Foss recently celebrated a rather, in his mind, momentous event – his “medi-care” (aka 65th) birthday. To celebrate, he wanted to mark it with something equally significant. So he and a friend, a whopping 10 days his senior, decided to climb Mt. Kilimanjaro.
“We wanted to do something significant to mark turning 65. It was also something that would challenge us physically – it was attainable, but it was still a challenge. It took a lot of training and preparation. It’s not like bungee jumping where anyone can fall like a dead weight from a bridge. This was something that took a lot of preparation to get to the point where we could do it.”
Foss would call himself a meticulous planner; others might call him a bit of a control freak. His end goal is always to make sure that everything is just right. And this time, expectations were especially high. It wasn't just about the physical test for which he was readying himself. He was planning the trip of a lifetime.
His trip planning began online, veered in the direction of a few magazines, books and chats with people who had been on similar trips and then, ultimately, went back online. “The individual traveler has much more responsibility for finding out their options for determining what they can do.” “You can’t count on an Agent anymore – chances are, they’ve never experienced anything close to what you’re trying to plan.”
Through all of his research and all of his planning, he had two very distinct sets of criteria in mind. One set was for “the trip.” The other was for “the travel.”
“We made our choice of trekking company based on the level of training of their staff. Of course we took into account the quality of equipment and medical training, but it was their training as guides and ability to create the experience that really put one above the rest.”
Airlines, however, “have commoditized themselves. There’s no discernible difference between them. Even the really good ones – they’ve managed to take something really special and make it mediocre. I think they’ve decided there’s no money to be made being better, and I really don’t see this changing in the future.” And so flight times, connections and price were all that really mattered in choosing a carrier.
Foss wasn’t being cheap. In fact, he would have happily sprung for a bit more legroom and space to recline. But, ultimately, the hours of comfort on a plane were not where he saw the real value in this trip. Dollars wouldn’t be spent on a means to an end; they’d be spent on the memories forged in the destination.
“The travel outfit we were with for the land portion was probably top end as far as price – but we were willing to pay for that because we saw a discernible difference. We’re people who are willing to pay more for better service, better comfort… You’d like the relaxation of a trip to start when you leave home rather than when you get to your destination, and that’s difficult to do with air travel…there’s no way to do that on an airplane without paying an obscene amount.”
“The disparity between coach and business class is so much. I can take those dollars and spend them on a little more comfort for a few hours or I can spend them on even more amazing experiences for the rest of the trip. It’s the sights, the people, the food that I’m going to remember. Not the flight. …There’s only so much they can do for a flight experience that’s going to last a finite number of hours. But there’s a lot you can do with the kinds of restaurants you go to, the kinds of hotels that you stay at once you get to the destination – and those are things that will stick with you for a lifetime.”
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