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After a recent trip to the East Coast I asked myself that question: What's it finally going to take to stop traveling and spend the money, otherwise, on making my house a better travel destination.
More and more hotels, you can't smoke in the rooms anymore. Fine! But where are the balconies, rooftop decks, designated areas of the hotel to smoke when the weather is horrible, besides standing outside the hotel on the street to smoke? In many way, I consider myself handicapped/disabled, as a result of my addiciton, and hotels will accomodate other handicapped/disabled travelers, but not us.
Can't smoke in rental cars anymore. Fine! So you seek out rest stops along the way or anywhere else, and make sure you're far enough away from the car so the smoke doesn't drift into the car.
Airport terminals? Fine! As long as there isn't repeated delays in your flight, so you don't have to repeatedly go through security with your bags to go out and have a smoke.
On a recent trip to California, I find you can't smoke within 25 feet of a bus stop. Fine! As you approach a bus stop on the street, you put it out, relight it, after 25 feet, and go through the process at the next street. Over and over again! And make sure you carry a tape measure with you!
I smoke cigars, about two or three a week. I go to a cigar store lounge or casino to enjoy it. I have to say that I somewhat agree with no smoking policies. I do believe that the owner of a business should have the final say as to what they want to do in their business just as the customer has the choice to either patronize it or not. But, smoking should not be forced on employees. It's easy to say they can find another job, but as we all know, that's not that easy, and employees put up with the negative health concerns to earn a living. What I'm getting at is the laws should be made to say that smoking would be allowed if a place set aside a smoking area that employees don't have to go in.
I was just in Vegas from Friday morning till last night and was able to enjoy my cigars in the Casino area bars all up and down the strip, but even then I would find a place away from people that weren't smoking and didn't puff when the waitress came around for my orders. Maybe the laws would stop being so tough if smokers would try and be a little more considerate. All the laws for the handicap I know about don't cost the health and enjoyment of anyone else so that could be a bad argument.
On a recent trip to California, I find you can't smoke within 25 feet of a bus stop. Fine! As you approach a bus stop on the street, you put it out, relight it, after 25 feet, and go through the process at the next street. Over and over again! And make sure you carry a tape measure with you!
My patience is slowly running out. Any one else?
LOL, this reminded me of the brief trip to Los Angeles that I took with one of my sisters. I had to keep reminding her that there were many places where we couldn't just light up (more than "many", probably, but again...short trip lol). I guess she kept thinking that being outside would be good enough in certain cases, but, um, no. I was like, "Don't you see the signs? Stop trying to get us ticketed!"
Your addiction = your problem. You may be addicted and I realize it's hard to quit but it's NOT impossible to quit. You have a choice, you choose to continue smoking and to compare that to a true disablity which is something someone does not choose to start or continue with is outrageously offensive. Businesses accommodate people with disabilities because they can not change their situation: YOU CAN.
Those of us who are so perfect that we don't have any issues, (like smoking for example) should hope that they live out their lives without any self caused misfortune or imperfections that would allow a self-righteous blithering idiot who has no hint of humanity or compassion to denigrate them. I've never met a perfect person but I've met many who are eager to point out the imperfection in others.
Those of us who are so perfect that we don't have any issues, (like smoking for example) should hope that they live out their lives without any self caused misfortune or imperfections that would allow a self-righteous blithering idiot who has no hint of humanity or compassion to denigrate them. I've never met a perfect person but I've met many who are eager to point out the imperfection in others.
Believing that the world should not go out of it's way to accommodate something which should be discouraged does not in anyway shape or form mean that I am perfect or have no compassion for others. I have lost 2 loved ones to lung cancer which was a direct result of smoking and nearly a third. Having no compassion for other smokers would mean having no compassion for my loved ones. The difference is, my loved ones didn't go around thinking the world should accommodate their addiction. Never would they make such an offensive comparison of their addiction to an actual disability.
Excellent indirect insult which was clearly aimed at me but next time, just have the guts to reply to me directly.
I'm not an anti-smoking nazi. But you have to accept responsibility for your addiction and recognize the U.S. is no longer smoker friendly, and that doesn't seem to be changing any time soon. So your option is to - stop smoking or stop traveling.
That being said - people in Europe and other areas outside the U.S. smoke like crazy. Even if their are "no smoking" signs and areas, europeans tend to ingnore it. Airports, resteraunts, theaters, doesn't matter. They'll light up. So international travel is still an option if you just gotta take in those cancer fumes.
I've always managed to find hotels with smoking rooms....rental cars....nothing a good dose of Frebrezze couldn't handle
That said I am now quitting, have my patch on, the straw that broke my camels back (no pun intended) was the freakin ludicrous taxes...cigarettes are now $7.50 a a pack in NJ and going up again....I'm not going to help those crooked politicians balance the budget. Can't wait to see what they will tax next to make up for the lost revenue on tobacco tax as people quit because they just can't afford it.
I truly enjoyed a cigarette...now if I feel an urge I think of the taxes and get myself MAD..I've also multiplied the cost of a pack by 14 and have that money transferred from my checking into a special savings account every 2 weeks....it does help when you look at the $$ you are saving
Smoking is a thing of the past. There is a reason that public places, like resturants, airports, hotels, rental cars, stadiums, etc are all smoke free. Smoking kills people and non-smokers out number smokers these days. Its a democratic society so smoker is on the out. I have no problem with smokers, go ahead, smoke in your house, smoke outdoors.....
Its funny when smokers complain about all these new constraints. What you all need to realize is you are a dying breed (literally). Also, there are a lot of smokers who are unaware of how rude they are - blowing smoke in other peoples faces, etc and they ruined the fun for all the other smokers.
pa2uk-I would be more than happy to insult you directly, however, the mods generally frown upon that sort of behavior and would most likely remove it altogether.
Gman-What's so great about majority rule? Would you want the kind of car that you own to be decided through a democratic process, or would you prefer purchasing any car you please? Ask that same question about decisions such as where you live, what clothes you purchase, what food you eat, what entertainment you enjoy and what wines you drink. I'm sure that if anyone suggested that these choices be subject to a democratic process, you'd deem it tyranny. James Madison, the father of our Constitution, said that in a pure democracy rather than a balanced republic, "there is nothing to check the inducement to sacrifice the weaker party or the obnoxious individual." He also observed, "Measures are too often decided, not according to the rules of justice and the rights of the minor party, but by the superior force of an interested and overbearing majority." That's another way of saying that one of the primary dangers of majority rule is that it confers an aura of legitimacy and respectability on acts that would otherwise be deemed tyrannical. Liberty and democracy are not synonymous and could actually be opposites.
I don’t smoke in public, at all,ever, but I sure don’t appreciate others dictating to me how and what I do choose to do, whether or not it’s a wise decision to do so.
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