I attended the show last year for the first time and really enjoyed the opportunity to get inside the automobiles and evaluate so many all in one place.  Having some metrics by which to compare these vehicles would be handy, so we’re going to work on that in the coming month, as well as focusing on models and brands where we’d like to spend the most time.

If you have suggestions, ideas, or a specific vehicle you’d like to request that we review?  Email to tim@sizeoflife.com or leave it in the comments section below.

Categories: Cars
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In a few news articles released today, Jack Black expanded on some comments regarding difficulty finding a tux due to his size made at a black tie affair in honor of his friend and “Tropic Thunder” co-star Ben Stiller.

Jack Black (Image from Wikipedia)

During an opening for the ceremony, which honored Stiller for the Museum of the Moving Image, Black stated that he had been shopping for a Tuxedo and was snubbed by Bergdorf Goodman and walked to a nearby Rochester Big & Tall where he was apparently very well taken care of.  From Fox News Article:

After a weirdly stiff video greeting from Tom Cruise, Jack Black kicked off the show by announcing that he’d been rejected by Bergdorf Goodman while tuxedo shopping when they measured his neck. “Eighteen a half inches! It’s too big for this store. You might want to go down the block. I walked three blocks to the big and tall store where I was welcomed with loving arms by my people!”

(In fact, Jack went to Rochester’s.)

In an article just posted to People.com a few hours ago, Black expanded on the subject a bit:

“The lady there was like, ‘Your neck … it’s too big. It’s too big for this store! I’m sorry Jack Black, but you might want to go to Big and Tall.’ “

“My face became flushed with humiliation and shame,” he continued, his speech taking on all the makings of a comedy routine.

The truth hurts, and when being dealt this blow at a later age it can be a bit rougher on people.  Depending on your mentality, experiencing this “humiliation and shame” can be a real bummer when shopping for anything as a big and tall guy.  You tend to get the “try the Big & Tall store” line a lot when shopping for clothes and shoes.

After a while, it can become downright insulting to hear from the average height / weight person working retail hell that “they can’t help you” when in fact, in most cases, they just don’t want to.  I’m sure I’ve experienced my fair share of thinly veiled discrimination and failed to recognize it…  however most of the time, they are being honest.

It’s very good to see an actor/musician talk openly and publicly about the challenges and struggles that many of us share.  To do so in such a favorable light with the media is rare, and I felt it was important to highlight this as it may go largely unseen by the Big & Tall guys who don’t happen to follow entertainment news.

Categories: Big & Tall News
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This can read a few different ways, so here’s a snippet from an article over at OK! Magazine reporting that Air France is now going to charge for emergency exit seats on their planes.  I’ve always seen the people who proactively take these seats as receiving the privilege of additional legroom in return for their service and ability to open the emergency door should something go wrong.

Link to the article.

AIR passengers who ask for extra legroom in economy are to pay £40 for the privilege.

Air France became the first airline to introduce a supplement for the prized seats next to emergency exits or at the front of rows.  Until now, taller passengers have often been able to reserve the seats with a request.

Now surcharges will be applied to long-haul flights. An Air France spokesman said: “It will be a small charge to have to pay for extra legroom.”

Carriers including Singapore Airlines have also just started a similar scheme.

British Airways said it had no intention of introducing the charge.

So far as I’m concerned, Air France isn’t really the first carrier to do this…  I can’t recall, but either on a Northwest or Frontier flight that I took earlier this year, this was an option that was made available to me when I was doing electronic check-in and printing my boarding passes.

As a big & tall person, this can strike me a few different ways.  When legroom is minimal or giving me problems at many places (sports, concert and theatre venues just to name a few) I’ll often ask for a better seat or to place a folding chair in the handicapped section.  I usually try to be a courteous person, but sometimes it must be done for the sake of myself and those who would be forced to be around me under these circumstances.

I’m split on this one.  It’s a free market and the airlines can do what they want…  however accommodating those of us that have slightly different needs.  Perhaps this is akin to charging for a second seat if the passenger has a wider waistline.  I tend to see this as the bean counters finding another way to monetize extra space on the plane.  But when there’s an empty row at the back of the plane, I usually grab that row and sprawl out to get comfortable…  are they going to charge me for that next?

