Years ago, I cut out a New Yorker cartoon that struck me as particularly funny. It showed a Viking warrior, pushing up against the tree and said, “Even the Vikings had to stretch.” Interestingly enough today we are on our way to be Vikings, so stretching is on my mind.This morning I am dressed and packed and ready to go on a long car service ride to LAX for a flight on Lufthansa that takes us to Frankfurt and then, after a brief gap, on to Amsterdam and what will be a total of 20 hours of travel. We will be traveling business class so it should be perfectly comfortable even though, as we all know, European business class consist of an economy seat with the middle seat blocked off. I should be fine since the long leg of the journey to Frankfurt will be in a lie-flat seat and the Frankfurt to Amsterdam leg will only be an hour and 10 minutes long. Nevertheless, these long journeys require a bit of stamina and more importantly, a little bit of preparation.
By preparation, I’m not talking about packing. Packing is about what happens and how prepared you are once you land. Preparing for a long journey has more to do with three things; what you choose to wear, what you choose to bring along that will be handy for you during the fligh, and how you get your body ready for the ordeal. As for attire, the world is divided into those people who believe that travel should be special and one should look presentable and well dressed, and those people who believe that the only thing that matters is comfort, and they don’t give a damn what they look like in their sweatpants and favorite knit shirts. These days, the older experienced travelers who care about their attire, aren’t wearing jackets and ties (unless they’re businessmen on a quick turnaround), rather they are wearing specially designed travel gear that’s comfortable, wrinkle-free, fully pocketed and yet very presentable. Generally speaking, you can spot travel gear a mile away and it is possible to overdo the look and come off looking like a travel rookie. But it’s all made easier these days because almost all clothing is made with Lycra or spandex to bring fit and comfort to the forefront. My travel outfit this morning consists of a pair of washed black BYLT jeans with plenty of stretch, but yet with the look of denim. My shirt is a black twill, also with plenty of stretch, it’s made by a company called Poncho. The pants have a zipper pocket on the right thigh that fits my phone and the shirt has a left zipper chest pocket, that also fits my phone. Fitting one’s phone in one’s clothing is very much a priority these days. I’m also wearing a pair of black Newzill compression socks (no phone pocket), which have more or less become a part of my daily wardrobe, but are especially valuable on long pressurized flights. To top this all off, I am wearing the premier travel Scott-e-Vest that has something like 30 pockets inside and out. It currently holds my passport, several places to keep my phone (like I said, never enough of that), my Apple 3 EarPods, my Bluetooth converter to allow me to use the EarPods with the airplane audiovisual system, and some Werthers butterscotch hard candies, just for fun. I think it sounds like I’m ready for the flight don’t you agree?
So that array of travel gear covers what I will wear and what I will take and I think it’s fair to say that’s all about keeping things as stretchy and handy as possible. But let’s not forget the advice of the Vikings. We have to pay attention to preparing our body for this sort of travel. Since we are getting picked up by the car service at 9 o’clock, I woke up a little early this morning, specifically to go out to my garage gym and do my full stretch and exercise routine. I spent about a half hour on the mat, twisting and turning my lower back, my hips, my legs, my shoulders, my neck, and my upper back. I know that the day today involves a lot of walking in the airport and a lot of sitting in the airport not to mention some 12 hours of sitting in an airplane seat. There are stretches you can do from your airplane seat, but I’ve never found them particularly effective. I thought it would be much better to do a full morning routine and make myself as limber as possible in preparation for the day. These days I travel with a specialized travel backpack from Veria. Besides having numerous zippered pockets, it also makes walking through the airport much more comfortable for me because the backpack helps me keep my back straight and counterbalanced against my natural tendency to slump forward. In a strange way, I’m actually looking forward to the physical aspects of today’s travel. I like walking through airports now with my backpack on and all my stretchy gear and I like sitting in my airline seat with my travel vest on where everything I need is one zipper pocket away.
I’m not sure that any amount of preparatory stretching or wearing stretchy clothing will keep away whatever unexpected adventures await us on this journey, but I do feel that I am as prepared for all of that as I can be. And I think it’s fair to say that if it distilled down to one element that makes me feel good about where I stand in preparation, it’s the idea that I have embraced the notion of stretching and staying flexible. I’ve come to the conclusion that traveling, especially when older, is all about stretching the truth.