PHX

So I bought a little rolly suitcase while I was in the Netherlands, because the little rolly suitcase I had brought with me turned out to be crap for traveling. (I think it might have been intended as more of a briefcase? Maybe? Except that I tried it as a rolling briefcase and it was crap as that, too. But it looks nice! It's just useless. It has all these tall pockets that you can't really get into, and each pocket is too small for anything real - putting a binder in it cramps the other pockets - but too big to be a cubby for small things. It is at its best empty, which is, yes, useless.)

The little rolly suitcase that I bought in the Netherlands, in the shopping center across the canal from where my tante and oom live, is a pretty blue, and it has four wheels.

Four wheels on a suitcase has revolutionized my life. This is part of the reason why I now travel so light: I want everything to fit into the little suitcase with four wheels.

For someone with gimpy arms like me, pulling a two-wheeled suitcase starts to hurt after a while. There is more weight resting in your hand than you realize. My fingers always end up numb and my hands always hurt on the plane so that I can't find a comfortable position. 

The four-wheeled suitcase changed that. The weight stays on the ground, and I can push it with much less force, and therefore much less pain in my hands. This is a wonderful thing, because I love to walk circles around airports while I am waiting for my flights, and now I can!

Until, thank you very much, the Phoenix airport. I don't know whose idea it was to carpet the Phoenix airport with some silly pinkish/maroon carpet, patterned in a tessellation of airplanes, that is just a bit too thick to allow a four-wheeled rolly bag to roll, but I bitterly resent that person. They invented tile for a reason, person whose idea it was to carpet the Phoenix airport with some silly pinkish/maroon carpet, patterned in a tessellation of airplanes, that is just a bit too thick to allow a four-wheeled rolly bag to roll.

I was reduced to misery not seen since I first injured my arms in 2006. I tried to push the suitcase with one hand - pain - and then with the other - pain. I tried to pull the suitcase with one hand - pain - and then with the other - pain. I tried to push the suitcase with both hands - pain - and then it fell over because I was applying so much force to the top of it. 

And then I tripped over it. 

A lady walking by asked if I was okay, and I explained that I have nerve problems in my arms and I was having trouble pushing the suitcase because the silly pinkish/maroon carpet, patterned in a tessellation of airplanes, was just a bit too thick to allow a four-wheeled rolly bag to roll.

You know what she suggested? She suggested that I take the courtesy transport. 

Yes. It has come to this, PHX. Your silly pinkish/maroon carpet, patterned in a tessellation of airplanes, just a bit too thick to allow a four-wheeled rolly bag to roll, is taking from me my freedom to walk around the airport and get some exercise in between flights. It is condemning me to the cart that annoys everyone walking in the middle of the concourse.

I didn't take the cart, but I did curse the airport soundly, under my breath, for that silly pinkish/maroon carpet, patterned in a tessellation of airplanes, that is just a bit too thick to allow a four-wheeled rolly bag to roll.