John Denver would be proud

Yesterday, my brother James gleefully posted to FaceBook that he was at JFK waiting for his flight to Heathrow in London.  He was crowing about doing that waiting in a VIP lounge on the roof of the airport where he could watch the planes coming and going.

Since our trip to Korea three years ago, the travel bug bit him hard.  He'd won some money playing "Who Wants to be a Millionaire" and after the Korea trip, he made another trip to England and Wales and Ireland.  Had he actually become a "millionaire", I'm sure he would have given up working altogether to spend his days traveling.  As it is, he absolutely relishes whatever trips he's able to make these days and when Grandpa died, of course he thought going to the service and getting in some visiting would be an excellent excuse for a trip (which it is).  His happy posts about his trip so far are making me more excited about my own in a couple of days.

Of course, I won't be traveling in the high style he's managed to acquire by the judicious use of frequent flyer miles...  I'm in coach all the way and no one is going to offer me the key to any fancy waiting rooms.  I'll be flying an American airline, so I expect service to be adequate at best - but the point is, I'm going to get there!

This time around, I'm flying into Heathrow rather than Gatwick (aka "Gastly") which should make life a little easier.  James will pick me up at the car rental counter and we will head out immediately to darkest North Wales for a visit with my grandmother and related family there.  I've never ridden in a car across Wales, just trains, so this will all be new to me.  And we should arrive just in time for tea.

All day today, "Leaving on a Jet Plane" has been circling in my head.  John Denver would probably love that his song is still my go-to traveling song.