If you haven’t read “About Me” you may not know that I am a pilot. I still get to say that even though I no longer fly for a living. I’m sitting on a Delta jet right now on my way to Colorado, in coach, with some slightly more than light chop, and still, I’m happy. I sit on a train, and I am happy. I sit on a cruise ship, and I am happy. I look back on my life and there’s a common thread. From the age of four or so, I wanted to be a train engineer. Around six, I decided airline pilot would be my thing. At 23….I was an airline pilot. And then I decided if I could do it all over again, I would sail the seas. In short, my whole life has been about going places.
There is an unexplainable joy I get in travel. Is it magic? I don’t know, but it sure is fun. I have been very fortunate to experience things that my mother and late father could only dream about. Better yet, I have experienced those things at a fraction of the cost that I might have otherwise endured thanks to my prior employment with an airline, or most of all, thanks to my participation in a community of like-minded travelers who knew how to capitalize on a good deal when they saw it.
I hope we, as a community of travelers, can recapture the magic of the first airplane ride, the first cross-country flight, or better yet, the first flight up front for almost free :). It’s time to stop being angry and start recapturing the joy of travel. We really are all in this together.
-MJ, May 9, 2013
Very well said MJ..and for us we’re happy not only sitting on a cruise ship but romantically happy sitting on the Veranda (at sea, at sunset) toasting our love with a glass of bubbly.
I echo the positive comments above. It is especially refreshing just coming off of FTU – Tysons Corner. With the exception of a couple of the sessions, I left wondering: Are any of these people having fun and enjoying these fantastic gifts or is it all about DYKWIA and CC affiliation fees? Even though I travel frequently between the same points, I always try to stop and take it all in, as if it might be the last time.
Even though I now cherish weekends at home as I traveled so much for the past few weeks, I still enjoy traveling and mileage runs. The first three months of the year was very busy for me relatively speaking with spending only 4 weeks at home with an extended vacation and work travel.
I thought I would dread my day trip mileage run to Rio but I had a blast. There’s nothing like sitting in some foreign country and relaxing knowing you just left from half way around the world just yesterday.
I completely agree! Our parents lived in a different generation when plane travel was $$$ and frequent flyer miles/partner airlines were not common (and it was certainly impossible to get miles from credit cards back in the day!)
I still remember my first plane ride back in 1989 (I don’t remember details but I do remember snippets.)
Enlighten us and tell us whom you flew for and what were the top 3 reasons you loved it and hated it — and what us, flyers, should know about flying that we don’t know
American Eagle Flagship airlines and Wings West Airlines. Jetstream and Saab 340.
Marshall, I’m so glad you said what you said. We should all be grateful for the blessing of being able to travel and for such great prices as well đŸ™‚
What did you fly?
See you in Chicago
MJ-
Wonderful sentiments. If this were Facebook, I’d give this post a great big “like”!