Pilots do not like to travel

Pilots do not like to travel...and by travel I mean aside from work.

Steve has four 5-day trips this month. All trips include Hawaii. Each trip has 1 1/2 red-eyes. I say 1 1/2 since one leg gets in at 2am EST, and this last trip that 2am EST actually got in at 6am EST due to a delay. The trip sucks for the pilot and the wife and the kids. Honest to goodness, Ben even gets the sense that daddy is gone one extra day. On day 4 he starts to say "Daddy!" when the dog barks (thinking that Steve is pulling into the driveway).

So, Steve is working A LOT this month. The pattern this month is that he will work a 5-day, spend two days at home, and then leave again. He has a low 12 days off this month. And the first person that says "but I only get 8 days off a month" will be punched. I am 6'1" and I lug around a 23 pound baby all day long, so I have some strength behind me. Beware. You spend only 12 nights a month in your own bed at night and then you will see what I am talking about.

That said, we are leaving for a couple days so that Steve can run the National half marathon in DC with my sister and brother-in-law. Steve will get home from work, spend two nights at home, leave for DC for two nights, and then back to work. These two nights in DC are two less days he spends at home...hence, pilots do not like to travel outside of work.

When a pilot is not working they want to be home. Yeah, yeah...they get to fly for free and the places you can go to are endless. But, there truly is no place like home.

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