My goodness, someone upvoted you big time. Six votes and your post has gathered you $18.16 (at the time of posting). Your advice is sensible, for sure. If you don't cash in occasionally, the value of your coins is just numbers. That said, charges for transactions are pretty bloody high at the moment.
You're right, Bitcoin transactions can be a bit of a joke, espectially when there's a lot of movement. I feel this is possibly one of the reasons that other coins have gathered more momentum. People want speedy low cost transactions.