Flying with Thanks!

Being an airline employee is one of the top stressful jobs you can have. If you're doubting this, you've either never been an employee for an airline, or never flown and had your flights cancelled, delayed, or rerouted, and encountered a mob of angry passengers.

When you fly, you basically check your control, at the curb. For type A personality people, this is hard. You check your bags, hoping they'll make it to your final destination. You hope you get a good seat (and are always secretly hoping they'll call you up and 'upgrade' you to first class for being such an awesome person, for free!). You hope you'll be on time, or early. You're basically just hoping for the best, knowing full well, you can't do anything about whatever it is, is about to happen to you!

Most of the time, if you pay attention, those airline agents rarely ever smile. But, if you listen to what they're dealing with, you'll understand why. They get paid just barely minimum wage, to deal with world's angriest population, on a daily basis. If you come up with the comment, "Well, they fly for free." You'd be wrong. Over the past several years, they've had these rights taken away as well. They pay for their seats now too.

Most people are aggressive to these people from the get go. Just always ready to battle in hopes of getting something for free. You messed up my checked bag last time, I get this one for free. My seats were in the back next to the toilet and it smelt, I want a free upgrade. I want, I want, I want. Honestly, these people have no control over that either. The constant battles, make it hard to really do anything for a lot of people. Even if they start out on a positive note, it will usually end sour. 

When I travel, even when I was working for the airlines, I liked to travel with little gifts. Just something to say, "Hey-good job today! I understand." Even now, as just a regular paying passenger, I do this. Might as well spread a little love around the world, right? What's wrong with putting some good out in the world? Plus, having someone come up and give you a little treat pretty much ensures, even the person in the most rotten mood, will probably, if it needs to happen, go out of their way to help ensure you're taken care of it something should go awry. What's wrong with having a little help on your side? Nothing! Win-Win, I say!

Giving them a little treat and thank you!

We have a small out station in our town. This is a regional airport, where the same person you check in with, will also be boarding you. (Best NOT to make these people mad, because you WILL be facing them over and over again. *Just a tip!*)

Plus, they LOVE food! As I was checking in our car seats, I gave them this Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Cake, with a little note of thanks! Something to brighten the morning mood of everyone!

It's nice to see smiles at 6:30 a.m. Especially, when traveling with kids. 

Denver Airport Gate

When we got to Denver, as you can see, it's a little clustered. People every where! My gate agent, never looked up. She had a line that went from her podium to the end of the wall. Talk about stressful, and she was trying to board the flight by herself to boot. 

Give a little thanks, to anyone you can!

After she had cleared her line, I walked up, smiled and handed her, her 'treat.' I told her she was doing a great job, and walked away. She seemed really happy. I didn't give her gold, just a compliment, but that's the stuff that can help change a person's day.

I've offered to even get some of these people coffee before, too! Never know when a cup of Joe might just change a person's perspective.

In any event, spreading the love around, never hurts. Helps a lot. Try it next time you fly. Give them a little thanks and understanding. They don't like it when your flight is delayed or cancels either. They don't like pulling people off flights, or when your bags get lost. They're people, who fly just like you, too! They've experienced everything you have, but times ten.

Hope this gives you some great ideas on how to share some positive goodness on your next trip. Just knowing I was going to give them treats, really made MY day!


Need other giving ideas? Check out Encouragement in a Balloon, The Library Fine, Coffee Dates, and Little Red Truck.
I'd love to hear if you've done something like this before! Share your ideas in the comments or on our Facebook page!

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Enter His gates with thanksgiving, and His courts with praise.
Psalm 100:4 


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Kid's Passport (Domestic/Play Only!)

From the moment I can remember, I've wanted to travel. I couldn't wait to see the wonders of the world. I couldn't wait to have my own PASSPORT!

I remember seeing other people's and flipping through them with envy at every earned stamp. Each one was different, and represented a special place on the globe.

I remember the day I got mine. I couldn't open that package fast enough. I remember the first time I used it. My first trip out of the country, was to Australia. I was so giddy when I got that first entrance stamp. I had the biggest smile on my face, just from that stamp. (The country was beyond amazing as well!)

My passport, with stamps from a few of my travels.

Working for the airlines, was a blessing. Slowly over the course of a few years, I had earned stamp after stamp.  I was diligent about getting them. I only missed out on two stamps, while in Europe. When you rent a car and drive, you don't have to show a passport at the border. If you've never been there, it's no different than driving from one state to another.

While working a year later, I found out from an Australian couple, who were seasoned in traveling, that they had found a way to get those coveted stamps. They had rented a car and driven around the U.S. and into Canada.

I'm not sure where they learned it, but the gentleman proceeded to tell me and show me, upon checking in for his flight, his different "stamp." He was able to go to the local post office, purchase a stamp, and they postmarked it. The postmark had the date and location. Just like a regular passport stamp would have! How cool is this!

I am really excited to share traveling with my children. No matter where it is. The whole process is so much fun for me. My husband HATES it! If anything goes wrong, he doesn't handle it very well.

When I would travel, pre-children, I looked forward to any adventure. Each time I flew, I expected the unexpected. I didn't know where I would end up. I never made a hotel reservation, just went however the good Lord provided for me to go. Sometimes, I was alone. Sometimes, I had a friend or two with me. Sometimes I made it to my destination, sometimes, I didn't. But I never let it trouble me.

As I was reminiscing on the past, I came across these little passport's by Jolee by You. They are always in the scrapbook section and I never really knew what they were for. Until today.

In my children's baby books, I saved each and every one of their boarding pass stubs. For my son's first flight, he had five. These tend to stack up quite quickly and they take up so much room!

All our passports.

Today, I created, my children's first domestic passports!

When you get them, they are pretty self explanatory. I took photos of my children that I had laying around, and I trimmed them down to fit in the photo section of their passports. I filled out all the information for each one.

This is what they look like fresh from the package.

We are getting ready to travel soon, and instead of saving all those boarding passes, we can use these. I had to test the "stamp" theory at our local post office first. I didn't want to post this and find out later no one was able to do this.

Ours filled out, sorry for all the blur, but we like a little mystery in life.

We headed out, with our passports ready to go. I waited in line to be the last person, in case I was going to find out that what I was doing, wasn't going to be allowed. (It's a small town, and I wanted to save face, I guess.)

Turns out, you can't post mark a stamp, BUT, you can Collect Postmarks! My awesome post office clerk happily stamped my kids passports, for FREE! What a cool memory! 

Where ever you travel too, just swing by a post office, and they'll "stamp" your passport!

This is the post mark stamp. Pretty official!

I know that I am way more excited about this, than they are, and right now I'm OK with that. As the years go by and we fill up their little passports, this will be such a treasure!

This is only for domestic travel, because when we finally decide to go somewhere where we all need official government documentation, that will be a whole different story.

But for now, these do just fine.

Enjoy your travels and more importantly the JOURNEY! And, be nice to your airline employees. They work so hard, for so little. It really isn't THEIR fault you get charged a bag fee, or your flight is delayed.


The Lord shall preserve thy going and they coming in from this time forth, and even for evermore.
Pslams 121:8



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From sticker to passport!

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