As pretty as an airport
It can hardly be a coincidence that no language on earth has ever produced the expression ‘As pretty as an airport.’
— Douglas Adams, The Long Dark Tea-Time of the Soul (1988)
32 days. 34 flights. 16 cities. Am I mad?
I’m often asked “Do you get home much?” My stock response is “I am home,” but if the person seems receptive I explain that visiting friends and family in the US is a logistical nightmare as we’re spread all over the place. But for the next month I’m going to be doing just that: flying around the US. Partially to see people, partially to visit cities based on highly random criteria, and partially to take my mind off of the fact that I don’t currently have a job. An adventure shared is an adventure multiplied, so I’m hoping to blog most of it and tweet (@timiat) along the way.
Three factors converged to make this possible.
First, my contract ends on 30 March. If I find a job I can ask to start in May, and if I don’t it won’t matter. So I have some time. I’m fortunate to be attached to someone who does have a job, so while I’ll be trying to do this on a shoestring budget it’s not quite as desperate as it might be if I was on my own. Happily he is also infinitely patient, and hasn’t batted an eyelash at the idea of me gallivanting alone across a continent.
Second, my sister (seen here on occasion as MountainGoat) is giving her DMA (Doctorate of Musical Arts) recital in April. So I was going to be in the US anyway around the middle of the month to see her, as I try to take as many opportunities as possible to see her work. Taken with the above, this seemed like a suggestion from the universe that maybe I should take some time off. People do that, right?
Finally, towards the end of last year I was offered the use of a “buddy pass” by my brother, who works for a major airline. Most people probably know that one of the benefits of working for an airline is that you get to fly for free, but some airlines/employees also receive “buddy passes.” These can be bestowed on immediate family and allow the recipient to fly standby fare-free, and only pay the tax for the flight. My pass lets me fly as much as my heart desires, anywhere that airline goes, in any class I can find space in, and my place in the standby queue is reasonably high priority due to his seniority. “Standby” means “if there are empty seats on the flight, you can have one.” You can imagine this isn’t always the most reliable way to travel, but it can be good for an adventure.
Given some time off, an excuse to be in the US, and cheap flight passes, the choice seemed obvious. Fly as many places as I can in the shortest amount of time I can. Sure it’d be rude not to.
My home away from home will be in DC with yet another sister (seen here as Lux Noctis), who has very kindly offered to let me stay with her as much as I need. I’m not sure she realized the scale of this adventure when she said that, but to be fair I didn’t either when I started. From there I’ll be stringing together jaunts of 4-6 days apiece to a variety of cities where I will, at the very least, run 5K, find a good cup of coffee, and write. In many places I will see friends or family I haven’t seen in 5+ years. And I will get to know a lot of airports really well.
