Last weekend, my husband and I spent four days in Costa Rica. Our daughter spent three days in Haiti and our son visited Tampa for four days. Each trip had its own unique challenges.
Costa Rica was pure pleasure. To get there, we flew to Atlanta, then another flight to Liberia city and then a 45 minute bus ride. Coming home, however, we were delayed five times and scheduled for three different terminals in Atlanta due to severe storms.
Haiti was a blogger outreach trip to learn about and share the Heart of Haiti progam, helping Haitians get back on their feet after last year’s severe earthquake, My daughter flew to Miami, then to Port au Prince, then travelled across the devastated island for several day trips. (Read about her trip HERE.)
My son was looking forward to visiting his bride who is training for a new job. His flight was delayed over an hour due to another midwest ice storm and he just barely made his connection from Washington, DC to Tampa.
Today, I am thankful that our family had the opportunity to travel and that all arrived at their destinations, and back home, safely.
The airline industry aften gets a bad rap for delays and cancellations, lost luggage, and high ticket prices. As I reflect on our family’s adventures, I can’t help but acknowledge that none of our weekend trips would have been possible without airlines. So, while airline travel may be frustrating at times, many more passengers arrive safely to their destinations than don’t. Many more flights take off and are on time than are cancelled or delayed. Much more luggage arrives with its owner than not. With good advance planning when possible, the cost tends to be more reasonable than not.
All of us could share a nightmare airline story. I would ask you to consider those stories in relation to how many smooth, incident-free flights you’ve had. Then, imagine what life would be like without air travel.
Feeling gratitude and not expressing it is like wrapping a present and not giving it. -William Arthur Ward
Will you join the gratitude movement?
