By John Branston
What in the name of Pete Buttigieg is the matter with travel? Computer crashes, delayed flights, canceled flights, reserved seat fees, upgraded seat fees, $400 hotel-motel “deals”, VRBO and airbnb rental ripoffs, and Buccee’s as a tourist attraction to name a few things.
Here are some ways to avoid such messes and make the most of your time and money.
Direct flights from Memphis. Yes, international destinations and most of the Southwest and West Coast are out. That direct one to Amsterdam seems like a distant dream. But New York, Chicago, Salt Lake City and Denver, among others, are in without the hassles, added hours and risks of a transfer.
A friend who will drive you to the airport or pick you up is a friend indeed.
A friend who will let you stay with them for a couple nights is even better.
Drive. Get a rental on a nice SUV. Listen to Sirius or NPR or an audio book. A six-hour trip by car is probably faster than a flight with a transfer.
Public transit and long walks. A cheap reality tour of such places as New York City, Chicago, New Orleans, or Salt Lake City.
Clean water for swimming. Within four hours drive, the Current and Jacks Fork rivers in Missouri, Greers Ferry Lake in Arkansas and the Buffalo River in Middle Tennessee just east of the Tennessee River.
Libraries are my fetish. Austin has the best one. A river view, comfortable quiet nooks and seats indoors and outdoors, helpful chatty staff wandering around to find what you are looking for. Nashville has a nice one but parking is impossible.
Senior pass to national parks. Got mine years ago and have not paid for an admission or tour bus since.
Hills and mountains, because Memphis doesn’t have them.
The Natchez Trace for an hour or two, because it is the non-interstate in every way. The sound of silence.
Cracker Barrel, because it is reliably clean and quality and better than that free motel breakfast.
The $6 big cheeseburger is not extinct if you look hard enough.. A place called Emeralds in Waynesboro in Middle Tennessee has one, honest.
Camus was right. What gives value to travel is fear. Not the fear of getting eaten by a shark or grizzly or missing a connection or paying $300 for a room at Motel Six, but the vague uneasiness that comes from being away from home in a strange place that demands fresh eyes and resources you might not know you had.
He/she travels best who travels alone.
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John Branston covered Memphis as a reporter and columnist for 35 years.
