Everywhere the airways take me

What's up world? Only about seven more hours until I'm done with this week and the college defined weekend has officially begun. That's something to look forward to. Also tomorrow, I'm visiting my 4th favorite airport in the world, Atlanta, on my way to Idaho for some family appeasement.

In this blog, I talk a lot about how I belong in the air and everywhere the airways take me. That is something I truly believe in. The more I grow older and mature the more I find this to be true. No matter what is happening in my life, no matter what is affecting me deep down, no matter what I stress over and no matter what causes me to lose sleep at night; there is always the light at the end of the tunnel which is flight.

Nothing can calm me like the intoxication of flying, even as a clueless passenger, from the grips of Louisville into a Class B airport on a busy Friday afternoon. Over 10,000ft the headphones go on, and the Owl City begins to play. The plane turns left over Clark County, an airport that has captured a piece of my childhood, and towards somewhere exciting.

As I grew up flying all over the place, I used to have the naïveté of enjoying flying somewhere new. The feelings of excitement and adventure were due to the fact that I had not yet been to my destination. My face was pressed against the window in hopes of seeing planes and buildings and landscapes I had yet to experience. But as I grew taller and smarter, my list of airports I'd flown into grew as well. Now it's to the point where I've explored 18 of the 30-some class-B airports in the country, and most more than once. If my life continues as projected, by the time I retire there will be very few airports I've never visited. And that's pretty cool...

So since I've been to Atlanta like ten times since I've had a pilot's license, it's a pretty routine occasion for me. We take off, make a small turn towards Elizabeth town to join the V4 airway, take that to Bowling Green KY, which initiates our Rome4 Arrival into Atlanta. We cross Erlin at 14,000 and started heading left to put us on a right downwind for 25R. We land, turn left, and taxi to terminal C or B. I'm going to know exactly where our plane is, for the entire hour and a half. Instead of my forehead glued to the window waiting to see something new, I'll be calmly sipping coffee while listening to whatever music sets my mood, telling my parents what intersection we just crossed; they count on me to keep them informed.

It's the most relaxing way to spend a Friday afternoon, even if I am going to fucking Idaho. And luckily for me, I just have SIX more hours until my weekend begins (it seems I've been writing this for an hour).

In other aviation news, our flight to Madrid via Chicago got canceled. So now we have to fly through Miami. That's right. Miami. My #1 favorite location in the entire world. And I'll be spending my Christmas eve eve eve eve eve relaxing in the brand new North Terminal Concourse D, pointing out to my girlfriend every single thing I know about the airport (which is a lot, she'll have plenty to learn). From the starfish on the walls, to the American Airlines Dispatching Center, to where the 747 Dreamlifter parks, it will be another handsomely relaxing occasion for me.

Due to the amount of work and effort I'm planning on putting into this semester, I haven't had much time to sit down and think about how great of a vacation I'll have once it's all over. I'm hoping this will speed time up a little bit. Regardless, in the meantime I'll just ride it out. Until next time...