Going nowhere
One of the half-dozen drugs that ostensibly keeps me alive these days contains a diuretic, which means that I envy this ability even more than I might have otherwise:
Know how many times I go to the restroom on a Newark to LAX flight? None. Know how many time I go to the restroom on Newark to LAX flight that’s held at the gate before takeoff and then taxis around waiting for a jetway after landing, making a 5½ hour flight closer to 7½ hours? NONE! Know how I do it?
- I use the restroom at the gate before I board the plane.
- I don’t take a 20oz. soda to drink on board with me.
- I take only one small drink when offered the first time and decline any other beverage cart passes.
- I hold it in.
There once was a time when I could do five or six hours at the wheel without even thinking about stopping. Now it’s more like two and a half or three.
Wonder if anyone’s working on bladder transplants?
fillyjonk »
25 June 2009 · 12:20 pm
That was a power I used to have…I could go a full day’s fieldwork (even drinking water to prevent heat stroke) and never have to stop (and, fieldwork being fieldwork, find a well situated grove of trees).
Sadly, that seems to be another thing my early 40s are taking from me.
(And it’s a LOT harder running into that situation while doing fieldwork while female, at least compared to what my male colleagues have talked about.)
Lisa Paul »
25 June 2009 · 1:52 pm
Not sure this is a feat to be proud of or aspire to. The latest research has shown that the blood clots that can form on long stationary flights or drives are exacerbated by dehydration. Which is why most travelers are making it a point to drink lots of water on long flights and get up and down periodically to exercise.
That said, I forgive you if you don’t even want to be in the same section of the plane with me when I take a 10 to 12 hour flight to China or Malaysia.
McGehee »
25 June 2009 · 2:25 pm
I’ve flown some respectable distances over the years, including 12-hour two-stop marathons from Fairbanks to Chattanooga or back, while I was much larger and heavier than I am now. It’s awkward and uncomfortable to use the lavatory but if the alternative is holding it in and sitting in an equally awkward and uncomfortable passenger-cabin seat, I’ll get up and deal with the lavatory.
I don’t know from clots, but I do know that if I’m driving and enough time has passed, I might pretend to need a pit stop just to get up and move around a little. Staying belted into a glorified child-safety seat on a long flight? Surely you jest.
Deborah »
25 June 2009 · 2:42 pm
One of the most personal sacrifices I have made in my 39-year marriage is that on days that my husband and I must travel any distance at all in the car—and that means a distance of more than 30 miles—I don’t drink any liquids. Because he turns into a different person when he gets behind the wheel of a car. He only stops when he has to refuel because he has a bladder the size of an oil barrel. The very idea that I would to stop for a potty break after 150 miles in the car is just crazy talk to him!
sya »
25 June 2009 · 3:40 pm
Well considering I have to take the red-eye tomorrow, I think a reasonable strategy in addition to not drinking anything and going to the restroom before boarding is sleeping.
Suzette »
25 June 2009 · 4:16 pm
Although I’m very proud of my superpower of Don’t Have To Go, my point was really about being a lavatory-going nuisance to other fliers.
I spend a lot of time flying and I have a lot of good ideas about how to make flights more tolerable, one of which is to segregate seating for the pee-ers and the non-pee-ers. Then the pee-ers can jump up and down for the whole flight and annoy only their own kind while the more self-possessed non-pee-ers can remain undisturbed.
If the airlines charged an extra 15 bucks for this kind of preferred seating, it could generate revenue and pull the the airline industry back into the black. I’d pay it.
CGHill »
25 June 2009 · 4:25 pm
Pee-er pressure?
Jeffro »
25 June 2009 · 5:42 pm
Kidney Stones? by I.P. Freely
CGHill »
25 June 2009 · 5:50 pm
Follow-up to “Yellow River,” I presume.
(Not the same “Yellow River” as the one invoked in that nifty 1970 record by Jeff Christie. And not this Jeff Christie, either.)
Jeffro »
25 June 2009 · 6:04 pm
I tend to drink a bit more than in the past these days because of said affliction. Iron Bladder no more….
McGehee »
25 June 2009 · 7:07 pm
People actually get annoyed because their fellow passengers have bodily functions? Jeez.
fillyjonk »
26 June 2009 · 6:37 am
Yes, people do. I’m sure there are people who would be annoyed that someone was BREATHING next to them, and not just someone who had eaten an onion-and-horseradish sandwich before taking off.
Kirk »
26 June 2009 · 8:38 am
I find myself amused by this: an extended discussion of bladder control and aging, launched on the day two of the icons of our generation succumbed to other effects of aging. Ironic, indeed.
McGehee »
26 June 2009 · 10:52 am
I hope I end up seated next to one on my next flight — I’ll eat a burrito before boarding the plane.