Thank you to everyone who helped show almost 100 local girls, in Madrid, the opportunities available in the aviation industry. Girls learned from role models and industry experts, including: pilots, aircraft mechanics, flight attendants, air traffic controllers, and more!

Last Friday, we hosted an aviation booth at the USA Girl Scouts Overseas - Madrid STEM fair. Below, you will find photos of our booth and details to make your own. Early exposure is so valuable for children to learn to imagine what they can do. Also, please enjoy the video - thanks to Patricia, Alicia, Chen-hsi, Deisy, Natalie, Jade, and Kandy - made by current female pilots for future female pilots.

Only 6.71% of pilots are women, according to the FAA's Aeronautical Center (31 December 2016 data). That number drops to 4.36% for Airline Transport Pilots. We want to expose girls and young women to all that is possible. So we've decided to collaborate with with a few women whose personalities and businesses we've grown quite fond of.

First up, we have Angee, from One Plane Jane. Earlier this week, we had the chance to talk about flying and family. Thanks, Angee, for sharing your story and for inspiring the aviation community, and beyond, with your products.

​Last fall, while in NYC, I was privileged to watch my best friend perform in the musical, "This One's For The Girls." Although I had studied ballet for my entire youth, as I grew up, I often became "one of the guys," and never gave too much thought to promoting opportunities for women. It was not until watching the musical that I truly realized, with my fully supportive better half (and aircraft mechanic), Angel, laughing and crying next to me, just how recently equal opportunity has become available to women. It happened in my mother's lifetime! 

"Francis opened her novel, wondering if, now, the bound pages had traveled further than the stories of travel between the covers. She quickly released that thought, for with travel, quantity has little meaning." - Excerpt from a draft of the novel, Never Always, by Christine

What do love, books, and travel have in common? All require openness and offer possibilities of things you could neither do nor imagine before. ​

​“To be or not to be,” we ask ourselves. In the United States, today, we may change our answer often. Perhaps this is due to the power of the response, “I am.” Is that not the America dream, to be able to answer, “I am,” as you wish?

Smile. Be kind. Eat pie. Often you do not know why someone is traveling. It could be for celebration or mourning, for business or for pleasure. Or for pie.

Small rural airports have some of the best homemade pies. I once flew across Ohio for blueberry pie, landing just 10 minutes before the KTSO restaurant closed. The owners insisted on brewing a fresh post of coffee and even offered to stay open and cook us dinner. Respecting their time, we thanked them profusely and took off for home, racing the thunderstorms, carrying a whole blueberry pie and two steaming cups of black coffee to celebrate my first 100 hours of flying.

The aviation community often extends so much kindness, perhaps realizing that we could, one day, be flying their mothers or children.

Two years and some hours later...

Many would argue that one's ability to adapt is most important for traveling. Growing American brands look for the same quality of adaptation in their leaders. Emotionally intelligent leaders hone their adaption in order to improve themselves and to simply live well.

But beyond adapting to life on the road, on the other side of the pond, or across the street, is the traveler's ability to learn. 

22 Lessons from My First 100+ Hours in the Cockpit

At Alpha Charlie Travel, we take you from A to C, where you can Be yourself in-between. As your travel specialists, we make certain you are a passenger only when you are in the plane. Enjoy the lessons and video, below, as you prepare to pilot your own travels. We may have control over very little, but we do have choices. The following lessons apply well beyond the forces of flight.