The older I get, the longer plane trips seem. Used to be, when I was young, that a fifteen hour flight to Asia was merely a stepping stone in a great travel adventure. Now, gearing up for a trip to the East Coast to see family seems to get longer and more uncomfortable with each passing year.
Alaska Airlines is finally flying into Philadelphia, which means I only have to change planes once in Seattle and that cuts a good four hours off the trip since I no longer have to change planes in Chicago or somewhere like that. My only wish for Christmas is that Alaska Airlines will start direct Anchorage – Philly flights before I die so I can get on the plane here and get off it there with no tedious wait in-between. But meanwhile, I’m grateful for at least one leg being cut out of the trip.
Maybe I’ll eventually get so old that it will go back to being no big deal to fly for 18 hours in cramped seats with little fresh air and no amenities… and that’s on Alaska Airlines, one of the best flying today… I can’t even imagine this flight on some airlines that simply make the trip nightmarish. But I’m guessing that until they can teleport us to where we want to go, I’ll just have to continue to swallow Melatonin and hope for the best.