Tuesday, December 1, 2015

Stories from the Road: To the Moon and Back. Twice.

Earlier this year my Delta flight took me from PDX to JFK, and somewhere in route I crossed the 1,000,000 flight mile mark.  Or, 2,000 hours.  Or, 84 days.  At 36,000 feet.  Sometimes it can be fun, sometimes not so much.  But it is always an adventure: before, during, and after the flights there are things to experience and people to meet that I would not otherwise encounter.

I will admit that I sometimes long for those days of past elegance in travel, where a flight was a journey and people dressed for the occasion, the anticipation palpable, before air travel became common place, and pajamas acceptable attire.  But on the plane, looking out the window, I am always amazed.  Amazed, first, that the whole, massive, contraption even gets airborne.  Then, amazed at the view above the clouds and the earth so far below.  And finally, I’m amazed that I get to see that view regularly, one that has only been possible in the recent past, and even now, only for a few of us among the billions on the planet.  Amazed and blessed to have this adventure as a regular part of my job.  So next time you fly, ignore the pajamas and take a moment and look, really look, at that view.  You’ll be amazed too.

--James VanArsdel, VP of Client Relations 
James spends much of his time on the road as an ambassador for CollegeNET.  He travels the globe visiting with customers and gathering their inputs to bring back to the home officeIf you'd like to have James visit your campus to learn about your CollegeNET implementation, please let your account manager know!  He's out there folks!