I missed my “this month in air travel” update in January because I was so busy with . . . air travel. I’ve flown more than 35,000 miles since January 7 which puts me on pace for an astonishing 300,000 miles this year. Fortunately, although I’ve been in four countries in the past five days, and will surely be enjoying the pleasures of air travel throughout the year, I won’t fly 300,000 miles in 2012.
The bright side of all this travel? I get to do cool things, like watch the sun set over Mt. Fuji tonight from my hotel in Tokyo.
I can get my hair cut at the very best places. Last week it was at a superb barber shop in Manila, the time before that at the best barber in Bangkok, and who knows where I might be the next time I require a haircut.
And then there is the food. How about beef and noodles on the short flight from Bangkok to Ho Chi Minh City? Today I had breakfast and lunch on the flight from Bangkok to Tokyo, then a superb meal this evening served from a terrestrial kitchen. Does food on the ground taste even better because I get to compare it to the scores of meals I eat (or skip) in the sky? I think it does.
Without air travel, how could I enjoy the overwhelmingly delicate taste of an ice mountain at Thailand? Or of hokke, genghis khan, miso ramen, and nomu yogurt at Hokkaido? Next week I’ll be looking for good restaurants near the US embassy, for I need to have a lot more pages added to my passport.