Dear T.W.A.

Writing 101, Day 9: Reinvent the letter format

Some might say a post in the form of a letter is trite and overdone. But when done well, a public open letter can tell a great story or get your message across.

Today, write your post as a letter. Approach it in any way you’d like

Dear T.W.A.

For the benefit of my younger Turtlies, TWA is Trans World Airlines simply the best airline ever , and yes I might appear to be be just a little bit biased on this one 😉

Just reading these three letters together can take my mind flying to happy places and good memories.

I have known you all my life , and I started “travelling” with you from a very young age :

This is an excerpt from Skyliner magazine May 64 , where I appear inside a T.W.A. bag next to my mother. My father was a ticket agent in Lisbon at the time, and this photo was taken on one of our outings to Estoril (quite a famous beach at the time).

You may click to enlarge the picture – sorry my editing and cropping capacities are so lame, but I am still in pre-kindergarten here 😉

From the bag I upgraded to travelling in your big planes , being my flight baptism to Madrid with my younger sister and my parents.

We were so young , and I still remember that first trip , to the littlest details like the kid’s packages you offered us, so we would be entertained during the flight ( a black sticky board and differently shaped colored little pieces of paper we could construct images with ) and let the adults have a pleasant one.

And I remember my last trip with you , with my own kids then , to where else ? New York New York.

And I still have one of those “red TWA bags” for sure ! No they were never fashionable , but sturdy they were – well they could handle me and I was a big fat toddler 😉 – and could carry a weekend worth of clothes and still fit on board quite comfortably.

To you dear T.W.A. , I must thank my love for travel and planes , my introduction to the English language , and the best working environment I ever experienced.

The ten years I was blessed to work with you were some of the best I had , they were rich in experiences and opportunities for learning. Yes they might have been very challenging at times but we had this great team and always managed to have some fun throughout it all.

Thank you T.W.A. for being in my life for a good forty years , for all I learned with you and for my amazing colleagues.

Now I am a Turtle and swim instead of flying 😉 but my mind is always travelling (up up and away)

Turtle Hugs 🙂

PS: still working my way through Writing101 Sept assignments at my Turtle pace.