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View from a hotel room with the lights of the city in front of me. Nice, but would have been better if it was a view from a restaurant with the body of a lobster in front of me.

Jay Travel Boston

Is there anybody who doesn’t like Switzerland?

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Jay Travel Switzerland, video podcast, Zurich

It wasn’t that long ago, at least to me. My dad would load up the station wagon and take the family to the airport. We never went there for a trip, because air travel was something reserved for people who had a lot of money. Instead, we would take an exit off I-494 and drive up into a special parking lot overlooking the west side of what used to be Wold-Chamberlain Field (now Minneapolis-St. Paul International) to watch the planes take off and land. We oohed and aahed like the 4th of July as the huge turboprops and occasional passenger jets defied the laws of gravity.

We were not alone. Other carloads of parents and kids parked nearby did the same thing. Once or twice, we actually walked into the airport terminal, where you could visit the observation deck perched above the second story of the terminal. It was a great hangout for tourists and expectant fliers alike.

The terminal itself was an amazing place. In the days before security lines, families would accompany fliers to the gate. Tearful goodbyes and tearful hellos were always on display as passengers boarded and deplaned.

Those days, not many kids my age–or even their parents–ever flew anywhere. The tickets were too expensive. When people did fly, they dressed up for the occasion. Most men on planes wore coats and ties. That practice waned about 25 years ago, about the same time as a British friend of mine told me he wore a suit to the airport in hopes the gate agent would notice and bump him to first class. Supposedly that worked.

Nowadays, nobody dresses up. The parking overlook disappeared. The observation deck is no more. The romance has gone, and people don’t marvel at flight any more. It is now as commonplace as a bus ride used to be.

Jay Travel