Flight to Budapest

The flight on BA turned out to be operated by Malev Hungarian Airlines. Although again in coach, I was surprised by the pleasant service and efficency. Which, of course, leads me to question why American airline carriers cannot find a way to offer a free snack (a wheat bun flavored with a razor thin slice of some kind of pork) and a free alcoholic drink (a glass of cheap red) on domestic flights? It reminds me of how American companies tend to sabotage themselves by squeezing out additional profits to the point of ruining the product. Every traveler I encounter complains of American airline carriers - no food, drinks, or ammenities at all for free and upcharges for everything? Considering America's economic advances and overall business acumen, it is embarrassing that we have such an abysmal domesic travel operation. Next to me on the plane, sat a nervous 26 year old Albanian kid who had missed his flight out of London (where he now lives with his Lithuanian wife) and had to purchase another one, my flight, to Hungary with an additonal leg on to Albania. He amused me with his thumb twiddling, rapidly increasing during periods of turbulence, throughout our journey. He fled Albanian, leaving his entire family, when he was 15 to seek a better life in Britian. His story provided yet another moment of appreciative reflection for me. His eyes glistened with envy as I communicated my story, and he repeatedly asked, "How you be retire?" - his mind unable to wrap itself around how a 41 year old (four years shy of his own father's age) - could stop working in order to travel around the world. I suspect his story is not unlike countless other immigrants, in either America or Britain, who arrive for a chance at a better life. He has worked countless hours in England, found a wife - developed a semblance of a life there - yet he remains desperately homesick, feeling forever the alien in another country? Albania's economy still struggles, and my friend sends money to his father in Albania. As I digested our conversation, I wondered how many of my fellow Americans truly appreciate, understand, and seize the ability we have to pursue our dreams and actualize our experience?