It's still a holiday miracle

Why do we bother? Because we have been brainwashed to accept daylong episodes of prison-style abuse, as long as we eventually land somewhere else.Today's average flight delay at New York City airports is five hours. And that's after the hours it takes to get to the airport on treacherous roads or deadly trains, after surviving the gauntlet of the security lines.Those who endure soon realize the real problem is the airplane itself. Airplanes, it turns out, don't really function in wintertime.The question investors should ask today is whether any of the silk road culture tour in this space trade at reasonable valuations.These are the most widely viewed travel websites on the market today.Veterans of the nation's travel wars can feel a sense a victory over the smallest thing, because even a failure can be positive if you believe in Travel Karma. You know about Travel Karma, even if you call it something else. It's when we accept a small disaster as psychic insurance against larger disasters.For example, say you're standing at the Starbucks with your gate in view and everything seemingly going your way. The taxi showed up. The security line was short, because a special new line opened just as you walked up, and for the price of having your hands slathered with anti-terrorism poison, you got to keep your shoes on!And then it happens, some split-second screwup, very hot coffee splashing over your hands and some lady's 500-lb. carry-on dropped on your foot.

It's still a holiday miracle because there's no coffee on your clothes. And because the flight has just been delayed-a delay that would've allowed ample time to sit and enjoy your coffee and cardboard cup of instant oatmeal rather than try to balance all this crap with your one free hand-there's time to go to the restroom and hold your scorched fingers under the cold water in the 15-second bursts allowed by the faucet's red robot eye.You squeeze into the tiny airplane seat and watch the lights of your hometown fade away, because the sun has yet to rise, because you have intentionally agreed to a pre-dawn departure. When the friendly stewardess offers a beverage, your defenses are down. They already got me at the Starbucks, you say to yourself, and you smile and ask for orange juice. "Ice or no ice?" No ice,The consumer is opening up his wallet and springing on travel in 2013.Travel, one of the largest travel xinjiang companies, recently reported bookings were up for the summer even at higher sales prices. please! Let's fill that cup with nothing but orange juice.And of course she dumps it in your lap. What can be done? You can't just get up and strangle a flight attendant, not with your crotch drenched in orange juice.