I visit my parents in Bangor, Maine, about twice a year, in the summer and in December, for Christmas.
A day of air travel (10-14 hours to Maine) is expensive (I just paid $690 for a 2 stop flight) and always unpleasant; gross airport food, recirculated air, cramped seating, the list goes on. It's easy to forget what a luxury one experiences despite today's travel discomforts.
I try to remember that travel is easy now and that 14 hours is a drop in the hat; it used to take people at least six months to get across the country, that's if they made it without, drowning crossing a wild river, catching cholera, or falling victim to avalanche when crossing the Rocky Mountains. Many homesteaders that inspired this blog, walked the Oregon Trail, 3,000 miles across the country.
Yes, there is limited overhead storage space on planes today; but, the average covered wagon used on the Oregon Trail was about 12 feet by 4 feet, for all of your belongings. Still want to complain about the 50 pound checked bag limit?
Airport food: gross and expensive; but, better than hard tack (a flavorless, hard ,unleavened bread eaten by pioneers) and cold beans (or if you were lucky, beans heated over buffalo chips(dried poop) that you gathered up with bare hands.)
I love the Louis C.K. video embedded in this post; and try to keep it in mind when I am standing in line at the airport or getting a leg cramp in my tiny airplane seat.
