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Sometimes you stumble across information on the Internet that can knock your socks off or scare the pants off you — until, that is, you cool off and remember it’s the Internet and there’s a lot of different ways of looking at the world. But a few days after running across this free chapter from the book Jet with Kids, I’m still left shivering a little bit.

Last summer I wrote a trio of essays about the hellishness of traveling alone with my toddler on cross-country flights. In this essay about Delta’s idiotic boarding policy (in which “those who need more time” have to make way for “those who need more time to guzzle champagne”), I expressed surprise at their insistence that I was not allowed to either buckle my son in with me during takeoff and landing, nor was I allowed to strap him to me using my Ergo carrier at any time (completely opposite, by the way, to my experiences on European airlines, which required me to use an infant lap belt and didn’t mind if I kept him in the Ergo the entire flight). As I said, the instruction to “‘just hold him’ makes about as much sense on an airplane as it does in a speeding car: none.”

It seems I’m not alone. The free chapter from Jet with Kids went into far more depth than my little rant. There is nothing safe, it seems, about traveling with an unsecured child on your lap. Not for you, not for the child, and not for the other people on a plane.

The reasoning behind using car seats is that there is no possibly way a human can physically hang onto a child during a car crash. The forces at work are too great. The same is true of turbulence or crashes on a plane.

There are some heartbreaking stories in this chapter, especially when we come to the former flight attendant who turned activist because, after a plane crash, a passenger reminded her that she’d told the passenger to put her infant on the floor for safety. She never saw the child alive again.

The most shocking reading, however, came from the section about the FAA. While admitting that the practice of flying with children on people’s laps is completely unsafe, the agency also seems to say that the only reason they don’t outlaw it is that people will choose to drive rather than fly if they have to pay for their small children to travel, too. In other words, airlines are allowed to seriously endanger children’s lives because they might lose money if people knew the real risks of traveling with children on their laps.

The practice seemed crazy to me at the time, and now I can only say that it seems insane. Every now and then you run across something in your country’s laws that shock you, and this is one of them.

The free chapter linked to above is well worth reading. It’s coherent, well researched, and honest. While I haven’t read the rest of the book, the reviews on Amazon have been glowing with regards to flying with children. I was especially impressed with the responses from airline employees and traveling parents.

I’m gonna go out and get me a copy. And the next time I fly with a child under two years old, I’m saving up and buying a seat. Because no amount of savings can make that risk worthwhile.

Earlier this year, Tohono Chul in Tucson put out a call to artists asking for 4 inch by 6 inch postcards representing a real or imagined trip to Arizona.  The cards were to be made in any kind of fiber art technique, and were to be sent unprotected through US mail.

The 174 submissions that poured in for “Wish You Were Here”, were quilted, felted, appliquéd, cross-stitched, needlepointed, among other fiber arts techniques I’d never encountered before. They featured bright blue sky and glittery nights, saguaro cacti, lizards sunrise and sunsets. They were all quite spectacular, and when I visited yesterday I had a hard time tearing myself away — even though I haven’t bought or sent a postcard in years and years.

It got me to thinking about postcards, which were, after all, the most immediate way for travelers to share their view with people who were elsewhere, before we could easily zap photos through thin air. Of course, many many millions of people still send postcards every year — but every year the number dwindles.

And yet, as I wandered beneath the postcards in “Wish You Were Here” — they were quaintly suspended on clothes lines – I wondered whether I was looking at evidence of a new and exciting postcard future.

Historically, postcards were never about self-expression, visual or verbal. They were intended as a cheap way to a non-confidential message. In the United States, the first postcards were issued in 1873 by the Postal Service in Springfield, Massachusetts. They were buff in color, brown in ink, and cost a penny, including postage, which along with the address, took up one whole side of the card.  It took a couple of decades, but postcards become more than that.  An image on the front, and a message on the back.  You’d stand in front of a rack, selecting an image that came closest to either what you’d actually experienced or what you wanted your recipient to think you’d experienced on your journey.

