Ten Tips for Air Travel in 2006-7 (Domestic, economy class)

Air travel, you may have noticed, ain't what it used to be.
Therefore:

1. Check your large bag. Carry your make-up and computer bags
only. The airlines rarely lose luggage. Besides, you need to be
free to wander airports unburdened. No clothes are worth tying
you down, if you think about it. Also, no clothes are worth the
effort of stuffing a suitcase into the overhead bin next to four
others. The flight attendant pulls it out, turns it around and
shoves it back in again with a smile. But you feel the anger in
his back muscles.

2. Plan to spend as much time in airports as you do in the
air--or more. Big city airports have interesting art exhibits to
peruse while you're waiting for delayed flights. San Francisco
has famous paintings about the sea and its mythology along with
exhibits of all kinds of weird ocean creatures under glass. You
can ride the moving stairway back and forth to take it all in.
That's easier than going to a museum where you have to walk.

3. Expect flight cancellations, delays, gate changes and other
snafus. Choose to relax and enjoy each one. You have that
choice, you know. Some airplane, often yours, needs mechanical
work which takes three hours. They rarely tell you what kind of
mechanical work. There is no point in assuming it's major such
as wing failure when you can just as easily assume it is a
clogged sink.

4. Expect crying babies on every flight and /or kids kicking the
back of your seat repeatedly. Feel grateful that they are not
your kids, unless, of course, they are. Then you can feel
grateful that you don't have to put up with anyone else's kids.

5. Get on and off the airplane last or near last whenever
possible. Let the rest of the world be frantic. You have the
choice to be calm. Actually, you have the choice to be happy,
too. Simply say to yourself, "I guess I'll be happy for now. Why
not?"

6. While hanging around the airport, notice the frustrated
passengers pacing with their cell phones. Send them warm
thoughts. It will make you feel great. They may not hear you at
first, but if you keep it up, you'll be surprised. Eventually
you will give them some real peace of mind and you will be able
to see the change come over them.

7. Bring your own gourmet food to eat on the airplane and in
those airports that sell only fast food. You can use a
fashionable soft plastic carry-on cooler that fits easily into
the overhead bin.

8. Carry a disc player with headphones for soothing hypnotic
discs that put your brain waves on Alpha. Brain waves are
electrical vibrations that flow in waves and can be measured by
the number of pulsations per second.

Beta level is 14 to 20 pulsations per second--best for action.

Alpha level is 7 to 14 -- best for thinking.

Theta level is 4 to 7 -- sleep.

Delta level ½ to 4 -- deep sleep.

The Beta level is the conscious level; Alpha is the subconscious
where intuition works.

The most brilliant and successful people in history deliberately
slowed their minds to Alpha level daily.

With the right discs you can shut out simultaneous airport
announcements that cancel each other out. I can recommend
several.

9. Make sure you have easy access to pencil and paper to record
the great ideas you have while your brain is waving on Alpha
level.

10. Then, when you put away your disc player and return to the
Beta wave world of the airport, you'll feel refreshed. You find
the movement and noise around you fascinating. You smile at the
"Keep your Eye on Your Belongings" mantra, the offers from
oversold flights, the scents of nervous sweat, T-shirt
proclamations and cell phone conversations circling you.

You then read your book in peace and don't even notice that your
flight is seven hours late.

It's a wonderful way to fly economy class, or do anything else,
for that matter.

About the author:
© Evelyn Cole, MA, MFA, The Whole-mind Writer,
http://www.write-for-wealth.com evycole@hughes.net Cole's chief
aim in life is to convince everyone to understand the power of
the subconscious mind and synchronize it with goals of the
conscious mind.

Copyright 2006 Cole's Poetic License