Dealing with Delay

Travel delays have been in the news lately.  What to do when this happens?

Remember to breath. Life is unpredictable. Granted, when you have long planned for a particular destination, it can be difficult to roll with any interruptions to those plans.

Maintain a pleasant demeanor. Strike up a conversation with the other people who find they now have white space in their jam-packed itinerary. Practice mindfulness.  If practicable, stretch. Or picture a peaceful scene and pretend you are there.

Sometimes preparation can help. Consider coping aids:  perhaps an iShuffle or a book or a deck of cards, a Rubik’s cube or a puzzle book or maybe a sketch pad or a journal.  If you carry a modern cell phone, you have all those internal options. But please don’t share your displeasure over your circumstances via telephone so all your companions in the delay have to hear it aloud.

As hours go by, it may be worth your while to make a list of everything you need to change or check in about because of the delay. If the delay goes on and on, you could be glad you are carrying your toothbrush, deodorant and a change of underwear!

As my mother would remind me, “This too shall pass.”

“The slow pace of trains in the U.S. can be maddening, particularly during delays on rail sidings for an hour or more to enable freight trains – which have the right-of-way – to pass.” — Alan Huffman

TATTOO—Journeys on My Mind by Tina Marie L. Lamb is available at Amazon and BarnesandNoble and iBooks and Audible.

Buy it. Read it. Let me know what you think. –TMLL