I travel a lot. A LOT.

I remember the day when making a trip by air meant dressing up in your Sunday best, being extra polite, delicately picking at the fancy food in the special ceramic trays and acting like minor royalty.

Fast forward thirty years and I'm sitting beside some fat dude who hasn't showered for a week, and the Big Mac he picked up at the airport is dripping all over my pant leg.

More than crashing from a height of 30,000 feet, I dread people like that. Or the kid repeatedly kicking me in the back because his parents don't care WHAT he's doing as long as he leaves THEM alone. People leave behind garbage and treat fellow travelers with surly attitudes.

A few months ago, when an elderly lady asked a man seated on the aisle to let her out so she could use the restroom, he said, and I quote, "I hope this isn't going to go on all flight, I've got three hours to sit here." If they don't say it, you can often tell they are thinking it.

By the time I get off a plane trip of an hour or more duration, I am stabby.

Sometimes I get stabby before the trip even begins. As most of our wallets have felt, almost all airlines now charge for the second checked bag. Many charge for the first one, too! I try to travel Southwest because hey... their staff don't look like they want me to drop dead and they allow two checked in bags at no cost!

But the fact that most do charge leads people to try to avoid expense by taking advantage of carry-on bag space. I gain a fair amount of amusement and annoyance (they make an interesting pairing, best served with cheese and whine) by examining what some people think qualifies.

A quick trip to an airline's site or the check in counter will reveal to the traveling circus that carry-on size limits are significantly less than the super-sized bags that they have chosen. And they know it. You cannot get them to meet your gaze. They figure that if they don't make eye contact, they won't get caught.

Dude, I could LIVE in your carry-on for a week and be comfortable.

And when they do? When the GateKeeper has the nerve, the audacity, the infinite RUDENESS to say, "Sir, that bag is too large to fit in the overhead bin," all hell breaks loose.

Overheard responses include, "So what do you expect me to do about it?" or, "I ALWAYS use this bag and EVERY other airline lets me take it on board," because ya know, it's the GateKeeper's fault that these people are morons.

It's even better when one of the monstrous bags makes it on board, because then the owner, clearly unable to heft her own body weight over her head, can endanger the safety of all those around her by trying to do just that. Ever seen an oversized, 50-lb brick with a pull-handle land on someone's head? It ain't pretty.

It just proves what we observe in games every day: While most people play by the rules and try to act with consideration toward others, human nature is such that there are ALWAYS those who think that they can be asshats and that no one will call them on it.

When the line was delayed in Las Vegas last week due to someone arguing the carry-on policy, they declaimed, "I can't believe this crappy service! You could just let me on! It's not MY fault if the plane is delayed!"

A voice from the back calmly asserted, "Actually, it is your fault, sir," to the sound of applause all around.

Busted.