Air Andy
When I first arrived on the pro-tour seven years ago, there were four or five big contests every year and maybe a demo tour in the middle of the summer if you were lucky. Nowadays there are so many contests, not to mention demo opportunities, that one couldn't possibly make it to all of them. The sport of skateboarding is global and professional skateboarders travel all over the world.

Sometimes it seems like I spend more time in airports than I do skating. Last summer I set a personal record for puddle jumps-- i.e. trips across the Atlantic-- of six. Tony Hawk and I often joke that we should write an "Airports for Dummies" book complete with restaurant reviews from our favorite airport-eateries. Sometimes I hear people in airports complaining about their flight being delayed or cancelled and I catch myself scoffing at them. Maybe I'm just used to flying or else I've become somewhat complacent about the whole experience. No matter how bad the situation, it seems I can always recall some scenario from my travel log that was much, much worse.

I'm sure most of us have experienced the basics of a standard flight. There's the movie you've already seen three times. The food you stuff down as if it tasted good because you're so famished from your all day travel fast. The fat man you're sitting next to that takes up more than his share of your seat. The elderly woman that won't stop asking you questions even after you pick up your book to read. The classic screaming baby syndrome-- I'm experiencing a doozy of one right now. The guy that snores at a whopping 12-decibels all night on a red eye flight. And the high school girls field hockey team on their fist trip anywhere. The list goes on and on.

Then there's the good stuff: delays, cancellations, missed flights and lost bags. I've been on trips where my bag doesn't show up until I'm at the airport for the return trip. On the Warped Tour one year, my bag followed me around for almost a week always arriving at the city I had just left. This is where air travel can really get grueling. If you are good, you learn, as I have, to "adapt." A good book and a set of headphones can do wonders. You learn to entertain yourself for hours at a time without so much as shifting in your seat. You learn to sleep sitting up and actually feel rested when you arrive.

One year Tony and I went to the Euro-Board Aid for Airwalk. We flew from San Diego to LA to Zurich. No big deal. When we got off the plane we found that there was nobody to pick us up, but instead a note with instructions to take the train. We bought tickets, and four trains and another five hours later we arrived in Andermat Switzerland, the site of Board Aid. Once again there was no Airwalk rep to pick us up so we bummed a ride to the ramp-- all our bags in tow. The demo had just started and with a mere shrug of our shoulders, Tony and I padded up for the session. You'd be amazed how well you can skate even after a full day and night of travel.

That was about five years ago, and only one of my first experiences with "adapting." Little did I know I was only a rookie. More recently, on the way home from a contest in Europe, I flew from Zurich to LA to San Diego. I did a load of laundry, packed another bag and flew right back up to LA to hop on an 8 o'clock flight to Tokyo. On the day I was leaving Japan, I did a demo at around 3pm at an indoor snowboard mountain-- (Tokyo is good like that)-- and the sun was setting as we lifted off bound for the states. Thanks to my good friend, the International Date Line, I was able to arrive in San Diego on the morning of the night I left. I made it to the ASR trade show in time for yet another demo and watched the sun set twice on the same day. I slept really well that night.

They tell you to label your baggage before you check it in. When I received my very own Bones Brigade team travel bag I thought I'd be all set. However, each trip thereafter something would be missing from my bag-- a skate tool here, a few t-shirts there. It wasn't until a trip to Norway that I figured out the luggage handlers were checking my bag for valuables. Whether they recognized my name ablaze on the side of the bag or just figured it looked official, who knows? I picked up my bag in Oslo to find a side compartment completely ripped off-- along with its contents: two sets of wheels, a set of trucks and two sets of Bones bearings. I've since switched to using very plain looking bags with big pad locks on them.

Obviously the more time one spends travelling, the more the travel log fills up with horror stories. You may find out, for example, that flying with an ear infection is one of the most painful and torturous things to do. You learn a lot. I know that flying to Australia with a stomach flu is no fun at all. But I also know how many steps there are in front of the Sydney Opera House, because I've climbed them. The flight to Malaysia was long and tedious, but how else would I have learned how excited Maylays are about skateboarding? How else, for that matter, would I ever know how amazing it feels to dive into the Indian Ocean when the water temperature is warmer than the air?

People ask me if it's all worth it. Without hesitation I can say that it is. There's no better teacher than experience. The knowledge I have of the people and cultures of Europe, Australia, Brazil, Japan, and even my own country, extends beyond what any professor could ever teach me. I've spent time not just learning it, but living and experiencing it. Travelling is the key. It's my continuing education. That's why as thick as my travel log gets with horror stories, it will always be worth it.