Traveling in Style

Being fully engaged

- JOHN KING

“You don’t know how other people live,” my brother said. He was not technically correct. We do know how other people live; we just don’t live that way. We were not exactly sure what he meant. There are a lot of things we don’t do like other people do—for instance, we certainly aren’t stylish dressers.

Most notably, since 1969, when Martha and I learned to fly—except for international destinations—we have always flown ourselves for travel. We do know that other people travel on the airlines. We just travel differently.

We think flying yourself is traveling in style. That’s because flying yourself is fully engaging—you are participating in life to the fullest. Our current airplane is a jet that requires two pilots. Flying it as a crew and taking turns as husband and wife captain and copilot is particularly engaging and rewarding for us.

We use the acronym “P.L.A.Y.” to explain the engagement that flying any airplane provides (see Sky Kings, August 2019). Here’s what it means to us:

Passion. Pilots have a passion about their flying. People with a passion put more effort into things. They persist longer, and they willingly work their way through difficulties.

Lots of interests. There are a lot of things to study when you learn to fly, and the activity exposes you to deeply interesting subjects.

Always learning. Flying promotes a habit of learning.

Yet again. Pilots repeat all of this because these have become habits.