Have bag, will travel

Anybody who has done any traveling in this post COVID and 9/11 world has experienced the rush of having your luggage in one zip code while you're in another. The only other equal rush is watching your bag go left instead of right on the turnstile which means you get to wait for a customs officer to go through your bag with a fine-tooth comb (as long as it's regulation length).

Murphy's Law being what it is, this event will always happen when you've got only a few minutes to make a flight due to security reasons you had nothing to do with! As you're pleading unsuccessfully for the officer to grab your bag next, you watch the time flying by as you visualize your other bags and your plane travelling on without you.

Then you learn the undeniable truth that complying with TSA regulations for your liquids and carry ons does not matter once you leave the good old U.S. of A. Pleading with the customs officer as he disposes of your shampoo and conditioner does you no good, as in his airport the size of the article doesn't matter!

Hurdling over the seats at the airport while dodging other tourists is your next scheduled event, as you desperately try and make your plane before it leaves.

Then you miraculously make it to the gate, not only on time, but five minutes early. But the door is shut, you can see the plane on the tarmac, but boarding is done and now the quest to make it to your destination some other way and be reunited with your luggage begins in earnest.

Does this happen every time you decide to travel? Hopefully not but there's always the chance of you and your bag arriving at your destination at different times in this crazy new world we live in. You have to enjoy the ride, your bag does!

Marty Pay is a contributing writer for The Loop newspaper and has been a Financial Planner for years and teaches Finance at a local University. He can be reached at Farmers Insurance in Tehachapi (661) 822-3737.