I used to to go on a lot of road trips as a child. They were mostly the 6 hour drive to southern California from Phoenix but my parents loved to get out of the city. I saw Las Vegas, Los Angeles, San Diego, Mexico, Flagstaff, Sedona, Tucson and Lake Havasu all by car before I turned 18. My dad was the ultimate roadtripper. He could drive for hours on end without stopping unless one of us demanded a pit stop.

We mostly passed the time by playing the usual games, but one of the things I loved was simply staring out the window. For hours. It didn’t matter how many times we’d passed through that desert between Los Angeles and Phoenix, or even the fact that it was just a barren desert. My eyes feasted on anything and everything they laid on. Every inch of landscape and surroundings were like Thanksgiving dinner for my vision. As a child, I was a lot more artistic than I am as an adult (I’m still trying to figure out why that is) and so the world to me was like a never-ending piece of art. I later became a pretty decent roadtripper myself since I always occupied myself with the approaching views.

I spent the last year and a half at my job as an international flight attendant. I try and soak in as much of each city as I can in the short 24 hour layover, but probably one of my most favorite aspects of the trip is the busride from the airport to the hotel. We tend to stay in the city in most locations, which ends up being a bit of a long trip. But for me, it’s like a personal guided tour of an amazing city that the locals probably consider as just another day’s boring drive. Even if I am completely exhausted from working the flight, if it’s my first time in this city, I can’t help but keep my tired eyes open. You get a mini tour of the city and witness the hustle and bustle of everyday life. With my earbuds on and my iPod on shuffle, it’s like the speeding images become the layover’s montage opening for it’s own movie, complete with a soundtrack.

And even if I’d been there before, maybe once or many times, it never gets old. New people may be walking the streets, or it’s a holiday, or it’s raining. But if I am tired enough I might take that chance for a catnip. Then I’ll be fresh and ready to revisit it later.