You know from my ABOUT page that traveling is a passion of mine, and in mid-October I am flying to Quito, Ecuador to serve on a school accreditation team. From there I’m going to the Galapagos Islands so I am really looking forward to that experience and hope that Keeping Faith will be available on Amazon when I return. You’ll be the first to know because it will be advertised right here on the web site.
I love traveling, but I don’t love flying although I have logged more than 40,000 miles on planes this year. One reason I probably don’t enjoy the going and coming is because I fly economy which means I sit in the “no class section” of the plane. Not only am I packed in like a salted sardine, the food is bad, the drinks are slow arriving and the people next to me are usually not any happier about being in this part of the plane as I am.
I know the little kids aren’t because they are crying, drooling and otherwise fretting. I want to join them, but I know others would not be as patient with me. But at least now I have acquired so many points that I have an elite status which means I can now sit in rows where I can see people in first class. They are just different you know–a little more composed, relaxed, smug.
On a recent trip from Peru I had my first experience actually sitting in that section because my friend Gayle, who is a classy gal, pulled some strings or used points or something for me to sit with her. The only problem was because of the train ride to and from Machu Picchu, coupled with the high altitude in Cusco and the food poisoning in Lima, I was left a bit spent and unable to enjoy the amenities as much as I know I could on another occasion.
Also, although I will be eternally grateful to my friend, I have curmudgeon tendencies so I kept thinking, why couldn’t this pleasure been used on my almost 14 hour trip from Houston to Tokyo or on the long, boring trips to Europe or Egypt. Destinations in South America don’t usually require the long hours or cause the dreaded jet lag that others do. But it was, nonetheless, long enough to get me accustomed to a better mode of transport, and I will have a difficult time returning to my tiny seat BEHIND THE CURTAIN.