“Travel is more than the seeing of sights; it is a change that goes on, deep and permanent, in the ideas of living.”
The day is cloudy and damp. It must have rained a bit during the night as the ground is wet, and there are now Gracie paw prints all the way down my floor from door to den. Usually my cleaning compulsion kicks in, but I’d be cleaning over and over, each time she comes in, so I’ll be patient and live with the muddy prints.
Once in a while I think about how much fun my life has been. I think it all comes from being a dreamer. When I was a kid, I dreamed about all those places in my geography book, and I promised myself I’d visit them some day. My Dad had been to Europe but that was compliments of Uncle Sam and WWII, and his memories centered around the pubs near his hospital in England. My neighbors went to Martha’s Vineyard every year for the whole summer, and I thought that was so exotic, to stay on an island. Marty Barrett, my elementary school classmate, went to England every few years to visit his grandparents, and I envied him, but I knew, without question, my time would come.
My first airplane ride was when I was a freshman in college, and I flew from Boston to Hyannis, an Easter gift from my parents. The plane was a small prop, and I could see landmarks from the window. My eyes followed the highway as we flew close to the land but over the ocean. I watched waves crash against the beach sand and saw the canal as we crossed to the cape. Before we landed, the plane circled a bit and I saw the parking lots in Hyannis and recognized the stores. When I landed, my dad was waiting for me and right away wanted to know how I liked the flight. I think I gushed, and I am not a gusher by any stretch of the imagination. The trip was almost magical for me. I was hooked, and I knew it. That was the beginning.
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Tags: Boston, cape cod, flying, Hyannis, Martha Vineyard, prop plane
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April 21, 2012 at 11:22 am
The ability to fly anywhere in the world in a day or less is one of the greatest advances of the 20th century. I first rode in an airplane in 1953 when my family flew from Dallas to NYC in a WWII surplus Douglas DC-4 airplane. My parents made us dress up for the trip which took all day and included a stop in Washington DC. The pilot invited passengers to the flight deck in those less dangerous days and the pilot let me sit on his lap and look out the windshield. The DC-4 was not pressurized and flew at about 8,000 feet so I could see everything on that clear summer day. I knew at that moment that I wanted to be a pilot.
While in the tenth grade a friend of my father’s owned a Piper Apache twin engine light airplane. One night while my dad and I were visiting St. Louis he took us up for a night tour of the city. Once we were safely in the air he handed the controls over to me and I got my first taste of piloting an airplane and I was hooked.
The most important thing that I have learned by traveling around the world is that all people basically want the same things. They want to give their children the best opportunity to succeed in life, they want a nice place to live, to enjoy the fruits of their labors in peace and to be happy.
April 21, 2012 at 6:39 pm
Bob,
You are so right about how easy it is to travel the world. In 11 hours I am on the coast of Afric-amazing!
I love the movie Around the World in Eighty Days and would love to recreate the different modes of travel just as a lark.
It was the best of travel times when everyone dressed up for airplanes. It made the whole trip so special. Sunday best always did that.
Your last paragraph is wonderful!!!!!
April 21, 2012 at 1:01 pm
How true, Bob…
Kat…this post suddenly reminded me of my first plane ride…uh…trip. I flew from Newark NJ to Boston to check out Emerson College.
It was actually pretty cool. I must’ve been about 17 or so, and not only was it my first taste of being up in the air, it was also my Mom’s. This was 1975.
I remember it as a wonderful weekend. It was one of the few times it was just the two of us…a real “mother-daughter “excursion. She died the next year – – the year I graduated from HS. The decision was made that I would stay within the state, so I never moved to Boston.
Wonder what would have happened if I went away to school?
Probably doesn’t matter. Over the years I have found I like to hit the road! If ya hang around long enough it all evens out in the end! 🙂
Coleen
April 21, 2012 at 6:42 pm
Coleen,
What a wonderful memory to have about you and your mother and that trip. It turned out to be a treasure!
Had you gone to Emerson, you would have come to love Boston. It is a fantastic city with amazing neighborhoods, restaurants, museums and all sorts of great places.
I love road trips!
April 21, 2012 at 1:23 pm
Our day started out cloudy, dump and really cold but it changed and became rather nice. But I had to clean the cottage today after all these days with rain and snow. I even scrubbed all floors on the bottom stairs. It is still clean but now it rains again 🙂 🙂
My first flight was when I started doing my military service and I loved it. Well I tend to become flying sick but that has been better lately.
I had only one friend that had been on a plane when I went to school and his family had flown to the Canary Islands. Today it’s so cheap to fly anywhere so I doubt there’s especially many that hasn’t.
It would be fun to fly to London just over the day, it’s even cheaper than to take the train and it just takes an hour. The only problem is what to do with my dogs.
Have a great day!
Christer.
April 21, 2012 at 6:45 pm
Christer,
Your day and mine sound similar. We got sun in the afternoon though the day stayed chilly.
For some reason, the cape makes people very insular. I had many students who had never left the cape in their whole lives except for their eighth garde trip. Though that has changed a bit, there are still some who haven’t even been to Boston let alone flown on a plane.
I used to make London my last stop every time I went to Europe.
I have a dog sitter I pay to stay in my house while I’m gone. It isn’t cheap, but I know Gracie is well taken care of and gets the chane to be out.
April 21, 2012 at 5:13 pm
My first flight was a college interview at DePaul in Chicago. The Pan Am attendants were really gorgeous! The food was great. That was the old America. I could have flown for a living after those two flights and did fly again every chance I got. Today I’m not so sure. We’re even thinking train with our plans to visit Rebecca up in DC this summer.
April 21, 2012 at 6:48 pm
Z&Me,
My second flight was to NY City for a weekend. My friends and I went because the drinking age there was 18, not the 21 here. I felt grown up going into a dance bar and ordering a drink.
My next flight was to Africa. It was on a TWA charter. On the way from Philadelphia, we flew over the Cape, and I got my last look at home. I remember flying over the Sahara and all of us rushing to the window.
April 21, 2012 at 5:15 pm
No doubt I am one of your biggest fans is because you know how to have FUN! Miss Kat you get excited about the little things and stir up everyone else! Plus you are a magnet for really awesome human beings, the coffee groupies are the cream of the crop! Christer thank you for sharing your beautiful world with us all and Bob I appreciate your words of wisdom and humor (The most important thing that I have learned by traveling around the world is that all people basically want the same things.I agree completely!) Dropping into read Coffee is really like stopping in for a drink at the local bar~ love the locals,& the stories but mostly everyone is happy to see each other! xoxoxoxoxo
April 21, 2012 at 6:52 pm
Splendid,
All those little things are what made my life so much fun and writing about them stirs up everyone’s memories. We get to share, and that’s what I love best about Coffee.
I got a chuckle out of you comparing Coffee to a local bar, but it makes perfect sense. We all have this wonderful feeling of camaraderie like the bar in Cheers, and we’re always happy to see each other!