HOW I GOT THE COLUMN

Note: For Denver residents only – I am scheduled
to be on WB 2 News at approximately 8:35 AM on
Feb. 28th. This will be probably just a couple
of minutes long and primarily to do with fear of
flying. TV stations often reschedule at the last
minute for this type of non-news interview, but
that’s how it stands at the moment so if you’re
in the area and in the mood, be sure to tune in.
I will keep the information for this interview
current on my Events page so if the time/date
changes, you’ll see it here:
http://www.fromthecockpit.com/Events.htm

Note: My interview with The Trip Chicks on the
same date has been postponed, but I don’t have a
new date yet. It will be toward the end of March
as it stands now and again, the Events page will
be updated when I get a firmer date. In
addition, I’ll put information into my Weekly
Update as to how you may participate if you wish.

One of the most popular questions I’m asked by
friends is how I wound up with my own column at
usatoday.com. It’s not something I’ve ever been
asked through the column itself, but I think it
may be interesting enough to answer here.

When I first published “The World At My Feet” in
2004, I faced the same problem as other authors
who choose to independently publish their books.
I didn’t take my manuscript to a bunch of
publishers and get rejected—I simply chose not to
submit it in the first place. It’s extremely
difficult for an unknown author to get picked up
by a publisher so I just decided to not take on
that particular challenge for my first book.
Instead, I did my homework and decided to get the
book out there myself. I had plenty of marketing
ideas although not a lot of experience.

When I called the Denver Post to let them know
about my story, they informed me they don’t
review independently published books. See, I
already knew that. I simply had other ideas how
to go about this.

I told the guy on the other end I didn’t want a
book review—that is, I wouldn’t mind one but I
knew the policy and that’s not why I was calling.
I was hoping mine was enough of a human-interest
story (local female flying jumbo jets and how I
got there) that it was enough for an article.
The man was brusque and I did not feel as though
I was getting anywhere, but then light went on in
his head. He stopped suddenly and said he was
“taken” with my ingenuity in approaching it this
way and would indeed send out a reporter.

Lesson One, then, was, why settle for an ordinary
book review when I could have a whole article in
the Lifestyles section of a major newspaper?
The article was picked up by the Associated Press
and circulated in at least a dozen countries.
I’d actually forgotten about this possibility of
wider distribution until I started getting
letters from England, Brazil, Australia and
several other countries. I even got a note from
a Northwest Airlines pilot who saw it in Chicago
and sent me a copy. (He referred to himself as a
fellow “poodle” pilot. “Poodle” is short for
“French Poodle” and sometimes Airbus pilots refer
to themselves this way as Airbus planes come from
France.) A book review would not have gotten
this kind of distribution.

When the Lifestyle columnist came out to the
house to interview me, it occurred to me to ask
him, “How does one get their own column in a
newspaper?” My idea was if I had a column and
became well-known, I’d sell more books.

He was a very nice man, really, but he laughed at
me and said, “Well, first, you have to write for
a small county newspaper, the kind absolutely
nobody reads. Then, after a few years you might
get taken on by a larger newspaper based upon
your experience. Then, after you’ve been at it
about ten years you can apply to a major
newspaper and then you won’t make it because
there’s just too much competition.”

I sensed a little negativity in there somewhere
but I was undaunted. Some time ago, I came
across a concept which I immediately took to
heart. The concept is, “Why compete when you can
create?” I thought about this and it dawned on
me that I was in a somewhat different position
from other journalists. Business writers write
from general experience and travel writers write
about trips they have taken, but were there any
pilots doing any writing out there, fielding
technical questions from passengers? I thought
it sounded like an intriguing idea, mulled it
over for the next few days, then called up USA
Today, asking for the travel editor. I thought
if I was going to have my own column, I might as
well go big.

I explained my concept, how it would be unique
(there was a paid site with something similar,
but I didn’t know it at the time), I wouldn’t
have to come up with interesting subjects as I
would just field questions, and what did she
think?

