‘The Accidental Tourist’ is a humorous story. The narrator, Bill Bryson, narrates his experiences as an air traveller. There were many things that he could not do properly.
He was a confused person. He goes many times to find lavatory in a cinema but ends up standing in an alley on the wrong side of self-locking door. He often forgets the number of his hotel room and goes two or three times a day at the hotel reception to enquire about it.
Once he went to England with his family for a week on Easter. On the airport he remembered that he had a discount card in his carry bag. He tried to open the bag and pulled the zip harder. The zip broke and the bag opened abruptly. Everything in his bag rained out and spread here there. His wife was shocked to find her husband so absentminded.
He had many such experiences while on board. Once he was in a helpless crash position when he leaned over to tie his shoe laces and someone in the seat ahead of him threw his seat back into full recline. On another occasion, he knocked soft drinks into the lap of a lady sitting beside him.
The worst experience he had was when he got his mouth, chin, gums and tongue blue coloured. He was writing some thoughts on a paper. He fell into conversation with a lady sitting next to him. He had put his pen in his mouth. It leaked and his mouth was covered with ink. He did not realise it until he went to the lavatory.
The narrator was so fed up with his eating habits that he preferred not to eat while on board. His wife used to take some precautions. She told the children to “take the lid off the food for daddy” or put their hoods up when daddy cut his meat.
He often forgot to ask for flyer miles. He could never take benefits from the discount schemes. It was his state of mind that he missed a golden opportunity to avail himself of first class flight to Bali.