I haven't flown for 10 years. I wouldn't fly unless it was an absolute family emergency. My vacations are spent right here at home; in some of the most spectacular clear lakes, rugged mountains, and pristine seashore in all the world. As an environmental educator, I spend my days teaching children about the natural world, and they teach me more than I ever learned in college. To know the love of a child is to feel the purest, most unconditional love and joy there is to be found in this human life. And as a single parent, there is no one else at home to leave my child with, even if I wanted to fly. More than half the households in America are like mine. so when all you child-less folks tell us to leave our kids at home, I have to wonder what you are talking about.