It isn’t often we get the chance to take a moment and enjoy the beauty that surrounds us. We spend far too much time running from place to place, attending meetings, taking kids to school, and everything else adulthood convinces us is necessary. I have spent most of my life, being the “Type A” personality I am, always trying to fit more and more into my already busy day. For me, it is a challenge, and yet, sometimes something happens in our life that forces us to hit the brakes suddenly and see what we often miss.

Yesterday, I hit those brakes, and I happened to have the opportunity to drive through the California desert just after doing so. I am from Southern California and have driven these roads hundreds of times. I rarely think about how striking it is because it is something to be driven through in order to arrive at one’s destination. This time, however, I took the time to notice things I hadn’t really paid close attention to before.

It was raining in the desert yesterday and the Joshua trees were such a deep golden green against the wet sand. In fact, whenever the sun would peek out the remaining droplets could be seen shining on their sturdy branches. And for those of you that have never been there, Joshua trees are unique to this part of the world. Not so much a tree as a cactus actually, but a stunning addition to what would otherwise be a barren landscape. Had they always been this beautiful?

Beyond the desert floor you could see the snow covered mountains with their white powder tops begging to be part of a fun winter’s day, and topping it off was the double rainbow; one hovering on either side of the highway as if to guide travelers through the storm. Mountain snow against the desert floor. Rainbows glistening in the sun. It was dazzling, a dream almost, but hadn’t it always been this way?

I suppose it is really nothing new. Things I have seen throughout my life I’m sure but never really paid much attention to. The California desert is really such an amazing place, and I highly recommend a jaunt through it, especially in winter, but I also urge you to stop and look around today wherever you may be. Whether something makes you stop in your tracks or not, take a minute or two and try to catch a glimpse of some things you may have been missing. They’ve probably been right in front of you all along, but never quite as beautiful as when you take the time to enjoy them.

Reprinted from my blog at a national travel magazine

A few weeks ago I went to see the movie “Bucket List“, and although I enjoyed it very much it really did have a much deeper meaning. For those of you that have not seen the film it is about two older men facing terminal illnesses and how they become friends and decide to see and do everything they can on their list before they ‘kick the bucket’; hence the name of the movie.

So this got me thinking – I have been to most, if not all the places visited during the movie, but what would I put on my list? If I was told I had six months to live I certainly wouldn’t spend it waiting to die. I would do just as Jack Nicholson and Morgan Freeman did and try to accomplish everything I could on my list before my departure. What a better legacy to leave than having really enjoyed life right to the end?

Because I have traveled extensively throughout my life it took me quite some time to come up with exactly what I would do. With that in mind, for now some of the things on my bucket list would be, and not in any specific order, the following:

1. See the great migration in the Serengeti

2. Win the lottery just so I could have the fun of giving it all away to those that are less fortunate

3. Drive a Lamborghini on the Autobahn

4. Go to Antartica

5. See the polar bears in their natural habitat

6. Climb Machu Picchu

7. Find out who my father’s birth parents are

It’s a pretty short list for now, and I’m sure I would think of a lot more if I really did only have six months. How about all of you? Anyone want to share their list?

Reprinted from my blog at a national travel magazine

I am really a pretty easy going air passenger. I don’t ask for much. I rarely bother my seatmates. I can handle sitting in coach and I don’t even moan when the person in front of me leans the seat back into my lap. I typically turn on my iPod, put my noise canceling headphones on and read a book or take a nap. However, I draw the line at children under two sitting on an adult’s lap anywhere in my vicinity.

Different authorities have voiced many opinions on this practice, but now I am going to throw in my two cents. First of all, what parent in their right mind thinks it is okay to hold an unbelted child on their lap while an aircraft takes off or lands? Let’s just look at the safety aspect to begin with. The adult is safely tucked in while the small child is free to become a projectile at the whim of turbulence, and this is assuming the adult is awake. If the adult has fallen asleep then it is anyone’s guess.

My second point is purely service oriented. It is bad enough that we sometimes get stuck in a seat that will not allow us to move in any direction and oftentimes leaves our bodies in a permanent sitting position long after arriving at our destination. However, the child under two is an added annoyance. Don’t get me wrong – I don’t dislike children, but I don’t like them sitting on my lap unless invited to do so either. I have a pet peeve with little ones falling asleep on me, kicking me, spilling their food on me, or worse yet, drooling on me in flight, and I fail to see the wisdom of an airline allowing parents with small children to inconvenience fellow passengers with this continued practice of flying free under two years of age as long as they are seated on an adult’s lap.

One time, while on the way to a one day business trip, I actually had a lap child spit up their mushy breakfast in my direction. While normally inappropriate in the best of circumstances, I was a little incensed at having to arrive at my meeting with the smell and stain of pureed peas on my suit. Another time, recently in fact, I attempted to get a few hours sleep on the way to New York from Los Angeles only to have the gentleman next to me allow his lap child to continuously hit me with various body parts as it restlessly tried to get comfortable across daddy’s lap. Despite being disturbed every five minutes I refrained from reminding “daddy” that the rule was the child stayed on his lap, not everyone elses. And just when I thought this was all bad enough, on my return trip from New York, I experienced another little jewel standing on her father’s lap while he slept in the seat in front of me. Not a big deal except she seemed to have some fascination with the contents inside her nose while leaning over the back of the chair in my direction.

So I ask readers, is it me or is this just an insane practice that has to stop? If I have to have a ticket to get on so should the child. If I have to sit in a seat, shouldn’t all children have to? Why is it okay for children under two to annoy and inconvenience paying passengers that are already annoyed at being crammed into a space the size of a dog carrier? And why for goodness sake do we, as a society, not have an issue with the reckless disregard for the child’s safety all in the name of saving a few bucks?

Reprinted from my blog at a national travel magazine