Was that Wesley Snipes?

144,400.  A nice even number that happens to be the number of miles I travelled in an airplane in 2010.  To put that in perspective, that is the equivalent of flying around the world via the equator six times.  Word.  This is why when people tell me that they like to travel I am always a skeptical.  I think most people mean they like to take vacations, which is a little redundant given the inherent nature of a vacation.  I don't like to travel -- I need to travel.  If I have spent three consecutive weekends at home I get nervous, at least I think I did, the one time that happened. 

United Airlines appreciates this affliction.  On my first flight of 2011 (LAS-LAX, if you're curious) the pilot came back before takeoff to shake my hand and thank me for my "loyalty", whatever that means.  He asked me if I was in management consulting, I have to answer that question a lot with United employees.  No, I am not, I work in finance and a good 80% of that first number in this post was logged on weekends, no work travel there.  In fact, outside of at the temptation of seeing Boondock, I rarely use vacation days.  Friday night red-eyes after work are the most common.

I get a lot of odd looks when I try to explain this to people.  Specifically, the people that I work with and for when they realize that I am travelling most weekends, even after travelling during the week.  Why, they ask, do I feel such a need to fly other places when I live three blocks off the beach in a place that a lot of other people (read: Europeans) spend a lot of money to travel to?  I usually try to gloss over that question with something about being young and doing it while I can.  The real reason is both much more simple and much more complicated.  The real reason is that there are people at the other end of those flights that I frankly don't care to replicate.  I don't think I could ever let proximity determine who my best friends are or who I can fall in love with.  Those people are irreplaceable to me and a few hours (or, you know, twelve) on an overnight flight is a small price to pay to see them.  I am lucky enough to live in the first generation that has entered adulthood in a world where global communication, travel and mobility is not just possible, it's almost cheap.  Well, not cheap, I could make the car payments on a V12 Vanquish with what I spend in a year on plane tickets but I can't imagine not doing it.

Yeah, I know, the person who really likes to take vacations and has trouble with jet-lag when they're traversing three time zones domestically is the one who is skeptical now.  I think about this a great deal; what do you get for 144,400 miles in the air in a year?  Should I just stay at home and play more golf on weekends?  What did all of that moving around get me in 2010?

Here goes:

- Getting to see what The Hammer looks like before the sun comes up as he picks me up at IAD after a LAX-IAD red-eye.  There is something particularly priceless about getting to wake up your friends who live a life of leisure at the hours you rise for Mr. Market from the west coast.
- A life-altering relationship with Boondock.  Worth all those miles and then some if you ask me and I'm certainly not asking you.
- A picture of me with a stuffed koala in Sydney, AU.
- An understanding of just how bad modern art is in AU and how lacking in talent the homogeneous island is via their version of Australian Idol.  Painful.
- Dinners with Boondock in Chicago, Seattle, New York, Los Angeles, London, Palermo.  Some of the best hours of my life and the conversations that keep me sane.
- Making it back to Chicago for holidays with The Dancing Orange and The Sky is Falling
- Discovering that I heart crumpets -- seriously.
- Getting to tailgate for an MLS soccer game in DC and learn how to swear at other players in Spanish.
- The ability to render The General's 1970's vintage BMW inoperable and then participate in having to lift it into a parking spot for safe-keeping.
- My first ever SEC football game (USC vs. Arkansas) in Columbia, SC (along with the new parlance of "legit nineteen")
- Not nearly enough time on a couch or in bed with a book, The Office & Boondock.
- A round of golf on an ocean-bordered course in Italy.
- Sunday night dinners at the bar
- Watching The Hammer fall into the James River.  Priceless.
- Drinking champagne in New Hampshire with Jr. Investment Banker.
- Cubs games at Wrigley, an irreplaceable part of my life.
- Have I mentioned more time with Boondock yet?
- A disturbing knowledge of booking codes, elite levels, upgrade probabilities.  Also, the ability to make plane travel actually comfortable and enjoyable for those that I love.
...

A fraction, yes, but already more than I could live without.  Sorry Santa Monica, you may be gorgeous, but you aren't all of those things.  Not even close.

We've got the muscle -- We've got the hustle,

-I Heart Palindromes