But in 1961 our family was headed for East Pakistan (now Bangladesh) for a two-year stint and I was now eleven-going-on-twelve. For me, it was an escape into the unknown, a reprieve from the prospect of junior high, and I was certain that all my frames of reference would shift.
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I took my first airplane trip long before my first train trip, but I love trains so much more.
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Shuffling Off to Buffalo
Back in my grad school days I was studying in New York and my boyfriend was upstate in Buffalo, a good eight hour train ride away.
Many weekends I’d catch the train at the Harlem 125th Street station to make the trip. Then one Friday afternoon I was waiting on the platform when the train stopped and a classmate I knew got off. We were chatting when suddenly I realized the train had started moving again.
As it gained speed I began running along side, waving my arms as my duffel bag flapped on my shoulder, and shouting, “Please stop the train, I have to get to Buffalo!”
Apparently the conductor saw me and brought the train to a grinding halt. I climbed aboard, called out a loud “Thank you!” , and off we shuffled!
(For more about my life upstate see My Snowy Year in Buffalo)
Shuffle Off To Buffalo
– Dana Susan Lehrman
Lost Luggage
When our son Noah was 4 or 5 we took him on his first plane trip to Aruba for a week’s vacation.
I bought a set of matching suitcases on wheels in three sizes – the big one for my husband, the middle one for me, and the small one for Noah, and once we got to the airport he watched intently as the agent weighed and labeled our luggage, proudly telling her which suitcase was his.
All during the flight he was spellbound in his window seat. Then when we landed in Aruba and stood at the luggage carousel, he watched eagerly for our three suitcases. He spotted the big one first, then the middle one – but alas his little one was nowhere to be seen.
By then Noah was in tears when a kindly airport porter realizing the situation said they could go to the lost luggage room and look for the missing suitcase.
And so hand in hand the two of them disappeared behind a wall at the back of the carousel to come back a few minutes later, Noah now all smiles. Waving goodbye to the porter, and pulling his little suitcase behind him, he was now ready to begin our sunny Caribbean vacation!
(For more about that lovely trip see Aruba Nights)
– Dana Susan Lehrman