“When can you start and how often can you produce
a column?” was her immediate response, and the
rest is history. Of course, I contacted my
airline and got written permission to do this
paid column, and one top manager there was even
interested in my idea of running it through the
airline’s website rather than through
usatoday.com but cited things like “not enough
manpower to oversee,” and so it went to USA
Today. Later, when the New York Times offered me
a syndicated column, my editors at USA Today
convinced me to stay put as my name was already
“branded” with them and I would actually get
wider distribution through them online. My
contract prohibits writing for more than one
newspaper so I had to make a choice and I’m
certain I made the right one.

It wasn’t until my second or even third
conversation with the travel editor that I
realized it was to be online and not in print due
to a lack of space in the print version of the
newspaper. With an international total readership
of an estimated 8.9 million, I thought I was
getting a pretty good deal, especially since it
was agreed I could mention my book title in the
bio or “tagline” at the bottom.

There is even more to the story than this. The
original idea for www.fromthecockpit.com was for
passengers to have the ability to ask me
questions through my own site. After getting my
airline’s approval, I started to mention over the
public address system that anyone who had a
question about their flight should drop off a
business card or note in the cockpit on the way
out and I would be in touch as to how they could
get their questions answered.

After only one month I had over 300 business
cards, many of them with questions written right
on them. When I started going through them I was
really surprised to see who was interested. For
some reason, I expected to appeal to a younger
audience, meaning teenagers and even younger.
What I was getting was business cards from CEO’s
of oil companies, judges, bank presidents,
hospital administrators, etc. By the time I got
the column, I had an established audience of
several hundred. Now, almost a year and a half
later, my audience is in the hundreds of
thousands worldwide. They don’t care that I’ve
never taken a writing class in my life. They
just care that I do my very best to answer their
questions in familiar terms. The response has
been better than for any other column ever run by
USA Today since they started running online
columns several years ago.

My second book, which is on hold at the moment
while some technical issues are ironed out
regarding the content, will be published by a
mainstream publisher with whom I am already under
contract. Getting my first book “out there” on
my own remains a difficult challenge, and I want
to experience going through a publisher now that
I’ve experienced self-publishing. Although I’ve
sold many thousands of books, mass-distribution
is a problem which a mainstream publisher can
help overcome.

If you’d like to see the Denver Post article
mentioned above, you can find it, along with a
few other articles, at www.fromthecockpit.com by
clicking on Media Links, or just click here:
Denver Post Article.
Of course you can always find my current
usatoday.com on the Home Page of my site or by
clicking the link at the top of this newsletter.

And that is how I got my own column. Being
impatient, aggressive and even naïve is such an
advantage at times and once again, I’m glad I
didn’t heed the negative advice I got. Bringing
something brand new to the table simply removes
the necessity to compete with established talent.
I use this philosophy all the time and I hope
some of my readers may find it beneficial as
well.

And with that,
Until Next Time,
Maintain Airspeed,

Cap'n Meryl

SURFIN' WAIKIKI-PART TWO

Note One: Before we start in on Part Two of last
week's story (you can read Part One, if you
missed it, at Blog ),
I want to draw your attention to the Cap'n Meryl &
Friends Album of my Photo Gallery. By clicking
on the link below, you'll see the latest photos
added. The first two rows are all new additions
and include a current photo of my helicopter
instructor from 1977 (you may remember him if
you've read "The World At My Feet" and if you
haven't, see February monthly special at the
bottom), three pilot/photographers who allowed me
to use their photos in some of my columns at
usatoday.com, a young man from Poland who wants
to become a pilot, and some friends/readers. By
clicking on each photo you can see the captions.
Gallery


Note Two: I will be a guest on "Around The World
Radio" this Thursday, Feb. 16th, for about 10
minutes at 10:27 Pacific Time. This interview
will be available online and you can see my
complete schedule here. Just look toward the
bottom for all the information about it.
http://www.fromthecockpit.com/Events.htm


One reader, a friend of mine who flies for a
regional airline, wrote to me asking about how to
pack for one-day trips. That is, what should a
woman put in an emergency overnight kit for
unexpected layovers? Last week I told Part One
of my story about flying to Hawaii, but in Part
Two of the same story I talk about what happens
when one is foolish enough to fly for an
international airline, yet not take an overnight
bag on every trip. Apparently this is something
each pilot has to learn for him or herself.
Here's how I learned:

In the late eighties, my airline acquired some of
Pan American's Asia routes along with some of
their pilots and, as I was based on the west
coast, suddenly I was flying much longer trips to
such exotic ports of call as Singapore, Bangkok,
Tokyo, Taipei and Hong Kong.

