I'm thankful for Modern Travel. I started day 63 in Minnesota...and, after making some pit stops in Wisconsin and Ohio, ended up in Louisiana. New Orleans to be exact...or Nawlins ;)
Yes, flying is a pain. It costs an arm and a leg, and you often spend more time in the actual airport than you do in the air (that's kind of a annoying)...and so too is the whole, take your shoes off, don't fly with an ounce of liquid, and, oh, please stand in this line of 10,000 people, and crying infants just to be barked at by some security officer who hates their job. Did I mention I had to go through a body scanner? All that for 2 layovers, and a pack of peanuts ;)
But my point is...it could be worse. The airplane is second only to the rocket in terms of the fastest method of travel...so I'm all for all the hoops you have to jump through just to get on board.
Consider the alternatives. We'll start modern...with...say, the car. Have you SEEN gas prices lately? The friend I went to New Orleans to visit -- well, her brother (and his friend) drove down to the Big Easy from Ohio. Having driven from Montana to Michigan (twice), I can tell you how big of a pain in the ass driving across the country can be. Literally, and figuratively. I'll take my 345 mph plane over your 75ish mph automobile any day.
Then...there's the train, which has it's perks. Much faster than the car, the high-speed rail can get up to 220 mph. But high-speed rail lines are few and far between. Most trains are rickety, slow and smell like urine. I've traveled across two countries (not the U.S.) by train. I was pretty certain I was going to die in the overnight train between Kiev and Lviv in the Ukraine (seriously people...slept with one eye open), and when I entered my little train room during my trip across France, I found a stowaway sound asleep in my bed. He was scary. There weren't clean sheets. It was kind of disturbing. And if you're not in a bed, you're stuck sitting in a chair for hours on end, and that's really not all that much fun.
Planes and Automobiles kind of stole the thunder of rail transport, and water transport after WWII. Don't get me started on water transport. My mom's terrified of deep water. I'm fine if I'm in a boat, unless you count that one time after high school when our cruise ship skirted the outside of a hurricane, and I was convinced my life may end while I was waiting in line at the buffet. Not exactly the way I'd want to go. Just sayin'
And then...the birth of human transportation...walking and/or swimming. I can hardly walk from here to my mailbox with this gimp knee, so I can't even imagine walking across the country (though I wonder how long that would take...hmmm?) and swimming? Unless it's in a pool with chlorine, it's not my bag. I don't like the feeling of creepy crawly things on my skin. That includes, all species of fish, seaweed, and all other amphibious life forms. I wouldn't make it one day swimming across a major body of water. Not unless I was in a full wet suit.
Then again, there's always animals (horses, oxen, etc.) that made travel more convenient many moons ago, but I can't really see myself riding into New Orleans on a milky white steed. Could you imagine the saddle sores? (just sayin').
So...now that you've gotten my goofy commentary on the history of global travel...let me say this.
I'm thankful for the inventions of airplanes and their ability to bring us closer to the people we love. I'm thankful that I'm financially stable enough to afford a weekend trip of indulgence (and beads) to a faraway land. And I'm thankful that we're advanced enough in this country to have so many travel options. My family members in the Ukraine never leave their village. Everything they need is there. They really have no reason to leave, and if they did, they don't have many options, but their own two feet. I have one relative that owns a car. He's a professor, so he's the wealthiest among my family there (hard to believe, isn't it?), but owning a car and being able to afford the gas to operate it, are two very different things.
We so often take for granted all the many blessings that are bestowed us, simply by virtue of the country we live in (grab your boots. This is getting deep). The fact that we can hop in a car, or on a bike, or a motorcycle, or a skateboard. The fact that we have roads (some better than others, and if you've driven in Minnesota or Michigan lately, you'll know exactly what I'm talking about)...but nonetheless, we have a road, and that's more than some countries are able to say.
I'm thankful that I'm not forced to walk miles and miles and miles balancing a basket on my head to get water, or berries...and that I can instead hop in my car, and make it to a corner store and back in five minutes.
And I'm thankful for the airplane -- because it brought me back into the arms of someone I loved on both legs of the trip. And that's pretty special :)
Ok...I'll get off my soap box. History lesson is over for today folks ;)
Now me and my mashed potato brains are on to Day 64...
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