Categories: Travel
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For my first bit of actual content for the site, I’ve decided to write about some recent experiences with airline travel and how they affect big & tall men.  Readers will find that I will always state with any review that your mileage may vary, however I hope to provide what may be at least a small bit of guidance.

I have an equation that I frequently use to determine whether I fly or drive to a function, event or vacation destination.  Determining whether one should fly is an individual choice, and I always factor things in like rental car cost, parking cost, flight time, plane type and many other factors.  Everyone is going to be different in this respect, so I’ll refrain from expanding any further on the issue.  But once you’ve made the decision to fly, as a big & tall man, you have some legwork to do to keep the experience pleasant.

Your choice of air travel as a big & tall man can sometimes be a difficult one.  After speaking with many big & tall men, traveling for any reason can become a huge hassle if airplanes are required.  With this short series of articles, I hope to help minimize that hassle for you with recommendations and ideas that have worked for me countless times.  Planes and seats to choose are important to helping you determine how to get the best experience, and other factors such as boarding and baggage tips can enhance the experience even more.

Part 1 – Choosing your plane wisely.

Choosing your plane wisely can make or break the trip for you.  Picking a bad plane can dictate a large portion of your travel experience and make life miserable for you and those around you.  Some people choose to spend the extra money for a more spacious business class or first class seat, however for the budget conscious, this is not always an option.

Recent trips have placed me all over the continental United States via a few different planes.  Over the course of the last few years, I’ve come to love the Airbus A319/A320 series of planes.  They are extremely common here in the United States with budget carriers and generally afford “enough space” for me to be comfortable for up to 3 hours.  No matter the seating configuration, most of the A319 and A320’s I’ve flown in have been spacious enough to accommodate me, although some variations can and will cause issues.

EDIT: Thanks to Mark Peacock over at the TravelCommons Podcast for featuring us on his blog / podcast.  Mark went even further by giving us a tip on the exact best place to sit on an Airbus A319 if you can get it…  The window seat of the second exit row on United and Frontier Airline’s A319 is configured without a seat in front of it… giving you the most legroom possible in today’s fleet of aircraft.  Thanks, Mark!

However…  My “good enough” may not be enough for others.  The A320 is spacious, but would be uncomfortable if either of my dimensions were much larger than they are currently.

I go to great lengths to avoid certain planes with terrible seating configurations.   The McDonnell Douglas MD-80 series and the Canadair Regional Jets (CRJ-900, etc.) almost never have a spacious seating layout and can most literally not accommodate my leg length regardless of seating position.  The bulkhead seats in a CRJ-900 are the ONLY seats that I can sit in, and they are always the first to be reserved.

Now it’s your turn… Most of my air travel experience takes place on domestic flights.  My wife and I are considering a lot of international travel in coming years, however I could really use input on the subject.  If you’d like to write a small blurb about your big & tall international travel experiences, drop us a line via email at tim@sizeoflife.com or write something in our comments section of this post.

In part 2 of this series, we’ll discuss researching and booking your trip.

Categories: Travel
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Focusing on content…

As I’m preparing here to officially announce the site to some friends of mine in the rust-belt blogging community and other places, I feel compelled to talk a bit more about my plans for the site.  Producing content for a site like this might prove to be difficult, however I need to focus on seeing what works.

At this point, there’s going to be a lot of content.  Some will take the form of thought-out articles on topics of interest, others will be “quick and dirty” blog posts on a more personal level about my lifestyle experiences as a Big & Tall person.

NaBloWhoWha?

November is apparently National Blog Posting Month, or NaBloPoMo.  It’s also National Novel Writing Month, or NaNoWriMo.  Anyone else confused?

This blog sprouted from the hopes of someone trying to create a community for Big & Tall men that doesn’t really exist at this point.  I would love to commit to NaBloPoMo, however I think in the infancy of this site that I should focus strongly on quality content and not becoming burnt out on writing / reviewing for it or the pressure that goes along with these things.

A few new articles are already written and content will be arriving shortly.  Sit tight, it’s going to be an interesting ride.

Categories: Site News
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