Now I´m Here - Now I´m There

Some thoughts on travel.

We moved to Chicago a couple of months ago, and, as most others we flew in. Our original plan was to come here by ocean liner from Europe. Well, not all the way to Chicago, but at least to New York. That´s what we did when we moved from Washington to Berlin a little more than four years ago; we took the train to New York, enjoyed the Big Apple for a few days, embarked and had a wonderful sensation of leaving, cruised the Atlantic for ten detached days, disembarked in Hamburg and had a wonderful sensation of arriving. Travelling as it was meant to be. Take your time to get to a place, be curious, be expectant, be patient or impatient, be prepared, be ready for surprises and be ready to learn.

Reality says no way José. Too long, too expensive, too unrealistic for all the travelling we all do, sometimes even have to do. We have to travel to get to our next designated homes, as was this last Trans Atlantic call, that´s the nature of our job. We chose the job, we like the job. Then we have to travel back and forth to see family, our parents are getting old and won´t travel long-distance anymore. It makes more sense to fly for obvious reasons. Tie-and-suit people fly to business meetings, scientists fly to conventions, politicians and wannabees fly to solve or create problems.

But I still wonder. Flying is so easy and in many cases so affordable. Too affordable? I´d say so. Low costs lead to low standards (service), low security (maintenance), low wages (in my view pilots have above average responsibilities and should therefore have above average salaries). As mentioned above some people have to travel. They often get their flights paid by their agencies or employers, or they trick travel expenses back with their tax returns. Others travel for pleasure and leisure and (mostly) pay out of their own wallet. Latter group tends to go to great lenghts for cheap tickets and I´m happy for everyone who makes a good deal. But do back-packers with a very low budget have to travel halfway around the globe for an adventure kick? Do school graduates have to fly ten thousand miles for a work-and-travel experience?

Here I am contemplating and big-mouthing about how others should or should not travel. It´s just what went through my head. And yes, I pull myself up on my own ears by avoiding low-cost carriers whenever possible. Not all of them are bad. In the end everyone should just have a good feeling about the choice they´ve made when travelling responsibly and with common sense.

I´ll try considering more slow travel in the future. By ship? By train? Hitch-hiking?

Frankfurt tarmac.

Up, up...

...and away...

The Rhine.

Leaving Europe.

Killing time counting clouds, or watching movies, or taking pics.

Illinois coast.

In the distance a parallel lander for the same airport.

O´Hare is mind-blowing huge.

Chicago tarmac.

I´ve posted quite a few views on the trans-atlantic voyage.

Punch in trans atlantic into the search field above.

The Focus Galleries