[ATXboom]

I head to Africa a lot for work from Austin. I’ve taken both NYC and Atlanta direct and of course Austin London JoBurg. The Atlanta flight at one point was the longest flight in the world. Around 18 hrs. It’s crazy to me that a direct route from Austin to London flies up over Cleveland and then Nova Scotia which takes 4-5 hrs to reach from Austin then it’s only another 3-4 across the North Atlantic / southern tip of Greenland. Maps definitely F things up. Easier to look at a globe. Put pins in destinations and run string between them. The overall take away from my experience is just how inset to the west the southeast coast of the US is. Another glaring example is flying Miami to Brazil where you fly almost as much East as south... leaving Miami you basically follow the outer Caribbean island chain (virgin is etc). It’s a good 10 hr flight to Brazil. Europe is much closer.