The travel bug is a scratchin'....

The palms on my hand are itching. As I look up into the sky and watch the silver jet stream across the blue sky, I absent-mindedly start scratching my palms. Like a gambler's itch, this affliction occurs when I have been grounded for too long.
It is time to fly.

Call it “wanderlust”, “frequent traveler”, “passionate flyer” – whatever name you choose the desire to fly and travel is within me. The actual going of traveling for me is sometimes greater than the arrival at the destination. I love the process. I know....

When I climb into a plane and sit amongst my fellow passengers – who are strangers – I take comfort in knowing we have one thing in common at that very moment. We are going somewhere. There is hope, excitement, new expectations, adventure awaiting.

Now, sometimes I get so caught up in the frustrations of flying (as I am human) I sometimes lose sight of what it truly brings. Flying brings closer connections to family and friends, ability to conduct business quickly face-to-face. It opens our world, our minds, and hopefully our hearts. Bringing close once distant destinations, faraway exotic locales. The ability to try new food, experience new cultures, and meet strangers who may become friends. Flying expands us and our views.

Flying allows you to see the world as your eyes see it, as your nose smells it, as your ears hear it, as your heart knows it and as your mind absorbs it. Not one-dimensionally as in a book or newspaper tells you it is like. And not two-dimensionally as a television show or the news medias shows it to you. Or those "cutting edge" virtual reality concoctions that sit on your face. Flying and traveling places you there, wherever “there” is, in-person. Whole body, whole mind, whole self. All your senses engaged.

By flying we have the opportunity to see ourselves differently and see our world differently.

Yes. It is time to fly. Who is ready to go?