On traveling...

Once again, the summer vacation has come and gone.

I don't know what possesses me to get on board the aluminum bird pictured above and head south to one of the most uncomfortable cities in terms of heat, humidity, and sheer size other than the family connection.

Houston definitely falls into the category of "nice place to visit but I wouldn't want to live there", at least for me.  Luckily the time frame between plane rides was very enjoyable for two reasons; I took my son with me this time and my sister's kids are getting older, and it's always good to get the WHOLE Lohman clan together., not just for the kids but for the benefit of my Mom.  On the sentimental side, I wish my dad had lived to see the day that all of his grandkids would be in one place at one time.

But this entry isn't about that.  It's about traveling.

To me, travel by air is as much as event as the actual body of the vacation.  Of course, the experience of flying has changed in my lifetime and more so in my elder's lifetime but since I don't do it on a regular basis like the character that George Clooney plays in the movie Up In The Air, it's still exciting. 

It dates back to when I was a kid and we went back to Pittsburgh a year or so after we moved to Tulsa.  I was probably 7 years old or so.  These were the days when a plane ride nearly demanded you to be in nice clothes.  For me that meant plaid Toughskins trousers with the reinforced knees, an earthtone shirt, and nice shoes.  In contrast, yesterday evening I boarded Southwest flight 1374 wearing shorts, a Cookie Monster face t-shirt, and sneakers.  My son Sean: cargo shorts, sneakers and a black T-shirt with a neon green Superman logo.

Back in the 1970s the planes were still considered "luxury liners" and had first, business and coach class seating.  The seats were wide and one thing I remember about the flight we took to Pittsburgh was walking back to our seats in coach and seeing the "lounge" in the middle of the aircraft.

Aboard the aircraft last night, had I not taken advantage of the preferred seating offered to travelers with disabilities you would have needed a shoe horn to fit me into the seats aboard the Southwest 737 we flew home last night.  I also remember my dad telling me that when he had made the reservations for our trip that he had requested chocolate milk with our meals on board.  The food was served on actual dishware with metal cutlery.

Last night, as any veteran traveler who uses Southwest will tell, the board of fare was either peanuts or pretzels and soda pop.  In case you were wondering, Sean had Sprite Zero and pretzels whereas I opted for Coke Zero and peanuts.

I do realize all of this nostalgia is something that a million or so people do every day of the year as a matter of course.  That's fine, but my air travel is limited to vacations at least for now.  I do want to take a LONG flight somewhere and experience an in-flight meal for old time's sake.  Get a little luxury for a change.