I crossed the USA four times visiting family and friends. I had fun on the ground but getting places was a trial of soul and spirit.
I started with a 14 hour flight from Abu Dhabi to New York’s JFK airport. There I had an overnight stay and an early morning flight to Salt Lake City and ultimately alighting in St. George, Utah. Two days later I did a round trip back to SLC, then to Las Vegas for a trip to Florida. After a few days there, I missed my return flight back to Las Vegas due to airport security detaining me for “suspicious items” in my luggage. By the time this issue was resolved, my flight had left which compressed my schedule even tighter. I lost a day.
This is where it gets fun! I rebooked and the next day had to fly 5 hours from Florida to Las Vegas on a “red eye”. When I got to Vegas at midnight, I had to drive 3 hours back to St. George then go directly to that airport and spend 9 hours getting to Chicago to catch my 14 hour flight back to Abu Dhabi after a 4 hour layover. You do the math!
Some people regard travel as an exotic endeavor. That may have been true in the old steamship days when one had weeks to get somewhere. I am here to tell you that travel in modern times is stressful and exhausting. In my book, the destination wins over the journey every time!
