Around the World in a Few Hours


For a few years, my sister has been asking me to come visit her in Hawaii.  As with most things in life, the issue was either a lack of time or money.  (Mostly a lack of money.)  Even if I had the resources for the costly flight, I sure didn't need to spend it on a luxury item such as this.  Whenever I would shop for plane tickets, the minimum price always seemed to hover around the $7-800 price range.  Somehow, she found tickets through a third-party vendor for $300 plus tax.  What a deal!  Of course it's economy class, but that is more than okay.  It's like getting a basic hotel versus a fancy one...all I'm doing is sleeping there.  In the case of the flight, I not concerned about flying "coach" if it will get me from here to there in one piece.  In spite of having the tickets paid for, I'm still out about a week's worth of work at Clark's.  Plus, I'll have to really watch what I spend as I don't really have the financial reserves to act frivolously.  The blessing is having a job who allowed me the time off to go.  (They knew about the trip during the interview process.  Since I made it very clear, the "powers that be" had no case for denying the time off.)  In the approaching days till time for departure, my sister has been very good about providing direction.  She asked if I had ever flown before or how long it had been.  Then she suggested packing guidelines for traveling light.  I formerly flew quite a bit for Cole Haan, but that was over thirteen years ago.  In addition, this will be my first sober plane trip.  Whenever scheduled to fly somewhere, yours truly would get liquored up in order wash away any fears about flying.  The personnel at the boarding gate would become informed of which bar I would patronize.  That way they could come get me whenever the boarding process began.  Ha ha!  Unfortunately, those days are over.  Overall, I'm looking forward to getting out of Fort Worth for a few days.  We shall see what the trip holds for me, and I'll be sure to post entries of my adventures.  Until then, live large!

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