Currently, the longest international trip I'm
aware of is six days, while many are only three
days. Some of the trips we flew in the late
eighties were far longer. We'd fly trips twice
per month which kept us gone for as many as
eleven days at a time and, on occasion, even
longer than that.

At the other extreme were day trips out to Hawaii
and back. If there is any trip I detested, it
was this one. I considered it "cruel and unusual
punishment" to fly out to Hawaii and not be
allowed my "beach fix."

Passengers were really surprised sometimes when
they found out that we often flew out and back
the same day. This was more flight time in one
day than was allowed for domestic flying, but
because it was over water, a different set of
rules applied. Our flight time in one day out to
Hawaii and back exceeded ten hours.
Domestically we were limited to eight hours of
flight time in one day.

There was a superstition of sorts among pilots
that the way to be guaranteed an unexpected
layover on a one-day trip was to not bring a
suitcase. Most pilots carry a suitcase even on
day trips because, as we all know, things don't
always go as planned.

I knew better. I really did. But one day I
headed for the airport to fly a round trip to
Maui and I just didn't feel like carrying my
suitcase. This was before the days where
suitcases are easily rolled along and I guess I
was just lazy that day. Talk about asking for
it.

Sure enough, when we landed in Maui our local
operations manager came out to the airplane with
a message that I was to call our central crew
scheduling desk in Chicago. A message to call
the crew desk is generally not considered good
news. I couldn't imagine what they wanted as we
were only to be in Maui for an hour. I hoped
that, for whatever reason, they wanted me to lay
over and work a different trip home. I'd deal
with the lack of a suitcase for just an overnight
stay. A day at the beach was just fine with me
and I could easily buy a bathing suit.

"Meryl, here's the thing" said the harried crew
scheduler on the other end of the phone. One of
our pilots has broken his leg in Honolulu and
they're supposed to go to out to Tokyo and
Bangkok tomorrow morning. We need you to go
catch Aloha over to Honolulu, lay over and pick
up his trip tomorrow.

I felt I wasn't quite being told the whole story.
"When will I be back?"

"Oh, well, that. Yes, it's good you asked that.
Tomorrow will be day three of an eleven day trip.
Can you do it?"

"Hey, wait a minute. I don't even have an
overnight bag with me."

We'll authorize you an open-ended expense account
so you can buy absolutely everything you need in
Honolulu today if you'll just do this for us."

I'm not actually sure if I could have turned down
the assignment if I wanted to, but who wanted to?
I live for stuff like this.

"Sure, I'll do it." And off I went to tell my
captain. Another pilot was yanked off a flight
in Honolulu to fly this Maui trip back to the
mainland after a short delay, and he was somehow
replaced by yet another pilot and so on until
everything was back on track again, so to speak.

I got to Honolulu and went shopping in one of the
department stores right on the beach. I really
didn't need much: pants, shirt, bathing suit,
not much in the way of toiletries since the
hotels provided pretty much everything in that
department. The total bill came to just $57.
I'm a frugal shopper, expense account or no
expense account. I shopped, stashed my purchases
at the hotel, went for a swim at Waikiki Beach,
had an ice cream at Baskin Robbins (Chocolate
Fudge) on the way back to my hotel and
contemplated my life. I just didn't see how it
could be much better.

I had only the one uniform I was wearing, but
that wasn't a problem as each layover was long
enough to get it cleaned if I needed to, and on
this long a trip I would certainly need to more
than once. The airline would pay for that, too.
While I was at it, I decided to get another set
of uniform pants made in Bangkok. There was a
tailor right at our hotel there who was so fast,
you could just give him your pants, and an exact
copy would be waiting for you the very next day.
The cost was equivalent to about $25.

