Skip to main content

Up, Up and Away . . .





One of my favorite memories of growing up was when my sister Kelli and I got to fly, by ourselves, from our home in Milwaukee to visit our grandparents in Champaign Illinois. We were dressed similarly - in matching suits of different colors. I believe we were 9 and 8 and so proud that our parents were letting us on this big adventure. It also meant changing planes at O'Hare airport! We were instructed on how to get help looking for our gate and reminded just how large O'Hare was. We felt grown up!

Our father travelled a lot for business, so he gave us valuable information about that monstrous airport (that it had seven 'fingers' was one tidbit I still remember - he was referring to the terminals). It shouldn't have surprised either Kelli or I that upon landing, our Dad would just happen to be at O'Hare too. He claimed that he too was there to change flights and since we had a little bit of time, wouldn't it be great to have lunch together. So the three of us went to the Admiral's Club and then he escorted us to our gate for the rest of the journey to Champaign.

I had a chance to think about that trip (and others of my youth) when John and I had a layover at O'Hare this past weekend. It's way more monstrous and flying is a way different experience! My memories of 'airline' travel may be colored a bit by time and nostalgia, but it used to be a first rate way to travel. You were treated respectfully by the flight crews, served beverages and even full meals if the flight was longer than a couple hours. On shorter flights, you were served a snack and beverages. Since my Dad was a frequent traveler he had a membership in the Admiral's Club - a place where you could go to relax and be served more beverages and snacks and sit in a comfortable and quieter atmosphere.

Well, those days are long gone - they've gone up, up and away!

The overall impression is being herded like cattle - from the lines at the ticket counters, to the TSA checkpoints, to the waiting areas, to the overcrowded dining or shopping options, to the plane, off the plane, through baggage claim and onto the taxi queues. All the while fellow travelers can almost be heard, voicing "Mooooooooo-ve out of my way!"

I won't go into the details of the debacle - suffice it to say we were supposed to arrive in Grand Rapids at 11:30 a.m. and arrived instead at 3:30 a.m. 


I'm sure some of the chaos of airline travel is that there are so many people flying these days -  there are a lot of deals out there and people are finding ways to afford the trips. Airlines are trying to maximize their profits (or even make one) so they are filling planes often over capacity to make it cost effective. And those seats just seem to get closer together - and I don't even have long legs!


So this year for spring break, we're not flying. Or even driving. I'm going to see  if train travel has lost it's luster too!

Comments

  1. gretchenMarch 11, 2011 at 2:50 PM

    Kathleen, I love your story about your Dad and you an Kelli at the airport! What a great experience for an 8 year old! Thanks for sharing this! And great to "see" you and Kelli!
    Gretchen

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

It's not a popularity contest, but ...

Friday Night Lights

Friday night lights were blazing last week - when for the first time in the history of our little town, the Saugatuck Indians clinched the district title! You can see the sheer joy on Matthew's face and the pride in his father's eyes in the picture above. Leading up to and during the game, there were several things that made the victory even more sweet. The first being that the sports writers in the area, to a person, all predicted the opponents, Climax-Scotts, to win. They'd had a perfect season - until Friday. The second was that we had to travel quite a distance (nearly 90 minutes) to get to the game. And the weather was frigid and snow was blowing - thankfully it was blowing towards the Climax-Scotts stands and was at our backs. And then our quarterback injured his shoulder and had to sit out for a good portion of the game. Thankfully, the replacement quarterback (a sophomore called up for the playoffs from the junior varsity team) did not let the stress effect his ...
3 comments
Read more

You don't know me . . .

I stopped blogging for awhile. I know some might think that I was being lazy, or overly-involved in some community or school venture or in the middle of some really good books or projects. While all of those are true, that's not the main reason. I stopped because it felt strange to be somewhere and have someone refer to something I wrote. It was like they knew a secret about me (though secrets are not usually published on the Web) that I hadn't shared with them. Though in reality I had shared because I wrote it on the blog.  Truth be told, I don't know who reads this - I have a smattering of followers but a lot more readers. Blogger lets me see how many page views for each posting and I can even tell the referral site. The most I have had for any post was 152 and I've had readers from as far away as New Zealand (thank you Gretchen) and Alaska. Most readers are referred through Facebook. I know that if I were more diligent, I could market the crap out of the blog ...
Post a Comment
Read more

The Peri-Empty Nest Years

I am in the midst of a 'peri-empty nest syndrome'. Don't bother wondering where that syndrome came from - I just made it up. It's a combination of perimenopause and something else I can't quite remember right now. But that something I forgot was some sort of syndrome. My nest is slowly emptying. Michael is away at college and comes home on breaks; though he may get an internship this summer and not be home at all. Matthew as a junior is looking at colleges and is busy with a myriad of activities and friends and is home between the two (activities and friends). Delaney is busy with rehearsals, practices and friends in Holland - her new high school is there. And I am the mama bird at home in the nest that still needs to be cared for watching her birdies fly away or on test runs for the big fly-off. It is a strange feeling. Everyone I know that's an empty nester says it's great after the initial shock wears off (the dads say it takes about 30 minutes, the...
Post a Comment
Read more