canyonwalker | 9 Weeks Without A Flight

Today it's been 9 weeks since I boarded a flight or entered an airport. Aside from the depths of the pandemic in March 2020 through early 2021 when I didn't see the inside of an airport or airplane for almost 15 months, 9 weeks is a long time for me. I remember thinking years ago when I'd gone 8 weeks without a flight that I'd wake up in the middle of the night in a cold sweat, put my shoes into a bin on the end of the bed, and look for the metal detector to walk through. Well, the pandemic era scrambled expectations of normalcy, so this 9 weeks of grounding snuck up on me.

I do have several trips planned. The first is a short business trip in a few weeks. By then my flightless streak will have stretched to 11 weeks. But then my spouse and I have a leisure trip 6 weeks after that at the start of April, plus another leisure trip 3 weeks after the first. We have leisure trips planned in the summer and fall, too.

Update: Minutes after I posted this joking description of "flight withdrawal" I started having actual chills & shakes! 😱