Now that we can send images around the world while we’re seeing them, it seems to me that there’s no real point in using a post ard in that way anymore. Instead, we should send our postcards after we get home, once we’ve had a chance to reflect on the trip, the places we visited, and what it meant to us.  Maybe we’d send a card with a picture from our own camera. Maybe we’d create a visual image in another medium. Or maybe we’d use only words. However it turned out, speed wouldn’t be the point, reflection would be.  Ease wouldn’t be the strategy.
If post cards head in this direction, they’d mirror what’s happening with information, generally. It’s never been easier to record information and images. But it’s never been harder to figure out what it all means.

Christchurch, New Zealand is a young city that wants to be old. Least that’s what it’s buildings seem to indicate.The central city houses a wonderful collection of neo-gothic stone buildings well worth visiting. And when you’re standing on a bridge over the Avon River, watching Edwardian dressed punters drifting along the river, you might even start thinking you’re in England. But there is much more to this city – arts, culture, and adventure – then replicating England.

It is a city made for walking. Flat and with the streets laid out in a grid formation from Cathedral Square, it is impossible to get lost. Check out the ‘culture precinct’ website to see what’s worth seeing around the inner city.

Top eight things to do when visiting Christchurch include:

1. Spend some time in Cathedral Square watching the world go by.

This is the true city center. A pedestrian only area, the best time to visit is lunchtime. Buy some food, find a seat, and wait for the entertainment to begin. Step ladders and soapboxes come out and a collection of eccentric individuals will spew forth on anything that holds their attention. You may be shocked or even insulted, but you will not be bored.

2. Catch the Tram for a quick trip around the central city.

Hop a tram to explore Christchurch. The 2.5 km circuit passes most main attractions of the central city. Get on and off as you desire. The whole circuit takes 25 minutes.

3. Have lunch at the Art Center and then explore its numerous galleries and shops.

The Art Center used to be the University of Canterbury. You can even visit Rutherford’s Den. But most of the neo-gothic buildings now house arts and crafts shops and galleries. There are more than 40 to wander through, as well as a few cafes and restuarants. And during the weekends, market and food stalls go up in the adjacent carpark.

4. Walk off lunch with a stroll around the botanic gardens.

Seventy four acres of gardens, lawns, and paths right in the heart of the city. Take a book, bring a camera. Walk the paths or find a quiet corner to sit and watch the world go by.

5. Take a punt on the Avon River.

The Avon River runs through Christchurch and is an ever present part of the landscape. The Antigua Boat Sheds, an institution in the Christchurch since the 1880s, provide canoes and paddle boats that can be taken along the river into the botanic gardens.

And for the less energetic, there is ‘punting’ in English flat-bottomed boats with Edwardian dressed punters.

6. Catch a bus to the Gondala to see the sunset from the top of Mount Cavendish.

It’s a cliché, but ‘on a clear day you can see forever’ from the top of Mount Cavendish. The gondola takes you up the side of a long extinct volcano for a spectacular 360 view of the region – Christchurch., Lyttleton Harbor, and the Southern Alps.

7. Visit the International Antartic Center.

Christchurch has been the gateway to the Antartic ever since Robert Scott and then Ernest Shackleton used the city as their expedition launch point. So it makes sense that the International Antarctic Center would also find its home here.

With interactive exhibits, audio visual shows, live penguins, and a very, very coldd ice cave and Antarctic storm (jackets and overshoes provided), the International Antartic Center is well worth a visit. Additonal activities include riding on the Antarctic Hagglund, an all-terrain amphibian vehicle.

8. Get creative at The Bone Dude.

Go on a carving adventure and create a lasting souvenier of your visit to Christchurch at The Bone Dude gallery. With expert instruction, you use the simple hand tools provided to create your own bone carving. There are 16 contemporary designs available or you can create your own. And at the same time, you get to learn more about the history of bone carving in New Zealand.