Thoughts and photos from a plane

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Believe it or not, I actually hate to fly. It wasn't always that way, but somewhere in the past decade or so, I've become a bit disillusioned about it. It had nothing to do with Covid either. My disdain for air travel has been building up for quite some time.

I can still remember the first time I got on a jet. I was a young adult and I was getting ready to travel for work. We had to fly from Michigan to Iowa and my stomach was in absolute knots. This was before the pandemic and the terror attacks, so the whole process was actually much easier.

Before I knew it I was being shoved back in my seat as we were flying down the runway, and then that moment. You likely know the one. That instant when the wheels leave the ground and you are fulfilling a dream that man has imagined since the beginning of time.

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Back then, I loved it. I couldn't get enough of it. I remember my sister moved down to Kentucky at one point and even though it was a "short" six hour drive to her house, I still decided to fly down on one of my visits. Looking back now, it's hard to believe I ever had that much disposable income.

After having gone on a couple more business trips, I was a pro by that time and I remember flying into the Lexington airport and meeting up with my brother in law to take me to their house.

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Given how much @mrsbozz and I love to travel, it's almost too bad that we can't stand flying. In case I didn't mention it, she isn't a fan of it either. There are a great number of places that we would like to visit one day and unfortunately, driving to them isn't an option.

Maybe one day they will bend the laws of physics and perfect transporter technology that doesn't destroy your body, but until then, I don't think there is much chance of me avoiding the airways.

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I can't really say when things took a turn for me. Maybe it was the terror attacks, but I really don't think so. The long lines are definitely a nightmare, but I understand they are necessary given the world we live in today.

I was never really afraid of crashing either. It was definitely in the back of my head the first couple of times I flew, but as I thought about it, hundreds if not thousands of planes are in the air at any given moment and they all seem to make it where they need to be. Like they say, you have a better chance of getting injured on the road in your car that you probably do in a plane.

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I think the thing that really tipped the scales for me was a trip my wife and I took to Nashville a couple of years ago. We normally fly Delta, but for some reason we decided to fly United Airlines. Due to some issues with the plane, we got delayed, then stuck in Chicago. We missed our connecting flight, and missed out on a whole night of fun in Nashville. We didn't get there until afternoon the next day.

Thankfully, it wasn't an "act of God", so United covered the costs, but we still paid for a room in Nashville that we never used that first night.

I just feel like flying has lost some of its charm. I see the photos of planes in the 60's and 70's and they had so much space. Sure, people were smoking on them and you and you had to worry about hi-jacking, but it just seemed more glamorous.

These days between the excessive cost of flying and the feeling like you are being herded like cattle into the slaughterhouse, it's just not as fun.

I'll be the first to admit I could lose a few pounds, but the seat sizes in economy class are just ridiculous. Heaven forbid you try to upgrade to business class, you might as well start selling vital organs just to afford it.

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For our latest trip, I was lucky enough to get our tickets for free using our credit card points. They were economy, but we managed okay. We had a direct flight from Detroit to Burlington, VT on the way there, but on the way home they needed to send us through New York City. A couple of days before our trip, we got an alert that we were no longer connecting in LGA, we were now flying from Burlington down to Atlanta, then back up to Detroit.

On top of that, they assigned our seats and didn't put my wife and I next to each other. I looked at @mrsbozz and I said honey, I am sorry, but I have to throw you under the bus here, it was our anniversary trip after all. How stupid would it be to not even sit near each other.

I contacted their help desk and explained that my wife suffers from and has medication for anxiety, she needed to be next to me on the flight. I certainly made it sound more extreme that it was. My wife does take meds, but she is a normal fully functioning member of society.

Thankfully, they graciously adjusted our seats and got us taken care of. We were further back in the plane, but we really didn't care as long as we were together. But it really shouldn't be that hard should it? Isn't it common sense that if you book two seats (and you aren't a business), you probably want them together?

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Yet as much as I hate it, throw me in a window seat on a clear day, and I am just a little kid fascinated by our countryside and the marvels of modern technology. We had an absolutely marvelous flight from Atlanta to Detroit and although I was apprehensive about the extra distance at first, the time just seemed to "fly by" (pun intended).

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I was literally glued to the window. Especially as Lake Erie came into view and I knew that we were getting close to being home.

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We passed over Toledo, OH.

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Then some random islands in the middle of Lake Erie that I honestly never knew existed.

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I caught a freighter chugging across the lake carrying on unknown cargo to an unknown city.

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Before I knew it, the Detroit skyline was visible in the distance.

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We made a turn to start our approach, giving us an even better view of the city.

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Then the suburbs, and the still changing leaves.

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Our shadow growing ever closer.

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Closer.

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Until finally, touchdown. Feet on the ground, the magic gone just like that.

Did I mention I hate flying?

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All pictures/screenshots taken by myself or @mrsbozz unless otherwise sourced