Fly Southwest: CUN to Asheville, North Carolina

My fellow wanderlust-infused globetrotters, let's have a candid, buttered-popcorn flavored chat about the thrilling sport of air travel, specifically, that perennial maverick, Southwest Airlines. Howe often do we hear, "Getting there is half the fun?” But who, pray tell, ever said that while crammed into economy class, attempting yoga-like contortions to retrieve a fallen morsel of a pre-packaged mystery meal? Let's not even mention the slightly bewildering scent of airplane bathrooms. Hilarious, isn't it?

At the gym of life, Southwest Airlines doesn't present itself as a showy, highfalutin personal trainer. No, Southwest Airlines dares to be the jovial, slightly comedic Zumba instructor — offering cheap flights, a vague sense of chaos, and somehow, surprisingly, a decent work-out. So, prepare yourself dear reader, because we’re about to embark on a virtual, round-trip voyage from Cancun to Asheville, courtesy of our friends in blue and red.

Now, pay heed everyone, because this isn't just about a digitized hop, skip, and a jump across time zones. This is an examination of the ineffable human experience of transiting in a metal tube, at 500 miles per hour, seven miles above the ground, to visit Aunt Ada, your old college roommate, or that folk art festival everyone's been raving about.

Enter Southwest. Good old reliable, reassuringly branding-everything-in-sight, Southwest. Here, fellow companions of the skies, is an airline content to be a "non-stop" conveyor-belt for mile-craving masses. Airfare? Affordable. In-flight services? Friendly. Frequent flyer rewards? Oh, they abound. It isn't an airline's airline, some sort of air-hobbyist’s dream — it's ours, the common passenger's peoples' transit! So great is its understated charm that somehow, somehow, we forgive them every time they haul us off for a charming detour via Albuquerque.

Southwest Airlines, a company that jests in the face of flight schedules, audaciously keeps us on our toes, makes an adventurous sport out of guessing just when that boarding group will finally be called. And yet, we return, devoted to our fast and loose routine, simply because the airline employees somehow make us more family than customers. The paradox astounds and attracts us all.

It's a wonderfully peculiar mix of cheap flights, that dream of direct flights that often metamorphoses into what feels like a global tour of every possible stopover, a loyalty program that strews the proverbial 'carrot' just far enough to alight the flame of naive hope, and a democratic single-class system that throws first-class fancies and economy woes into the same, blithe fishbowl. The experience is so profound that it borders on the existential.

And who can forget, my dear readers, the intricate theatre of Southwest's baggage allowance policy? Every journey transforms into an episode of resolute strategizing, an incarnation of the Hunger Games where the last piece of overhead bin space is the metaphorical cornucopia. The language that erupts in these moments can rival the most poignant of Shakespearean soliloquys.

The piezoelectricity of Southwest’s whole shtick is comically beguiling. It transforms the mundane act of flying into a more comedic escapade, causing us to disregard any in-flight nuisances. Because, as we disembark in picturesque Asheville, averting one layover after another, we realize this mirthful experience of flying Southwest is certainly worth the elusive direct flights or tangible flight deals any travel website might dangle in front of us.

So, fellow travel enthusiasts, the next time you’re considering that flight from Cancun to Asheville, remember this: A journey is all about the experience, and the liking, disliking, tolerating, lovings, even, of Southwest's idiosyncratic charms will offer you just that. It's an aerodynamic dance to your destination, a waltz with the absurdities of air travel, a real-life version of Airplane!. Safe travels and buckle up, amigos!