Three columns of rant. Again. Really? And all of it about something that was, to a great extent, an avoidable conclusion.

In the past, Val Torrens has written similar columns detailing her displeasure with the current state of traveling by air. In these post-9/11 times, everyone knows that travel is not the seamless, easy-paced, relaxing practice of 20 years ago. Information is readily available to allow travelers to plan for nearly all contingencies. Web sites are easily accessed for airlines, weather, airports, and TSA bulletins. Travel Web sites abound. It only takes a little time and advance planning to minimize disruption of one’s plans.

Apparently Torrens was traveling by an indirect routing to London to either save money or use air miles for her ticket. Nonstop flights from Seattle, San Francisco, Los Angeles, and Las Vegas to London are available on British Airways. Making connections in New York increases the odds of problems occurring. This seems common sense, especially when one is traveling during seasons prone to inclement weather.

If being at a destination at a specific time is imperative, common sense also should incline one to travel a day or two prior to the last possible date of departure. This seems without stating, but I have heard these stories over and over again.

As a veteran of the travel industry, I would be happy to write a guest editorial about simple ways to make travel less stressful and more efficient. I think that your readers might like to read three columns of helpful information as a balance to Torrens’ personal diary, which was as uninteresting as it was uninformative.

Mary O’Shea

Poulsbo