crossing the atlantic
excerpt from a letter to Julie, 1986

Turned out PEOPLExpress is a pretty low-rent airline. Checked luggage was $3 per bag, dinner was $6, and if I'd wanted sound for the movie that would have been another $3. There were babies crying, adult passengers arguing, shabbily dressed folk like me roaming the aisles. The Trailways of the sky.
 
Nonetheless, I cherished the flight. For me airplane flights have always been special times to set aside for reflecting on my life. A time to relish everything that's happened since the previous plane trip and to anticipate the next adventures that lie ahead. And this past fall has gone so very much better than I could have hoped, and Christmas break was full of new cities and new experiences. I'm so glad that we got to spend the time together that we did. 

So here I am, speeding across a vast ocean at hundreds of miles an hour, tens of thousands of feet above the sea. Below me the earth rotates in the opposite direction at a thousand miles an hour. Tumbling through its orbit about the sun. Can you imagine the number of people throughout history who would have given their lives to fly like this? And simply by virtue of the year in which I was born, I'm able to do this for $200. Just $200 to ride for a whole night on the dream machine of the ages. Imagine the work and wisdom that produced this mechanical wonder. You could spend a whole lifetime studying the theory and implementation of a 747. Materials science, chemistry, physics, aerodynamics, thermodynamics, fluid mechanics, signal processing, software engineering, transistor physics, large scale integration, and so much more. My God, you could spend a lifetime studying it and still fail a comprehensive exam. All for just $200. Or $206 if you want dinner.

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