Blog Archives
Flying out of a Garage
Posted by jimmy11lentz
If you can, pick the window seat.
Flying on an airplane is not what is used to be and this is true in a myriad of ways, specifically regarding comfort and cost. Back in 2012, Joe Brancatelli of Seat 2B-fame in The Business Journals publication discovered a fascinating (yet frustrating) trend of modern air travel that’s taken-off and continues to rise.
“In 2001, fuel was 10 percent of the airline industry’s operating costs. Today, energy consumes about 35 percent of their budgets…”
Is there a solution on the horizon?
Who knows?
Hopefully there is…Nonetheless, perhaps the most devastating reality of higher fuel costs is the constraints it puts on adventure-minded individuals all around the globe who yearn to immerse themselves in new cities and cultures for memories that will last a lifetime (regardless of age). It’s a surreal experience to witness others living in a completely different way than ourselves…and in many of these cases, people are smiling, content and just grateful for what they have.
To see it is incredible, enlightening and inspiring.
And the fun to be had on such excursions is unforgettable, wherever the destination.
Connectivity has undeniably taken on its own language within the digitally overwhelming social media universe, but what about aimlessly walking foreign streets one afternoon and meeting a local baker or taking in a show in a beautiful theater or witnessing an impromptu dance competition with kids in the activity center of a worn down neighborhood in the Indonesian hillside?
To paraphrase Thomas Friedman, the world has never been flatter. However, most of the world (financially) seems to be in a static state of uncertainty. Imagine the possibilities if we were to open up more affordable lanes of travel again by discovering a cheaper fuel alternative? That would be a connection (pardon the pun) that could provide more chances to travel more randomly on a whim.
It is mid-boggling to look at round-trip flights just from Columbus, Ohio to NYC and see air fares that start at $300-$400. I mean, I’m not looking to leave tomorrow or fly on a water bed. It can be unbelievable…the fares, that is.
There is a television commercial that highlights how some of the greatest innovations of the 20th century started in American garages. It’s time for the next era of consumer aviation to spread its wings out wide. Maybe someone is sketching out the answer to the fuel cost problem on a tool table right now?
Hey, crazier things have happened.
The cost of (not) flying reaches far beyond the pump and into the unknown.
Hopefully (thanks to someone with crazy ingenuity), we’ll know soon.
Posted in Uncategorized
Tags: air travel, airplanes, different cultures, flying, fuel prices, innovation, transportation, traveling
Discovering the Line Between Crazy & Genius
Posted by jimmy11lentz
The story about Elon Musk and his design for a “hyperloop” instantly sparked an internal curiosity. Not simply regarding its logistics (seems logical and realistic), but more so about the welcome mat that is anxiously waiting to be stepped on by the man or woman who invents the next preeminent transportation technology. Currently, this mat is unguarded and is pining for the next great innovative masterpiece to transform the means by which the public travels from Point A to Point B without an exhaustive layover in the overcrowded Point C.
This next breakthrough will all but certainly strive for the luxury, status and environment that was omnipresent on Pan-Am during their prime and other airlines before some fliers began stepping onto those powerfully fast jets in their bathroom attire whilst also forgetting their manners in the very same closet where their ironed clothes are hanging, desperately yearning for a day or night out (this is not everybody of course, but we all know there are those who do this and who fit this description all too well…).
Who will design the breakthrough travel technology that will define the forthcoming decades of the 21st century?
The infinitely inspiring element of this question is the reality that we live in an era of unprecedented possibilities where an individual can change history and society with a random, crazy idea concocted in a garage or with a random sketch in a notebook.
What will he or she dream up and ultimately create? Is it the “Hyperloop?”
Like most everybody else, I’m clicking my trusty pen, ready to research, brainstorm and scribble various thoughts on some blank sheets of paper. Ultimately, I’m remaining hopeful that lightning will strike a series of words 3/4 the way down or on a daring shape drawn in the upper right hand corner as to permit myself to proudly shout, “eureka!”
“We were lucky enough to grow up in an environment where there was always much encouragement to children to pursue intellectual interests; to investigate what ever aroused curiosity.”
–Orville Wright
My Mom always says that if you dress sloppy, you think sloppy.
For this massive venture, I will be sure to wear an ironed white buttoned down shirt, a sharp tie, a slim black waistcoat and some wildly colorful board shorts.
The hope being I will find grand inspiration with my formal attire serving as a tribute to past thinkers and inventors while simultaneously channeling the random, crazy idea portion of my brain with entertainingly imaginative shorts.
The best part about it is if lightning does in fact strike, I’ll only need to grab a pair of black pants and shoes and I’ll be all ready for the maiden voyage.
P.S. Thank you for reading this post and please come back again!
Posted in Uncategorized
Tags: "Hyperloop", air, airplanes, aviation, blog, brainstorming, crazy, creativity, design, dreaming, dressing nicely, Elon Musk, eureka moment, flying, fun, future, genius, groundbreaking ideas, history, imagination, impossible, innovation, inventions, manners, new, randomness, technology, transportation, unprecedented possibilities, why not?, Wilbur and Orville Wright, wild
