Back in the 50s and 60s, when flying was cosmopolitan, upper class, and exciting; when people dressed up to board a plane… did anyone envision a time when flying was a horrible, horrible chore?
Let’s see. I woke at 3 yesterday, left the house at 4:30, arrived at the airport at 5:30… then undressed for the security guys. Well, my shoes and belt. And explain why I have to take my laptop out of the bag if they are both going through an x-ray machine? Can’t they see the laptop that way as well? After I reassembled everything, I waited for the plane, which finally left around 7:30am.
Then I waited in Cincinnati for 3 hours for a connecting flight which was late.
I finally made it to Kansas City around 12:30. A van ride to the hotel, and I was ready to have a business lunch at 1:30pm. In all, the traveling portion of my day took 10-1/2 hours (we turned the clock back one hour). Just to go to Kansas City from Washington.
On the way back, it took from 10:30am to 7:00pm (including traffic coming home from the airport in Baltimore and a gain of one hour). A half hour of that was spent sitting on the tarmac unable to pull into a gate because there was another plane in the spot.
I spent one hour at lunch, a little over one hour on a site visit, and another hour wrapping up business. All that hassle for less than 4 hours of business seems like an unfair trade to me.
But at least there were no screaming kids on the planes.
I used to LOVE flying….
Now I won’t even go near a plane.