People who use the BC Ferries system on a regular basis love to complain about it.

You can see why. It鈥檚 expensive, it鈥檚 overbooked, and there are constant breakdowns. 

But I only use the ferries on special occasions, and I love it.

How many transportation options give you a little cruise through Gulf Islands, or up the Sunshine Coast? 

I love to sit by a window, or go outside, and watch the islands go by, dream about winning the lottery and buying one of those cabins that dot the shoreline. I like to watch for whales, and spot the other ships and ferries sailing past.

It鈥檚 the same thing when I fly.

I always try to get a window seat.

Again, I don鈥檛 travel much. So the moment of takeoff is still exciting.

Sure, if you fly for business on a regular basis, it can become routine. But you鈥檙e in a giant, multi-ton metal machine, that uses burning jet fuel and aerodynamic lift to fling itself through the sky! Thousands of feet above the earth!

Once the plane is in the air, watching the mountains and farmland roll on by below remains fascinating. I feel like I could reach out and run my fingers over the ranges, like a relief map, and feel the ravines and ice fields, the huge vivid green circles of the farms, the glittering black rectangles of solar power panels.
If I have the choice, I always opt for the window seat.

I know, there are plenty of good reasons to pick the aisle seat, and as I get older, my knees are reminding me that being able to stretch out a little is pretty nice. I鈥檓 certainly not here to scold anyone for their seating choice.

But I鈥檓 still willing to trade a little discomfort for a view. If I do start picking the aisle seat, I hope it鈥檚 not because I become jaded about the experience of air travel.

I am, in many parts of my life, pretty cynical. Long exposure to politics will do that to you.

But one thing I never get tired of is seeing the natural world, the opportunity for a sense of wonder at what鈥檚 around us.

During the winter, when it鈥檚 too dark and cold and wet for safe cycling, I ride an exercise bike. This means sitting in a small gym and facing a wall and pedalling for 20 or 30 minutes. It鈥檚 good exercise. I can catch up on all those podcasts I downloaded, or listen to music.

But it鈥檚 still boring.

On Sunday, I went for an early morning bike ride down by the Fraser River. A blacktailed deer stepped out of the woods onto the road as I rode up, looked at me, and clip-clopped away into the trees on the other side. Not going to see that in a gym.

You see a lot more of the world from the window seat.