The Magic of a Random Destination

FLYING Staff

Thursday, November 25, 2004 at 10:00 AM ET

Verified

Key Takeaways:

The author, typically averse to recreational "100 hamburger" flights, made an exception during a New Hampshire vacation, flying to Rockland, Maine, based on a friend's recommendation for its lobster and a unique transportation museum.
The trip included a scenic flight along the Maine coast, a delicious lobster lunch by the harbor, and an exploration of the surprisingly comprehensive Owls Head Transportation Museum, featuring antique airplanes, cars, and bicycles.
Despite the trip's cost, the "glorious" and memorable experience of discovering a new place and its attractions fundamentally altered the author's perspective on the value of such leisure flights.

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I’m not given to the $100 hamburger. This euphemism for a flight designed to get the pilot and the airplane out of the house, into the air, and over to a nearby airport that features a restaurant of uncertain quality has never held me in its grasp. I’m more inclined to flights that take me somewhere for purposes other than nutrition.

I make no judgment about pilots who do make the trip for lunch, however. I enjoy a good meal at a good eatery as well as the next guy and any time I can find one at an airport, I go there preferentially. Although I usually arrive by surface transportation, those pilots who have flown in give me something interesting to look at while I enjoy good food.