I should know better than to book any flight on any national carrier these days. In the age of iPads, iPhones, and those other gadgets, who needs to really travel for business anymore?

Truth be told we do it because deep down, us in the business world still do not trust all these gadgets and words on emails or video conferences. I sat on a video conference recently and all I wanted to do was a Dr. Evil impression and demand one billion dollars. No one thought I was too funny, but for all the tech, all we were were people hanging on a wall and for some reason their lips didn’t move in time with the sound. Now, can you trust that ? No, no more than you trust a bad 80’s Godzilla movie to be educational.

So, we all board these planes in hopes of a true face to face chat, establish trust and shake their hands. And in the end, whether we get business or not, or grant business for that matter, we have established that we actually care enough to put up with modern travel.

Therefore I sit here and await an airplane to take me to Atlanta. I am currently only thirty minutes from my house and have been sitting here for two hours with delay after delay. I could have gone home, had dinner with my wife and smelled some of the farts from my dog, but I insisted to stay here and wait.

Why? Because in some ways that’s part of the adventure. I have a conversation piece if dialogue breaks down in the next two days. Everyone has travel horror stories, so therefore I must as well, and it will be brandished on my chest like a silver badge of respect. It says I care. I care enough to put them ahead of me.

So I have been tracking the plane that is picking me up for the last couple of hours. It has so far flown into and out of New York, through a snowstorm, landed in Atlanta, and now heading north to me. That plane has already had an adventure today, probably accumulated some interesting stories and carried some nice and some not so nice passengers. It’s had two, to three captains at the controls, tweaking its nobs and pushing its thrusters. Maybe a hard landing or perhaps they were all picture perfect. Either way, it has probably had a more interesting day than me.

Is it wrong to be jealous of a plane?