The Fear Factor

Does it irk you to have a valuable benefit and not utilize it? I retired in 1992 with 25 years of military service. For the last 17 years, I have had the privilege of traveling space available and have not used it once! My friends tell me; “you better do what you can do while you can do it.” True but I get cold feet: I’m 76 years old. Don’t I need the comfort of a confirmed flight? Could I take the frustration of being bumped off and having to wait around for a later flight? What if I ran out of medicine? What if I had another stroke? What if I got stuck somewhere and couldn’t get back? If I needed medical help where could I go and what insurance would I need? Could I learn enough about the Space-A system of travel to use it effectively?

100 different questions gnaw at my confidence and point invitingly to the rocking chair or the rest home. I can see that I need to build up my courage in little steps by starting with simple trips. So I’m going to take the first baby step. I’m reaching up and taking down a 1993 edition of Worldwide Space-A Travel from my book shelf. It’s outdated but it will get me started learning the system. As an old Chinese proverb says; “The distance of 1,000 miles begins with the first step.

Let’s see, what might be further steps? A lap top would be essential to e-mail ahead and make reservations etc. Can I work that into my budget? Can I get a camcorder, in addition to my digital camera, to record my adventures? My mind is spinning with things to do in preparation for this radical change in life style.

The cautious side of my nature is inclined to think about less adventurous trips like flying commercial to visit my kids and grandkids. How about using those frequent flyer miles (before I loose them) to take a trip to the east coast? How about a cruise where one can just kick back and be pampered? That could be followed by a train trip and then a bus trip. Am I chickening out? I would like to think that I am trying to build up my travel muscles so I can launch out and just fly off into the sun set with the 600 lb. gorilla in the room, military Space-A. Stay tuned as Happy Chappy keeps you updated on a military vet with a 40% disability, stretching out to tramp the world. If I can do it (which is not yet determined) anybody can do it that has a military ID card.

I’ll keep you posted.