Why traveling is actually incredibly boring

Yes really, I said that. Traveling is often incredibly boring. As in: the literal traveling. Once you arrive at your destination, it's all fun and games, but the process of getting there is often misery. And for the following reasons.

#1

It all starts at Schiphol where the line for baggage drop is longer than the distance from your home to Schiphol. People take forever and there is always someone who has too much weight with them and thus has to repack their entire suitcase (by the way, it's not entirely unthinkable that I am that person).

#2

Then begins the hell of customs. Nowadays it goes reasonably smoothly with those automatic gates, but technology only works if that technology feels like it (seriously, humans are so powerless over the machines they have invented themselves), so quite often such a gate gets stuck and everything takes even longer. But with or without gates, customs always takes a long time.

#3

But the real hell is only at the baggage check. Shoes off, belts off, jewelry off, jackets off, laptop out of your bag, liquids hidden, and every month they come up with something new. People who travel often are quite good at this, but since no airport has the same rules (why is that by the way?!), it's always a wait-and-see game about what you do and don't have to take off. Tip: always choose the line where the most businesspeople are standing. They do this kind of flight on a regular basis and know exactly how to do it quickly. Whichever line you choose, make sure there are as few families in it as possible. Kids slow everything down and run around and don't listen and parents run after them and oh, it's a hassle.

#4

Once you arrive at your seat on the plane it turns out to be so small that you at least have to be a trained yoga teacher to fit in decently. And if you purposely chose the window seat, you can bet your bottom dollar that your window is exactly above the wing and you still can't see a thing.

#5

Then there is always an extraordinarily unpleasant person sitting next to you who brutally claims the armrest between you, and if you're really lucky, this person is of a certain size that you have their thigh hanging over your half of the seat for the entire flight. And I haven't even mentioned the screaming baby right behind you.

#6

What is hell for many is heaven for me: airplane food. Ooooh, how I enjoy that pleasure. The grosser and the less clear it is what exactly is in the tray, the better. But most people are horrified by this and consider it one of the worst things about flying.

#7

My biggest frustration comes after landing. There are always those idiots who start clapping and I actually want to stop living at that point. Or at least not be in the same country as them. After that, everyone always gets hysterically busy standing up and waiting in that aisle and pushing and shoving to be the first outside. Just act normal, guys.

#8

Finally, hoping that your suitcase has arrived and if not, well, then you have a few long hours of whining at the airport to wait and then a few long days without your stuff.

Traveling. No one said it would be fun.