I love the entire experience of flying. I try to get to the airport at least three hours before my flight time so that I can go to an airport bar (with my Kindle) and have a burger with a couple of tall ones. An hour before flight time, I'm at the gate with my Kindle making sure my bladder is empty before boarding because I don't want to disrupt the other passengers by getting up mid-flight to use the lavs (I prefer a window seat).
If I have some extra time, I like to walk through the terminals and people watch. Sometimes they have some interesting things in the terminal lobby to look at like those cages with the balls constantly falling to the bottom and rising back up again like some perpetual motion machine.
I get a lot of reading done prior to flight and during the flight. I like the snacks that the stewardesses hand out and I never give them a hard time, ever. I also check my luggage so I'm never one of those jerks trying to stuff a big bag in the overheads. I have respect for my fellow passengers and my stewardesses. Sometimes the stewardesses are men but that's cool. I don't judge.
I like it when the pilots make random announcements like "we are 30 miles west of Kansas City and two hours out from Palm Springs where it is a balmy 74 degrees." I like knowing where I currently am at and what the temperature is where I'm going.
Landing is always the best part. I like to look out the window as objects get closer and closer. Suddenly, just when I think I'm going to crash into a shopping mall parking lot, the runway magically appears below me. Those pilots really know what they are doing but they like to scare me once in a while.
When the plane finally comes up to the gate, I'm not anxious to get off the plane like some of my fellow passengers. I just sit calmly in my seat, reading my Kindle and I wait patiently for all those "in a rush" to extract their oversized bags from the overhead and jam the aisles looking to get off the plane first. I don't care about being among the first to get off the plane. I'm quite content to be among the last.
When it is finally time to leave the plane, I am cheerful to the crew as I depart the plane and I take my sweet time getting to the baggage claim in which I encounter my fellow passengers who were for some reason in such a rush to get off the plane. As I wait patiently for my luggage to tumble into the carousel, I push the button on my iPhone to bring the Uber over. I grab my luggage and walk on outside to grab my Uber. Life is good and it's almost totally stress free.
I appreciate your post, and I totally enjoy the entire experience of flying for the same reasons you stated. At one point I flew so often that I had my favorite airports. When I booked flights, I booked the ones that utilized my favorite airports. Each of the airports contained places that I liked to frequent, and I knew where they were located.
Now, I can’t manage to walk those long distances, and I have to have help getting from point A-B, but I still love to fly. I love the takeoffs. It’s fun to feel the speed of the plane before it finally lifts off the ground.
I too like the window seat because I like to guess where we are based on the topography.
There have been a few mishaps through the years like missing luggage so I always carry a bag with meds, clean undies, and pajamas just in case.
I don’t mind being located toward the rear of the plane because it’s so noisy that I can’t hear crying babies, or droning conversations if for some reason I need to nap.
Onetime, the airline messed up causing a three hour delay. We were in Minneapolis so the desk gave us (my little granddaughter and I) free bus passes to the Mall of America as well as a voucher for a free lunch. Therefore, a misshapen became a most memorable occasion when we spent the entire visit to the mall at the indoor carnival rides.
Yep, I do love to fly. Attitude makes a world of difference.
And get this! A few weeks ago my daughter bought me a ticket to where she lives for $25! It was a nonstop flight..only 70 minutes long. It would have taken me 9-10 hours to drive one way depending on road construction, and at 4 times the cost of the plane ticket.