View From the 23rd Row - Goodbye

After five and a half years, traveling around the globe, where I've jumped off the sky tower in Auckland, tango'ed in Buenos Aires, royal-watched in Copenhagen, drank English tea in Paris, skipped in the rain in Rome, marveled at the beauty of a snowy Prague, walked all over Stockholm, sailed in Alaska, won nothing in Vegas, feared the Grand Canyon, experienced rubgy in Sydney, ate crepes in Montreal, discovered Alamo Park in San Francisco, gasped at the beauty of the Alhambra in Grenada, bicycled around the countryside of Venice, waltzed in Vienna, nearly got stranded in Madrid, sunbathed in the Bahamas, crossed the wall in Berlin, hit New York City, Los Angeles, Chicago, Boston, Orlando, Tampa, and Houston for quick day trips, attended a beautiful wedding in Edinburgh and New Delhi, rode jump seat out of Athens, and took too many trips to count to London, it is time to say good-bye.

In my five and a half years, I've seen a lot - at the two year hump, I seriously considered leaving, than when I decided to stay on, I would go through massive stress every six months when our quarterly report would show a need for more lay-offs. I worried that I would be let go. And yet, miraculously I made it through each time, even the massive Sept 11th cuts (what a horrible day to be at work). I think God finally said, "goodness this girl will never leave this job, what is the one thing I can do to get her out, to go in this different path, the path I want her to go?" Moving headquarters all the way across to the other side of the country! How's that for drastic?

Working in HR at non-descript airlines has been quite the learning experience. I will definitely miss being part of this larger team, full of great people. Certainly if I hadn't been surrounded by positive, energetic folks, I would have left a long time ago. It also helped immensely that both my bosses were good people. Despite going through Four CEO's and two bankruptcies in five years, I wouldn’t change a thing. Sadly, I've chosen not to go out to the new headquarters location in Phoenix, but I wish the company the best for continued success (no more bankruptcies or pay cuts!).

This will be my last View from the 23rd Row column, as I promised I would only write it while working for an airline and Friday is my last day. I hope, in my small way, I have made you a better consumer and passenger and instilled a desire to see the world, to travel.


Now with all the clues I've given you, you should be able to guess which airline I work for.