Pilatus801

Hello APC members. Travel has always been a rewarding part of my life. It is also some of the allure of being a pilot. It would be great to hear from some of you who enjoy traveling, to hear of amazing destinations you have visited utilizing your flight benefits. Places you might otherwise not see if you weren't a pilot.

I would also like to know if the allure of travel wanes since your career consists of traveling. Does that mean once you have a few years behind you, that you tend to stay away from air travel? I'd like to hear how your days as an airline pilot affect your travel bug in general.

Thank you!

tomgoodman

Pilatus801,

For a start, browse these sections in the APC list of forums:

“Your Photos and Videos” & “Layover”.

galaxy flyer

Uncle Sam provided lots of travel unfortunately to war zones or natural disasters. Then, I flew corporate for 12 years and did some great traveling—Paris, Moscow, Easter Island, South Africa, Maun great stuff. OTOH, traveled to lots of interesting places I’d (and probably most people) would never buy a ticket, even an ID90 for—Brazzaville, Beirut, Peyropavlovsk in winter, and Kazan.

GF

rickair7777

If you're a new, single (or maybe childless) RJ pilot, you tend to be all over the travel any time you have more than four days off in a row.

But after a few years, especially once family life sets in, you tend to prefer to be home on your days off.

I still enjoy travel, but prefer to do it on vacation when I have time to decompress at home before and after, and can stay long enough to get over the jet lag. Also more likely to just buy a ticket now too. Wifey and I enjoyed some epic global nonrev in 1C, but that was back in the day before loads got so tight.

But definitely take advantage of it while the family circumstances permit.

SlimIV

I know that you are mainly talking about the travel on your days off, and probably out of the country, however I am grateful some of the small towns that I have visited while flying with my regional. Most of which I don't think that I ever would have visited on my own.

PotatoChip

Rickair nailed it.
As an RJ pilot pre-family I traveled to over 25 countries on my days off. I went everywhere I could, often in first or business class. Needless to say, i took advantage and fully enjoyed it.
I'm one of those middle-age family guys now. I don't travel often for fun. I'd rather be home with my kids, by a long shot. And non-revving with a family is a nightmare.
The "allure" is still there for me. I still enjoy new layovers and checking out new places. When my kids grow up a bit, I look forward to taking them places. As it is, our two year old daughter has already flown out of the country, to four states, and on about 12 flights.

AirBear

Traveled overseas a lot with the Military, saw a lot of Europe and South America. With 15,000 hours of flying time I've been in 49 of 50 states (Alaska only one I missed, although I did see it from 30 miles away once ) I have used non-rev to travel some, but not much. My job for the last 13 years gave me lots of airline miles so I used those.

Now that I'm retired and in my 60's you gotta use a stick of dynamite to get me out of the house. After spending 18-19 days/month on the road for the past 13 years my rear end is firmly attached to the house. The only places I still have on my list are Yellowstone, Denali, and Yosemite.

If you're young and single go for it. Traveling alone makes it easier to non-rev or maybe ride jumpseat. As is said above once you have a family you won't be able to do the big trips as much. Early days in the military before marriage I saw Paris, London, Athens, and a few others. My C-130 broke once in Pisa, Italy and we spend days there, got to see all the sites including the top of the Leaning Tower.

If you get married and your spouse works it can be really hard to sync up time off to travel. Most of the places I went with my wife were before she started teaching. Afterwards with me at USAir and her working it was tough to go anywhere other than quick trips to visit family.

tomgoodman

AirBear,

For a Denali run, I suggest:

https://www.alaskarailroad.com/trave...ummer-packages

JohnBurke

I hate travel.

Work is travel.

It's nice to sleep in your own bed, stay home and shoot your own pistol, drive your own car, and see a sunset from your own place.

I travel when I go back to work.

I don't mind work, but I don't like travel.

PotatoChip

Lol.

At what point was it you came to this conclusion? Before or after you chose pilot as a profession?