Leavin' on a Jet Plane

This weekend I fly east to visit family. Or, rather, some of the family. I was the only sibling missing from an informal gathering in October, but I just could not get away from work then.

In anticipation of this trip, I had been keeping track of airline tickets. Several months ago, to fly from here to there was about $300. Not bad. When I was still contemplating flying there in October, I checked ticket prices again: $500. Now, economically, it became a toss-up between flying and driving, except it is a two-day drive and I'm low on vacation days. Then I discovered I had enough miles to cash some in, and I got me a ticket for $200 - sweet! Last week, I received an email from NWA about last-minute deals, so I decided to see if my ticket price had fallen in the meantime. Nope. Now, with taxes, the price was over $800!!!

Besides being expensive, flying has also become quite the ordeal. Flying used to have the advantage of saving time and being somewhat glamourous, but now you have to get to the airport early, strip in front of and (if unlucky) get patted down by strangers, make sure you have enough time between flights when making connections, bring your own food and entertainment, choose between lugging all your stuff in a carry-on (that may still be taken from you and stowed below) or risk losing it to the bowels for the baggage handling system, etc., etc., and so forth. And then, it is not uncommon to be treated like sheep (best case) or hauled off to be questioned (worst case) if you voice displeasure over any of this.

But what are the alternatives? In this country, virtually none. So that is my wish for today, that somebody somewhere develop a new and better way for us to travel.

Side note: I am currently reading A Fortune-Teller Told Me : Earthbound Travels in the Far East by Tiziano Terzani, which is about how the author (a journalist) spent a year traveling around Asia and Europe without flying. His job is such that he was able to spend the time traveling by land and water. So maybe what we need is not a way to travel fast but more time to travel slowly.

Knitting: The Jaywalkers are done! Even the gusset gaps are closed. (One modification I would make to the pattern is to incorporate a M1 on either side of the gussets to prevent the gap.) I chose the Austermann Step sock yarn because it contains aloe and jojoba, and the saleswoman assured me that not only would my feet benefit from wearing the resulting socks, my hands would be softened while I knit. I did not find the latter to be true, but when I soaked and blocked the socks, the yarn really softened, so I'm hoping the former is.

I promise to take photos tonight!