Why I choose to fly

There are a lot of ways you can get around this country. It's a really big country, and gas is still fairly cheap. Too cheap, probably. (My grandfather, a former petroleum engineer, always says the only thing cheaper by the gallon than gas is water.)

I work in the media industry and I know a lot of people who will drive from one end of Florida to the other or all the way from Florida to New York or Chicago. Many others take the train, put up with the indignities of Amtrak and the motion sickness. Both groups say they want to see this great country.

And the big knock on people who fly is that they bypass everything between the coasts.

But I prefer to fly.

There's just something about that exhilarating feeling about being thousands of feet up in the air. The glamor is pretty much gone from the airline industry — between buying bad dry sandwiches in coach and only chips or cookies in first class, it might as well be Amtrak's diner car — but the fun of being in a new airport, the joy of just strolling through security... nothing better!

And then, well, the view from the window seat. Can't put a price on that!