​Growing up in a very  small  town in Upstate NY with all the snow and the  long dark winters,  made me dream  of being able to travel and see fun and exotic places. These  desires to travel  lead me to college and a degree in Travel and Tourism.

It was not till I had my first job at a travel  agency  that I ever flew on an airplane; it was a commercial flight from Rochester NY to  Newark, NJ.  It was not far but that 40 minute flight  reinforced in me the power  of air travel and its ability to show me so  much.  During my years as a travel  agent I became very familiar with the  commercial airline industry but always  believed that private planes were only  for the very rich and out of reach for  most people.

Many years later my position as the Manager at  Meridian Travel allowed me to move to South Florida and finally leave upstate  NY  for warmer places.  

It was in South Florida that I met a man named Jeff  and he offered to take me to my lunch, which we traveled to  by airplane.  Getting in a Cessna 172 on a hot August Day is not like a scene from “Pretty  Woman”  but it  was still very exciting, even for me  who was no  longer that  young girl looking out her window and dreaming of flying away.

Years later, after many flights in that Cessna  172,   I decided that I should know more about the airplane,  just in  case I am ever  called upon in an emergency to take control and land the  plane.  After a pep  talk from some CFIs, I was convinced that I  should go all the way and  get my PPL, and not just learn the fundamentals of flying and landing.

Well that was seven years ago,  and Jeff  and I  now  enjoy taking turns as PIC  flying our  Cessna 172 and Mooney 201J. In additional to a lifetime goal of landing at every airport in Florida, we have  flown to Georgia, North Carolina,  North to  Niagara  Falls, and South to the Out Islands of the  Bahamas.   This ability to travel at  my own schedule and by our own  airplane has made it easier for me to become even  more educated about many wonderful tourist destinations and  I can relay this  firsthand  information to her clients.

I love the freedom of being able to set your own  schedule and traveling where the roads can’t take you. Sometimes it is not the  destination but the journey that is the most fun and rewarding part of the  trip.