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21 September 2005
Famous travel quotes
Words of the road remembered
By Terry Riley
Every year the American Film Institute conducts a poll of favorite
movie moments, genres and characters. This year, the organization polled
1,500 industry professionals for their favorite movie quote. Here are the
Top 10, in reverse order.
10. “You talking to me?” (“Taxi Driver,” 1976)
9. “Fasten your seat belts. It's going to be a bumpy night.” (“All
about Eve,” 1950)
8. “May the Force be with you.” (“Star Wars,” 1977)
7. “All right, Mr. De Mille, I'm ready for my close-up.” (“Sunset
Boulevard,” 1950)
6. “Go ahead, make my day.” (“Sudden Impact,” 1983)
5. “Here's looking at you, kid.” (“Casablanca,” 1942)
4. “Toto, I've got a feeling we're not in Kansas anymore.” (“The
Wizard of Oz,” 1939)
3. “You don't understand! I coulda had class. I coulda been a
contender. I could've been somebody, instead of a bum, which is what I
am.” (“On the Waterfront,” 1954)
2. “I'm going to make him an offer he can't refuse.” (“The
Godfather,” 1972)
1. “Frankly, my dear, I don't give a damn.” (“Gone with the Wind,”
1939)
Interesting, but what's this got to do with travel? Well, it inspired me
to put together my top-ten list. Let’s call it Terry’s Top Ten
Travel Quotes.
10. “I assure you that you’ll make your connection.” (Gate agent
for Southwest Airlines, Tucson, 2004) We didn’t, but to the credit of
Southwest, a customer service representative called later to apologize and
offer some free travel certificates.
9. “I guarantee that your luggage is safe here.” (Bellman at the
Chicago Fairmont Hotel, 1997) He was trying to convince me to leave my
bags on a luggage cart in an unprotected area near the registration
counter. I didn’t bite.
8. “It will be safe in your room.” (Assistant manager of the
Sheraton Hotel at the Orlando Airport, 2001) She had refused to secure my
laptop in the manager’s safe even though there was no safe in our guest
room. I took down the names of other hotel employees who had overheard the
conversation in case my laptop went missing, then tried to hide my laptop
as best I could in my room—which, of course, is a joke. (My laptop
wasn’t stolen, but I was prepared to do battle with the Starwood chain if
it had been.)
7. “May I get you anything else?” (Flight attendant—I think they
were called stewardesses back then—on Braniff Airways, 1981) I kindly
declined the offer since another flight attendant had dumped a full glass
of beer on my lap a half-hour earlier.
6. “Oops.” (Me at a Guadalajara hotel, 1996) Having been in four
hotel fires, I always scope out evacuation routes soon after dropping off
my luggage in my room. This time, when I pushed on a door marked “Salida”
to make sure it would open, I caused an alarm to sound. Luckily, it was a
local alarm not connected to the hotel’s evacuation system. I learned from
that experience to warn registration clerks of my safety routine,
suggesting that a security officer might want to accompany me.
5. “I saw them put your bags on the plane.” (Gate agent for
Continental Airlines, Denver, 1986) As I met with clients the following
day, I was wearing the same clothes I had worn on the plane. Meanwhile, my
luggage was still on its way to my Los Angeles hotel.
4. “We are investigating the cause of the alarm and will let you know
if you should evacuate.” (Voice heard over the public-address system
at the Rio Hotel, Las Vegas, 1999) My friend and I, realizing that we, not
the disembodied voice, were the ones at risk, skedaddled out of the casino
and waited in the parking lot for the all-clear. And yes, we were pretty
much alone out there.
3. “El hielo está puro.” (Server in a taqueria in San Carlos,
Mexico, 1988) I didn’t believe her, so I stuck with bottled beer. My
soon-to-be-stricken lunch mates, on the other hand, ordered up Fanta on
ice.
2. “I was waiting to see if it was going to be a big fire.”
(Hotel guest in the Kellogg Hotel on the Michigan State University campus,
1995) I was a guest there that night, too, when a fire—a real fire
with flames, smoke, fire trucks, firefighters, hoses, axes, the whole
shebang—began in a storeroom. I evacuated with a dozen or so other guests
and employees. We knew that by the time a fire gets to the “big” stage, it
may be too late to escape.
1. “Did you purchase any gas?” (Agent at the Avis Rent A Car return
counter, Philadelphia Airport, 1998) She never missed a beat asking this
question after I handed her the car keys and explained that I had been in
an accident and nearly totaled the vehicle.
What these quotes may have lacked in honesty, elegance, wit, and the
realities of the situations, they made up for in the recollection of the
quirks and challenges of travel.
© 2005 Applied Psychology
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