my fear of flying. He said the probability of something going wrong with a plane is comparable to having all the holes in random slices of Swiss cheese line up with each other. The problem with this metaphor is that I have great difficulty digesting cheese.
Hilary Campbell
Okay, listen, I’m not saying I don’t like to go on vacation, but I do think there is such a thing as *too much vacation.* Every summer I find myself traveling to the coast of Oregon to hang with my family by the beach, and at the beginning of it I’m like “I hope this never ends!” But by the end I’m like “If you ask me to go to lunch with you again today I might actually hit you in the face and I know I would regret it but it would just be my initial reaction.” I drew this specific cartoon to have the character look slightly Dr. Seuss-y because of this poem I wrote to myself in a notebook after walking through yet another beach shop that I literally cannot believe is able to stay open. Like who is actually buying these trinkets? What is the rent in these places?? Is it cheaper for me to just live in a storefront than in Brooklyn?????
Leise Hook
Instead of traveling this past year, I spent hours watching videos of linguists breaking down the regional accents of the U.S. I spent even more hours remembering embarrassing moments from my past--like when I was 16 and finally learned gouache wasn’t pronounced GOO-ache.
Johnny DiNapoli
Trains? Love ‘em. Whenever I visit family upstate, I take the train and it’s the bee’s knees. You can doodle on a train. You can sleep on a train. You can make friends on a train. And the scenery? Come on— who doesn’t love a front row seat to the autumn leaves along the Hudson? You know, if I were Amtrak, I’d probably offer a residency to a cartoonist just like myself, to chronicle my love for train travel. Yeah, that’s definitely what I’d do if I were Amtrak!
Amy Kurzweil
Ahh! Good one, plane.
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