Black Friday All Week Long

The timing of things are getting all squashed up and there doesn't seem to be anything special about the holidays any more.

For example, I'm sure there's one station that changes to an all-holiday format on Thanksgiving in every major radio market. Here in Northern Virginia, our station switched to that format last week (one week before Thanksgiving). That's not so bad because I can just avoid the station until I'm ready for 24/7 Christmas music.

But one tradition (or badge of honor) that I enjoyed over the long Thanksgiving Day weekend was getting out early on Black Friday and doing my part to keep the economy going. Even a couple of years ago, when the stores started opening up late on Thursday night, it was still an adventure to see what could be bought and my badge of honor became staying up all night and hitting as many stores as I could.

Now that's changed because I've already done most of my Black Friday shopping. That's because of the ridiculous "Black Friday Week" or "Pre-Black Friday Sales" that some retailers has begun. Um, doesn't that take some of the steam out of Black Friday? Yes, there are still some good bargains out there, but it's no longer worth my time and energy to run out in the middle of the night (or even early Friday morning) to get anything.

So, to whoever thought of extended Black Friday to a whole week or (in some cases, a whole month), I hate you for taking away another tradition, but I thank you for letting me sleep in this week.

Air Travel is Still an Adventure

I don't get to travel internationally very often, so when I do, I try to make an adventure out of it. I take in all of the experiences related to air travel, cut out the annoying ones--like waiting in customs and immigration--and remember the enjoyable ones--like people watching or shopping.

Recently, I had the opportunity to fly aboard an Airbus A380 from Sydney, New South Wales, Australia, to Los Angeles. I flew on the plane pictured below, Qantas Airways registry VH-OQD. I was so excited to be able to book a flight on this type of aircraft that my wife asked me if I had some sort of bucket list. I thought about for a little while and then said, "Yeah, I guess I do."

For me, even with the hassles of airport security and the long waits at immigration and customs, air travel is still and adventure. It's still a great way to see the country or the world, it's a great way to meet people you wouldn't normally meet, and it's a great way to experience a marvel of modern life--powered flight.

Next up: trying to fly aboard a Boeing 787.

Qantas Airways VH-OQK (FlightAware)

Plane Spotting at LAX

So here I am waiting for my connecting flight at LAX. I don't often travel internationally, but I am this time and I got to view a plane that I've seen plenty of photos of but never in real life: the special Hobbit livery on an Air New Zealand Boeing B777.



Of course, I saw it at night and it wasn't in flight. But I did get an up close view of it because I was on an airside shuttle bus and the plane was being pushed back by a tug directly in front of the bus. Many people complain about air travel these days but I still love to fly and do a little plane spotting.