Fly Southwest: CZM to Traverse City, Michigan

In the amazing universe of travel, that divine land called Cozumel, renowned for its sparkling beaches, and Traverse City holding the badge of honor as cherry capital of the United States present a delightful paradox. Both blessed with natural beauty but miles apart in their charm. You, my dear globetrotter, now bear the task of venturing from one to the other.

It's as if Southwest Airlines was created for this exact, tantalizingly disparate journey. Of course, cast aside the eerie suspicion you might have that it was also created to make backpacking travellers feel like excess baggage by setting baffling limitations to their baggage allowance. Take it as an opportunity to minimalize, dear readers, there is no weight to our souls after all.

If you're dreaming of clear skies and watchful air hostess eyes watching over your 'in-flight services' requests, yearning for complimentary pretzels to snack on as you maintain your stiff upright seating posture while cruising miles above the ground - you've lucked out landing Southwest. Truly a chariot of the people it is. Or so they make us believe.

Fear not the prospect of unreasonable airfare! Southwest, in their almost saintly gesture ensures that you, the thrift-conscious voyager, can travel from the land of the Mayans to Michigan's fruit basket without having to sell a kidney on the black market. Be on the lookout for those elusive 'flight deals' before they escape into the ether of internet space. Harder to catch than that flight you missed because, you believed that the crowds at the airport at unprecedented levels were a figment of your imagination.

Worry not for you must certainly give them credit for supplying a healthy seat of options: One-way, round-trip, non-stop, red-eye flight - a cornucopia of choices. It's all there, ready to be plunged into. However, bear in mind the ‘non-stop’ option is much akin to their sense of comedy, non-ending and ever pervasive. The opportunity to spot the Big Dipper or Orion's Belt as you streak across the sky in a 'red-eye flight'. Priceless. Well, not really, but we can pretend, can’t we?

And let us never, ever forget the benevolence of the frequent flyer program they've so considerately concocted. The game is afoot - you simply must collect more points than your neighbor. Yes, that neighbor who brags about his bronze status. This highly crucial mission is essential in order to secure a five-minute early check-in or, if the gods of air travel are truly smiling upon you, a free upgrade to a seat with an extra inch of legroom.

But alas, the ‘best time to book’ remains elusive - shrouded in a mystery. Is it the stroke of midnight on the third Tuesday of the Waxing Gibbous moon phase? Only the Oracle of Delphi might divine such knowledge. Or should we say, the Oracle of Clickbait Travel Blogs?

Your journey on Southwest, from Cozumel's jewel-blue waters to Traverse City's cherry red orchards, promises to be as wacky as it is unpredictable. Cheap flights, delightful in-flight entertainment involving safety demos, and a rigorous mileage program, makes for an enchanting and indubitably memorable experience.

Embrace the unpredictability, fellow travelers, for therein lies the adventure! Whether you're scoring a first-class ride for the price of an economy ticket, or fighting for the last remaining overhead bin space, let Southwest lead you on a merry dance all the way to Traverse City because, after all, the journey matters just as much as the destination. Right?