Those who know me are sometimes surprised to learn that I’m half southern, genetically, at least. My father was a South Carolinian and so I find myself in Charleston, wondering at how I got here. At least in the short term, it was a long trip. We left the house at 4 a.m. yesterday and arrived in Charleston some ten hours later. (The time in the sky was, of course, less than two-and-a-half hours.) Our initial flight was delayed for two hours, while, in the gate next door another airplane, from the same airline, to the same hub, scheduled an hour-and-a-half later than our flight, left on time. I sighed as I read the prominent sign ironically reading “Your time is valuable.” Yes, it is. And although the ABE (Allentown, Bethlehem, Easton) airport is nice enough, I think I could’ve used a couple more hours abed instead.
It must be quite a logistics nightmare when a plane breaks down. It’s not like a bunch of spare jets sits in the Lehigh Valley, awaiting the eventuality of some mechanical failure. Not only do you need a plane, but also a crew that consists of people scheduled to end up in a set location. In this case they had to fly a jet up from Philadelphia, and then muster a crew to get us on the first leg. Fortunately, they knew about the delay when we checked in and put us on a later flight to Charleston. I wonder if our stranded original crew, wherever they were, are still there.
I often think about how long-distance travel follows a chiastic pattern. You start by walking from your domicile to your car. You park the car for a larger vehicle that can only land, or dock, in specified locations. You arrive at such a location, get a car—or you know somebody with one—to take you to your destination where you walk inside. It’s the in-betweens that take the vast majority of the time. It’s really amazing that we can do this at all. I’m in Charleston for a family reunion. I haven’t been to South Carolina for about two decades—last time was for my father’s funeral. But this is our vacation for the year. A chance to see someplace new. And, given the September we’ve had, to feel a little warmth. Connecting is important. Airports help make this possible in the world of the 9-2-5 job that doesn’t, it turns out, offer days off. Your time is valuable. It’s worth ten hours of traveling, and then some.