Why Summer is Now my Least Favorite Season

To most people, summer means the tasting notes of freshly grown farm goods, sunsets that give the sky the colors of cotton candy ice cream, bustling street carnivals under the warm glow of string LED's, and stimulating trips to the links with friends. 

Every season has its ups and downs, but once upon a time summer was the one season you couldn't criticize. It's three months off from school, with no homework, no teachers, no annoying classmates. Who could possibly complain about that?

For most of us, however, once grade school is over summer becomes just another season. The death of summer vacation is a sad checkpoint in the transition to adulthood, which might explain why a slightly higher number of American adults picked spring over summer as their favorite season.

Personally, summer hasn't just become another three month period of the year: it's now my least favorite. I may enjoy a calming, sunset bike ride through Pultneyville or a boat ride around Sodus Bay that concludes with dinner at Skipper's Landing, but compared to the other three seasons summer is just a bit lacking.

Before teachers or anyone under the age of 18 threatens to break my kneecaps, please hear out my main reasons that summer is now my least favorite season:

1. It's Too Hot

When it's cold out, all you need to do is add an extra layer of clothing and presto: you're protected against the elements. The worst that can happen is you bundle up too much, and look like Randy from Christmas Story. 

Cooling off requires you to do the opposite. You can strip down to your wifebeater and short-shorts...but what happens when that isn't enough? Indecent exposure is a misdemeanor in New York, punishable for up to 15 days of jail time. And it may not be against the law, but I really don't need to see your undergarments.

You can go to ballgames and spend half the price of admission on Powerade alone, and you'll still be overheated. A gross layer of sticky sweat will cling to your skin, and there ain't enough Bath & Body Works in the world to stave off the smell.

My point is, it's easier to get warm than it is to cool off. Yeah, being too cold is dangerous, but so is being too hot. It means dehydration, fatigue, and can even lead to heat exhaustion, a potentially life-threatening condition if left untreated. The Environmental Protection Agency estimates that more than 1,300 deaths a year can be attributed to extreme heat.

So, being hot is harder to treat and it could potentially lead to life-threatening conditions? To the Arctic, it is.

2. Sunblock, Bug Block, Tick Block...

Thankfully, there are tools in place to prevent us from grappling with the negative effects of excess heat and sunlight. Thing is, that sunblock stuff smells kinda funky, and you have to cover everything with it. 

And if the sun and heat don't get you, the insects certainly will. Mosquitoes, ants, yellow jackets, beetles, flies...it's like an annoying, buzzing paparazzi greeting you the instant you walk outside. 

More subtle, and arguably more dangerous, are ticks. They crawl up your skin, bore in, and suck your blood, and if that isn't annoying enough, they can give you Lyme Disease. Your skin will swell, you'll be fatigued for hours on end, and if you're really unlucky, the lining of your brain will become inflamed. An article in The Nation claims that the number of new cases of Lyme Disease has risen to 476,000 a year. 

Go outside, they say. It's nice out, they say. Having to cover yourself in gross chemicals to do it? Yeah, you can miss me with that.

3. Bad for Mental Health

Alright, you say. Now you're being ridiculous. How can the sun, our main source of vitamin D and the source for so many beautiful sunrises and sunsets, be bad for your mental health?

You'd be surprised. For some of us, including myself, Summer Anxiety is a form of seasonal affective disorder (SAD) that can cause symptoms of anxiety and depression. It's believed that too much sunlight can throw off our circadian rhythm, making it difficult to get as much sleep as we need to. 

If you're struggling with Summer SAD, the good news is it's still manageable like other forms of SAD. Sticking to structure and routine, scheduling some downtime out of the sun, and seeking therapy can help you.

4. Travel is a Bigger Hassle

With the release of our nation's children for summer vacation, family trips become much more common in the summer months. This means clogged interstate highways, overbooked flights, and screaming children at the back of the plane.

It's much harder to plan road trips and arrival times when traffic congestion can break out at any time. Congestion is very difficult to predict. All it takes is one crash or one big truck trying to get back on the highway for a half-hour to be added onto your trip. 

Flying means avoiding the headache of long road trips, but it's kinda like being served a crap sandwich with a little salt, rather than raw. If you haven't seen my last article (which you can read here), you may not know that air travel has never been so chaotic, as pent-up demand has overwhelmed an industry that was forced to cut back significantly due to Covid-19. This has meant hundreds, perhaps thousands, of flight delays, cancellations, and ruined vacations. Add higher fares between the months of June and August to take advantage of demand, and your wallet will be hurting too.

It's much easier to travel in the fall and spring months, when the kiddies are still in school.

