When I was five, our plane was forced into an emergency landing in a ditch at the end of the runway at Lagos airport, Nigeria. I shall always remember that glass of orange juice I was given by airport staff after the incident.

“Let’s do it again,” I said to my dad.

At eleven, I wanted to be an astronaut, like many kids, perhaps not most girls though, and at fifteen, air traffic controller was the only thing I could think of as a future career.

Planes and airports have always fascinated me and even today, at 53, I look towards the sky every time I see a plane and wonder, “Where’s it going?” For some reason, all planes are heading to a tropical location.

On my way back from the gym this morning, I heard an interview with a British author, Alain de Botton. He applied for a job as a writer in residence at Heathrow Airport. Botton has always had a fascination for airports, and my first thought was, lucky him. What a fantastic project to work on. During his interview on NPR (National Public Radio) he said, “Airports make us raw.” He said people open up and one man told him about his two families, one in Los Angeles, and one in London. How can a man have two separate families for fifteen years?

I love Heathrow airport Terminal 5, if you haven’t been there, I think it’s the coziest terminal I’ve ever experienced. Botton was stationed there and wrote, “A Week at the Airport.”

Another interesting comment Botton made was related to how we stand in line to go through security, and most of us have a vague sense of guilt but feel absolved once we make it through. Have you felt that? I know I have.

I just signed up for the World Domination Summit in Portland, Oregon to meet other adventure seekers like myself. This is my new adventure for 2011, Chris Guillebeau, Leo Babauta, and more exciting people are attending. Life is full of Gutsy Adventures, and I’m going to make it happen.