As I have mentioned before I spent a good part of my youth traveling with my family. Dad was a career Navy man, and one of the deployments took us to Pearl Harbor.
It was in the mid-sixties, and the "Jet Set" were in full fashion. As an impressionable six year old I saw the airport as an amazing and wonderful place. It was an exciting world which led everywhere you needed. We would go to pick up a visiting relative and I would hear announcements for flights to Hong Kong, and Tokyo, and San Francisco...etc. Then the roar of 707 engines as they taxied to the gate, and the spilling out of people to be greeted by friends and relatives -- at the gate! -- there on the island. The excitement was palpable, the energy unique. It was the the jet age, and the golden era of air travel, with Honolulu as one of the most exotic destinations.
It made a profound impact, I'm sure, on the Traveler I am today. Constant excitement and a desire to find out what's just over the next ridge. To me, the tower below is an icon of my childhood, but also a gateway to where I want to go next. The word Aloha, as displayed on the control tower, holds a very special place in my heart.
I also love this word...because I think it means welcome, and good-by...and that is what Mr. TT is all about.
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