Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
like!—solongastheywillfitinyourstateroom. Appealingasthisnotionmaybe,itisalasof
limited usefulness: I usually have to be somewhere in eight hours, not eight days. And any-
way, wouldn't I be consumed with worry that my cases, torn from my hands and flying on
their own to some distant dock, would lose their way?
Annoyed friends and colleagues, stuck waiting for me on the other side of security, have
gentlysuggestedImodifymypersonalstylejustalittle.Butdespitetheinconvenience,Istick
to my guns (perhaps not the most felicitous turn of phrase when it comes to air travel). And
just when I think I am the only lonely pilgrim dolled up in layers of tulle while my fellow
travelerscavorthappilyinJuicyCouture,anotherunderappreciated,overdressedstalwartwill
sail into view. En route to the Life Ball, in Vienna, one year, I spied the fabulously louche
New York nightlife legend Amanda Lepore, poured into a curvaceous satin frock and teeter-
ing on vertiginous stilettos while twirling an enormous hatbox. And what a delightful sight
she was! Though she was channeling Jayne Mansfield and my costume was closer to Minnie
Mouse, we shared a complicit glance—sisters under the skin. If you listened closely over the
din of the loudspeakers, you could almost hear the spirit of Mrs. Cardeza, resplendent in a
lace-trimmed tea gown, cheering us on.
