Sunday Night = Travel Night

As Yogi Berra used to say... "It's like deja vu all over again". It sure feels that way as I am spending a Sunday night out of town and in a hotel again. It is like I have been transported back in time to the 1990's or early 2000's. Back in those days, I would be home for maybe 72 hours a week and I would spend the rest of the time out of town for work. This Sunday finds me in a similar situation.

Instead of my old haunts of San Francisco, Chicago and Philadelphia this Sunday I find myself in Raleigh, North Carolina. To reach Raleigh at a reasonable hour from Denver, I had to leave my house around 9:00AM Sunday morning. I left Denver on a 11:42AM flight headed for Washington DC. On key difference between now and then is back then I would have definitely been flying first class for a three and half hour flight. Now adays without any status on any airline I am back in cattle car country - sandwiched in between people in seat 9E. At least it was better than my first originally assigned seat - 21B which wasn't even in the economy plus seating. Economy plus on United at least offers you a few extra inches of leg room!

I got to fly on one of my favorite types of planes for the flight to DC. It was a Boeing 757. I am not exactly sure why a B757 is one of my favorites exact for the fact that it seems like it has a lot of power. But I like it! One the flight from DC to Raleigh the plane was an Airbus A320. Unfortunately I got stuck in another center seat as my flight into DC was overdue and so my window seat on that flight was given away - and I ended up in a center seat again - yuck!

One of the other things I was thinking about today as I was flying was how much time I have spent in the air during my life. I really do not like flying. In the past I had an intense fear of flying and significantly struggled every time I had to get on an airplane. I am no longer at that point in life - as my fear of flying has greatly diminished. I think my fear has diminished simply because I have spent so much of my life on airplanes. As I waited for my flight to depart Denver today, I counted it up and I realized that between the 2 major airlines I have flown in my life - United and USAirways - I have flown over 1.1 million miles! Think of that... 1.1 million miles on airplanes. That doesn't even count all the other airlines I have flown like Northwest (at least 50,000 miles), American and Continential (at least 15,000 per airline), Lufthansa (at least 40,000 miles) and countless others for an unknown quantity of miles.

If you figure an jet goes on average 400/miles per hour I have spent approximate 2750 hours in the air which translates out to 114 entire days. The assumption of a jet travelling on average 400/miles per hour I think is a pretty generous estimate and I am sure the average is probably lower. That also only include the amount of time in the air. That does include taxi time or time spent on the ground waiting and waiting and waiting.

So what is the point of all that... Not much really. It is just kind of fun to think about the amount of time we spend doing different activities and to break it all down. As much as it might seem silly I do look forward to the day in which I can claim my 1 million mile level on United. (Still got 400,000 miles to go, but I do think someday I am going to get it!)

I hope everyone has a great week ahead!

Thanks and peace to all! ~J.