Traveling should not be intimidating.

I have traveled extensively in my life and it never ceases to amaze me just how intimidating the process can be for some people! Travel should be fun, relaxing, a chance to learn and explore and experience new sights, cultures and thoughts.

But for way too many people I have encountered the whole process is fraught with anxiety and confusion. Everything from deciding where to go, to packing so as not trip the TSA security sensors and getting the most bang for your travel buck just freaks some people out so bad they never really enjoy the trip much at all.

This is a real shame.

My son recently joined the U.S. Marines and we traveled to San Diego for his graduation ceremony. During the three months of training I was very active on a message board for the parents of new Marines. As we discussed our travel plans I was constantly amused, frustrated and just plain baffled by some of the questions that would come up in regards to planning for this short, simple trip.

Having just returned from this trip to San Diego it occured to me that perhaps I should share a bit of my experience about traveling. I have been to all but two of the 50 states, Canada, Japan, Mexico, and France. I have traveled by car, ship, rail and plane. I have stayed in 5 star hotels, slept on the floors of airports, camped in a tent and toured in a luxury RV. Every one of them had it's own unique appeal.

Some thoughts on the San Diego trip: We flew from Spokane to San Diego on ExpressJet Airlines and these guys are great! The planes are small but then so are the prices. I figured for the cheap ticket price this would be a no frills flight, boy was I wrong! The attendant at the gate gave us free (Yes, I said FREE) headphones for the XM satellite radio, I was allowed to take my Starbucks venti mocha on with me and the flight attendant was very polite and helpful, when we told her why we were traveling she asked some other people if we could trade our seats so we could see the Marine base as we landed! Talk about thoughtful.

I did not expect food, but we got chicken and swiss sandwiches with cookies and fruit - huh, any other airline would want five bucks for that. Drinks were free, except beer and that was only a dollar. Yep, one measly dollar for a can of name-brand beer. The local tavern charges more than that!

The really great part was the landing. Our pilot hit the tarmac, hit the brakes and turned left to the terminal all in one motion. This might seem scary to some, but I loved it! It was the fastest landing I have ever experienced and a real adrenalin rush for us flying junkies.

We unloaded on the apron and our bags were waiting for us at the bottom of the stairs, along with the pilot who was a former Marine and wanted to congratulate us on our sons achievement. Talk about a friendly little airline. Definitely will be flying with ExpressJet again.