I am NOT going to Disney World!
Although I usually
post under my Home To Italy blog, Agnes and Amy deserve to be in the Solo
Travel site even it I met them on my current trip Home To Italy.
After
changing my travel plans, which included a return sail on the Queen Mary,
because of hurricane Sandy I found the only non stop flight available to me was
to Zurich and then train Home To Italy.
I met Agnes
at the door to the jet as I boarded the dreaded overnight flight to
Zurich. For the past 3 years I have
used FF miles for half of each adventure so that I could sail east or west,
depending on the solo deal offered.
Agnes, who I
later chatted with at length, was wearing a corsage and I asked if it was her
Birthday. She replied, no but this was
her last flight after a 40 year career as a flight attendant! Even on her last flight she offered a smile
to everyone in the steerage class and chatted with passengers she meets regularly
on her transatlantic crossing.
The FIRST
thing that came to my mind when she said she was retiring was the commercials
that ask: “what are you going to do now?”
and the response is I am going to Disney World. So when Agnes agreed to chat with me later
in the flight when passengers had been fed and put to ‘bed’, this was the first
comment I made.
Agnes did
not hesitate and replied, “I am NOT going to Disney World”. This began our chat about working with the
airlines for 4 decades, the places she had visited, the changes in the career
that found her after she took an au pair position in NYC in her early 20’s. See later the slogans airlines used since the
1960’s. She was frank and
outspoken. This was her last day flying
the ….skys…..and I am only using her first name, so the chance of retaliation
was slim.
But what was
far more interesting to me was how she viewed the next chapter of her life…..
As I travel solo I sometimes meet other ‘next life’ travelers. Often we only scratch the surface into each
others’ lives: why are you traveling
here, why are you traveling solo. One
of their first thoughts are that you must be gay to be traveling alone. Agnes confirmed this too. Even though her job constantly sends her off
solo.. I loved her (Agnes’) spirit of
adventure. We went over her bucket list
and some were USA based sites and others international sites she wanted to
revisit. She has a list of mountains
she wants to ski!
All this
points out to me again that I may travel solo but I am not as adventurous as
many of the thousands of others out there living every day to the max.
Such good
words to live by. So congrats
Agnes. I hope you read this and tell me
where you are next and what you find there…..
