Are you sick of hearing all the media reports about how bad the airlines are or how busy travel is this time of year? I certainly am.

I’m getting ready to leave for Autodesk University on Friday. Why Friday? Well it seemed like it might be the least busy time of the Thanksgiving weekend to travel. Also, that gives me the weekend before AU to see some sites and relax before the big week.


My son is in China right now. He was scheduled to leave last Friday (11/16). I took him to the airport at 4:30 AM! He had a flight on Northwest Airlines to Detroit and then a layover until the daily flight to Shanghai, China.

Wouldn’t you know it that there was a maintenance issue and two flights were cancelled that morning. He was on standby all day to get to Detroit where NWA had reserved a hotel and shuttle for him until Saturday’s flight to Shanghai. He spent 12 hours on standby until he finally caught a break and got to Detroit.

Because he wanted to "see the world" and has had this trip planned for what seems like forever and we were heading to AU, we simply cancelled Thanksgiving as a family. After all, we have lots to be thankful for and are not bashful in giving thanks. We also have a tradition since he moved out of our house to set aside Sunday nights as a family night. He either makes us dinner or takes us out to dinner and then we may watch a movie together or play a board game. It’s been great.

So, we’ll be passing each other with our travels. He’s visiting a Pen Pal in China and experiencing life and will not be back home until very late Tuesday night. We are leaving this Friday. We’ll catch up on 12/2/07 for a reunion and our family afternoon and evening together to share travel fixture design stories and photos.

Happy Thanksgiving to you!