Sure, it’s a full flight with a crying baby and no overhead space and the passenger in front of you insists on reclining their seat the second you extend your tray table, but, as this pillow’s message reminds us, sometimes we must try to manifest our preferred reality.
Sure, it’s a full flight with a crying baby and no overhead space and the passenger in front of you insists on reclining their seat the second you extend your tray table, but, as this pillow’s message reminds us, sometimes we must try to manifest our preferred reality.
Since moving across the country, I’ve become something of a travel connoisseur. In fact, I’m writing these very words from JFK’s Terminal 5. I’ve come a long way since my first-ever big trip more than a decade ago, when I checked not one but two bags for a 10-day vacation in Europe. Now, I expertly tuck weeks’ worth of essentials into one compact carry-on, and, not unlike a jet-setting celebrity (albeit one who curiously only flies coach), I’ve even perfected a travel uniform of sorts—leggings, layers, slip-on shoes, and never earrings—throughout my sojourns.
Criss-cross the nation enough times and you, too, will be able to identify your favorite airline credit card, craft an in-flight cocktail, and recite the TSA’s 3-1-1 rule on command. You’ll also come to rely on a few handy-dandy travel accessories, from an easily identifiable luggage tag to the trusty neck pillow. Here, culled from experience, is a list to get you started. Happy trails.
Abby Ledoux traded Canada’s border for Mexico’s when she moved to Texas from northwestern Vermont in November 2017 to join the staff at Houstonia.
An alumna of Emerson College’s journalism program in Boston, Abby was previously associate editor of three weekly newspapers in her home state of Vermont. There, she covered everything from Bernie Sanders to the heroin epidemic and won numerous state and regional awards for her work, including the Vermont Press Association’s 2014 Rookie of the Year. She was also an investigative reporting fellow at the New England First Amendment Coalition.
Today, Abby is excited to explore Houston’s vibrant, diverse culture (and shopping scene). Aside from fashion and design, she’s passionate about politics, hip hop and Mexican food. She believes leopard is a neutral and red lipstick can fix almost anything.
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