ABCs of excitement Travel.

We've just celebrated the hundredth anniversary of the Wright brothers' historical flight at Kitty Hawk, North Carolina.

Though there werecertainly others who were messing with flying machines--most significantly, Alberto Santos-Dumont, a Brazilian who is widely celebrated in his local country as being the daddy of aviation--the Wright Bros are usually regarded as first to get humans off the ground. It wasn't that they were obsessive about the fantasy of lifting far above the ground. They were mechanically-inclined bros who owned a bike shop, and they could not forget the short lived but exciting flight of an inexpensive toy plane they'd received as children. They studied birds, they investigated physics properties, and they built wind tunnels--just like everybody else. They took one piece of the puzzle and worked relentlessly to decode it.

Rather than targeting the force wanted to lift the contraption, or the engine needed to power it, they zeroed in on the idea of control. It was actually the issue of control that caught their imagination and led on to a design featuring both maneuverability and safety. Then stick to postcards along the way and you will return home looking good. C Cookery books from your travels are generally a great souvenir. D Digital cameras save the day ; their little and you never run out of film. Here's a fab thread re accra.

E Expect excitement ; go with expectation, not fear. F Food is fun, try something you have never eaten before like zebra pate or Australian wine. I Inform somebody at home of your itinerary. L Learn something : Take a pasta making course in Italy, Scuba diving in Argentina or Belly dancing in Bagdad ( just kidding ). P Postcards will rescue you when your photography fails. Q Queries help you get the maximum out of all you see and experience. Read heaps of books about your destination. His mate, Louis Cartier, made the 1st wristwatch for him after Santos-Dumont voiced a requirement to keep track of time whilst busily flying his plane. He engaged in the shareware idea : take this, go forth and prosper. The Wrights ran out of zeal, and Santos-Dumont lost his mojo.

It is engaging to consider how we need both the plodding perseverance of the Wrights and the free-thinking openhandedness of Santos-Dumont in each project we try. Those who create the buzz are admittedly standing on the shoulders of people who silently developed the technology, but we must have both to bring out the fervour of the early adopters and the cultural change that hinges on the conventional acceptance of any new concept. Recognize it for the impressive feat that it is, and give respect to those who lived and died for its creation.