March 1980 high school German class trip. My school’s group met up with three other schools from the Midwest at O’Hare Airport for our Lufthansa DC-10 flight to Frankfurt.

I didn’t sleep all night on the way over and fell in love with at least two of the girls on our trip from other schools. Such a fun time.

On the way back to Chicago 9 days later, a buddy and I got to spend a few minutes in the Lufthansa 747 cockpit after I repeatedly pestered our flight attendant. I still have some blurry old photographs of that experience.

That trip forever created in me an insatiable desire for international travel. I’ve probably made 200 long haul flights since then and I still love each time I walk aboard a jet headed toward some far away destination!