5. Few Sports Worth Watching

Winter might be cold and dreary, but it's also peak sports season: postseason football, college basketball, and hockey. The Royal Rumble, the Super Bowl, the Daytona 500, NCAA Conference Championships, and the opening rounds of March Madness all take place in the winter months.

Once you hit late June, sports programming dries up. Okay, there's a weekly NASCAR race and maybe some golf, but what else? The Olympics? Only happens every four years. The MLB? Snore. Preseason football? Meh... There's no college or even high school sports to follow. 

Sorry, baseball fans. I might be the biggest softball fan this far north of the Mason-Dixon line, but that doesn't mean I enjoy sitting through nine innings of a pitcher's duel in sweltering weather. 

6. It Doesn't Mean What it Used To

I touched on this at the beginning of the article. Summer used to mean time off from school, playing Game Boy and reading Goosebumps in the oak tree behind my house, and biking all day around town with my friends.

Now, it means sitting in a cubicle or home office like every other season, only the weather is better, essentially taunting you for having to staying inside. Summer is a kid's season, and when you're an adult, that fact can be very isolating.

How to Travel by Air when Air Travel is Sucky

Traveling by air right now sucks. You know it's bad when mainstream media outlets, who have no shortage of stories to cover in the present, have dedicated time in their primetime slots to talking about it. 

Now, we could debate about why so many flights are being delayed or canceled, and whether or not airlines are intentionally selling flights they know they can't make, but this article isn't about the industry. It's about you, the traveler.

I've been flying solo since I was 19 years old, when I regularly flew from Burlington, VT to Rochester for breaks during college. In my 20+ flight experiences prior to 2022, I've experienced only one flight delay. This past summer, two of my flights home were cancelled, and I was lucky not to have my plans severely disrupted by them.

My love of flying and going somewhere new or amazing is worth the hassle...it's just that the hassle is the expectation now, not an exception. It's no excuse to miss out on some amazing travel experiences, especially since we've spent the last two years traveling from San Living Room to Las Bedroom while hiding from Covid. 

So, here are some ways to survive the hassle of flight delays, cancellations, and the civil aviation ecosystem as a whole, whether you're a frequent flyer or have never flown before. 

Let's start with some pre-flight stuff:

1. Pack Smart

Before you even think about heading to the airport, think about how you've packed. I'm not talking about how you've sorted the books you intend to read, how you fold your clothes, or remembering your electric toothbrush. 

Consider purchasing tags or some kind of identifier to clip to your bags in case they get lost, especially if you checked them at the airport rather than carried them on the plane. Include information like your address, name, and phone number so airport or airline officials can contact you. 

Keep important items like wallets, cell phones, printed boarding passes, and your passport in your pockets or carry-on luggage. If your miss your flight for any reason after you've checked that bag, it's going to your destination without you. Guess she's just not that into you, fam.

Note that sometimes, because of the size of the plane and the amount of people on board, you might be asked to leave carry-on luggage at the bottom of the jet bridge to be stowed beneath the plane. Ask the gate agent if your bag might be too big to carry on, and make sure you've taken everything out that you might need during flight. Or, do what I do; pretend you didn't hear them and bring it on anyway. The worst that can happen is that there isn't room, and they make you take it the jet bridge anyway.

2. Download your airline's app (and check in as early as possible!)

Unless you're flying with some really small, obscure airline, your carrier will have an app you can download. The app has all kinds of nifty features, allowing you to download a digital boarding pass, check-in, change seats, etc.

It will also update you on the status of your flight. If your flight is cancelled or delayed, the app should provide you rebooking options.

While we're talking about the app...make sure to check-in as early as possible! Though overbooking flights isn't quite as common as it used to be in the digital age, it can still happen. You can check-in up to 24 hours before your flight, and I would do it at or around then to further guarantee you a seat.

3. Arrive Early

It's good practice to get to the airport at least two hours before your flight departs. It's not like a bus station where you can walk up right when the bus is hissing and lowering to the ground. You might need to check your bag and leave it at the airline counter. Then you have to get through TSA, which is typically smooth, but you never know (this deserves its own article). Then, depending on the size of the airport, it might take you a long time to walk to your gate (looking at you, Miami).

On top of all of that, you can't just arrive at your gate when your flight is scheduled to depart. Boarding begins ~30 minutes before departure, and the gate closes ~15 minutes before departure. Once that door closes, there's no opening it. It's one of those secret rules of air travel, so make sure you can do the math and get to your gate at the appropriate time.

If you end up having a little too much extra time, go get dinner, catch up on your reading, tune in to whatever mainstream media outlet you allow to brainwash you. It's better than running through an airport with your lungs on fire.

Okay, you're in your seat. 

You're reading the menu card front to back out of boredom, you're sweating because the AC doesn't work...but you're on the plane. Good work! 

