If you can, pick the window seat.

Florian Seiffert on Flickr (“Düsseldorf in the morning”)

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.