"Domestic" Trouble

My fellow urban dwellers, I thought I was exempt from the American OIL ADDICTION, but I was wrong. Here's one way it's affecting everyday people like you and me: the price of domestic airline tickets.

Let me set the scene for you -- my boyfriend is in North America right now, training for his Danish job with an American company whose worldwide headquarters are located in the quiet town of Cary, North Carolina, also the staging point for, and location of Martha Stewart's new community of styled KB Homes. (For those of you wondering, no, this is not a shameless plug, just a VERY strange coincidence.)

I would like to go visit him there this weekend, but it's a logistical nightmare. Cary's near Raleigh, and Raleigh's near, well, nothing. Trying to get down there for 24 hours was causing me a great deal of anxiety; no bus company, train option or airline company was offering me any way to resolve the limited time or finance problems that I have. After a long conversation with my beau, running through options of his coming to New York, my going by some other form of transportation, meeting halfway in Washington -- we decided it wasn't worth the hassle to try and defeat the evil airfare problem.


I became interested in other things that this amount of money can [and cannot] do for you. Did you know that one can fly to any number of perfectly lovely European destinations (and in some cases, get a night or two in a nice, 4-star hotel) for the same amount of money that it would take for a 1 hour and 40 minute plane ride to North Carolina? Well, for the price of a domestic American Airlines Eagle (1) direct flight from New York City to Raleigh, North Carolina ($832+tax), one can:

* Buy TWO 30G Video iPods ($299 a piece) and ONE Nano ($149). Of course, I won't be doing this because I am mad at Apple about the sudden death of my iPod (click-wheel, 1 1/2 year-old, B&W 40G).

* Take 9 1/2 people, at $86.25 per ticket, to see the new Broadway play starring Mark Ruffalo, called "Awake & Sing!". I *could* do this, but I just read an article today about Broadway's booming business and decided they don't need my ticket purchase anytime soon.

* Plan an $800 funeral. Morbid, I know, but this is actually one of the TOP hits when you type "$800" into a Google search. go figure.

* Fly to and from Copenhagen, one and a half-times.

I'll admit, long distance relationships are no picnic, but who would have thought that the closer we were geographically, the harder it would be to meet up?