But what if you're sitting there when you get a text through the airline app, saying your connecting flight to Podunk is cancelled? What if the flight you're on has been delayed, and you'll have a very limited window to get to your next gate? What if you're not on the plane through no fault of your own, but because that flight was cancelled?

Well, it's time to buckle in because this is where you're gonna need your air travel smarts. 

If you want to minimize this risk, though, here are the best ways to avoid delays and/or cancellations in the first place:

4. Fly Direct

When you fly direct, delays just mean getting there a bit later than scheduled. If your outgoing flight is cancelled, you can just drive home (if your returning flight is cancelled, skip to #6). You also don't have to worry about missing connecting flights. If you live near a big airport like New York-JFK or Atlanta, it's easier to find a direct flight to where you want to go, whether your destination is domestic or international.

If you're flying out of a smaller airport like Rochester or Syracuse, your options for direct flights are likely limited to hub airports, or airports where airlines like to concentrate their flights. Unless your destination is one of these exciting hub cities, which are usually places like Philadelphia, New York, or Washington, you will probably have to get a connection if you're flying to another small airport, a different coast, or internationally. 

5. Catch an early flight

Yeah, nobody is a fan of getting up at 4 in the morning to rush through TSA and sit in an overcrowded airport, but earlier flights are less likely to be delayed or outright cancelled. According to Travel + Leisure airspace is less crowded in the morning, meaning there are fewer headaches for air traffic controllers than in the afternoon and evening, when planes build up and wait for departure. 

If an early flight is delayed or cancelled, you'll also have more options for rebooking later in the day.

What to do if a delay will impact travel/your flight is cancelled:

6. See what your rebooking options are

Remember that airline app you downloaded? It should provide you a list of flights either the same day or the next that you can rebook to at no extra cost (do NOT pay extra - if it tries to make you, check out hint #7. You shouldn't have to pay anything to get on a rebooked flight).

If it would greatly inconvenience you to fly out the next day, see if you can fly to an airport near your final destination. For example, if your flight to Syracuse is cancelled, you might be able to fly to Rochester, Ithaca, or Watertown (yeah, they have an airport). 

7. Speak to an airline representative (and get some compensation for the disruption to your plans)

Face-to-face interaction is typically the best and quickest way to get things done. 

Your mission is simple: track down your gate agent or the customer service desk, tell them exactly what happened, where you need to be, and ask them the best way to get there. 

If this isn't possible for some reason, you might have to go through your carrier's call center. Little known air travel fact: American carriers typically have international call lines that are usually quicker than the domestic one. Same MO as above: tell them what happened, where you need to be, and ask the best way to get there. 

Once you've got a gameplan, ask about compensation. Even if you aren't inconvenienced by a change in plans, airlines typically offer incentives like miles, money, or a travel voucher. If you're forced to stay the night in a different city, definitely ask about compensation for a hotel room. 

Sadly, airlines aren't required to do this according to the USDOT, unless the flight is overbooked. In fact, on my trip to Alabama earlier this summer, the airline I flew with was literally telling people to walk into Philadelphia and hope they got lucky with a hotel. 

If all else fails and nobody is willing to help you, a snarky Twitter post tagging the airline will certainly get their attention. 

8. Stay Calm, Be Friendly and Flexible

The most universal advice I can give you about traveling is that on the long list of things that can go wrong, at least one of them will. It's just part of the deal.

If you're flying home, don't get it in your head that you will be in your bed that night. If you're flying to Tampa, don't wear your bathing suit on the plane. If you're flying to Chile in the summer months, keep that parka parked. 

My point with all this is: don't expect everything to go perfectly, because it won't.

If you go into the airport with this mindset, you can be ready and flexible for anything that comes your way. Always be friendly with airport and airline staff: they are constantly being screamed at and treated like less than dirt, both by their employers and travelers. The more friendly you are, the more patient and willing they will be to help you. 

Sometimes, they're jerks. That's their problem, not yours. 

It's also important to extend that courtesy to other travelers. Not only will you make some new friends; you might still be able to get to where you want to go.

When my flight back to Syracuse was cancelled earlier in the month, the goal was to rent a car from Albany airport and drive home. It wasn't until we were taxiing to the runway on my rebooked flight that I learned Albany had no rental cars available (yeah, that's another thing to be ready for). Thankfully, I had struck up a friendship with a woman who also needed to get to Syracuse, and had a ride there.

Long story short, I made it home that night. Accepting uncertainty and showing kindness won't just get you far at the terminal, but in life.

With all of this said...

Please, don't let travel uncertainty hold you back from taking the trip of a lifetime. Ashoka Tano, the great grey Jedi, once said: "nothing worth doing is ever easy." Find your destination and get out there!