Just one more thing to tend to, and that was to
call my cat-sitter who lived down the hall from
me in the condominium complex I lived in at that
time near San Francisco. Having done that, I set
off to enjoy my trip. It turned out to be rather
mundane when compared with the first day of this
trip when pilots were shuffled like so many cards
to keep the airline on schedule as much as
possible. When a pilot goes out of commission
mid-trip like this, there is a substantial domino
effect about which the public thankfully neither
knows nor cares. Other than the slight delay of
the return trip from Mainland to Hawaii, the
airline's Hawaiian schedule remained
uninterrupted that day and nobody, other than
those directly involved, was the wiser.

I have never, ever, skipped carrying my suitcase
again on every trip, no matter how short. Not
since winding up half a world away without
notice.

In the context of this Update, in my Photo
Gallery at http://www.fromthecockpit.com/gallery there
is an Album called Chicago-Tokyo-Singapore if
you’'re interested. There are some nice shots of
Alaska and some ground shots in Singapore as well
as some aerial shots going into Tokyo's Narita
Airport. These photos weren't taken during the
time-frame of this story, however (no digital
cameras then) but on more recent trips.

And with that,

Until Next Time,
Maintain Airspeed,
Cap'n Meryl

SURFIN’ WAIKIKI – PART ONE

Link to this week's column at
USAToday.com/travel:

USA Today column

Note: Be sure to check out the new addition to
the “Cap’n Meryl & Friends Album” in my Photo
Gallery. Here is a direct link to this new
photo.
New Photo

After last week’s Update (“Palm Springs or Bust”)
I had a lot of unexpected feedback, some from
readers who love the water as much as I do, and
some from those who don’t swim and detest water
in general. I wasn’t expecting much feedback at
all, but when it came it reminded me of a chapter
in what was to be the sequel to “The World At My
Feet.”

This sequel may take another form now due to
changing circumstances at my airline, but in the
meantime I thought I’d share the following piece
with you, having to do with Hawaii. In PART TWO
next week the story continues to talk about a
particular sequence of flying that actually
started in Maui in the middle of what was
supposed to be a one day trip from San Francisco
to Maui and back. It didn’t quite work out that
way, to say the least.

To get yourself in the mood, don’t forget I have
several Hawaii photos in my Photo Album, some in
the “Hawaii” Album and others in the
“Seattle-Tokyo-Honolulu” Album on Page 2 of the
gallery, which can be found at
Gallery. I also mention
Meredith in this piece, my pet duck when I was
growing up in San Diego. You can meet her in the
“A Much Younger Cap’n Meryl” Album.

“Many of the flights we flew were overnight trips
with spectacular layovers in Honolulu, Kauai or
Maui. I loved all three places but they were
very different—Honolulu with it’s hustle and
bustle, Maui and Kauai with their serene beaches
and gorgeous scenery.

In Honolulu, we stayed at a hotel that was owned
by my airline, situated just over a block from
Waikiki Beach. There were loads of good places
to eat and, best of all, there were at least five
ice cream establishments within a three-block
radius. Baskin Robbins, Lappert’s Hawaiian,
Häagen Dazs—they were all right there. So much
ice cream, so little time.

In Maui we were constantly changing hotels and
each one seemed more luxurious than the last.
Sometimes we stayed in the Kaanapali area toward
the north and other times we stayed more toward
the south, in or near Kihei. No matter where we
stayed, though, we were always situated right by
water. At one time, we even got our own
condominiums on the beach. What a life this was!

In Kauai, we stayed at a casual beach-front
hotel. The water was right there but it was a
little rocky, and one had to be careful. One
evening, when it was really calm out and I had
talked the front desk into a room just a few feet
from the water, I went swimming. I was the
only one around and, on impulse, decided to take
off my bathing suit. If there is anything I
love, it’s the feeling of freedom one gets
swimming in the buff. I tied my bathing suit
around my ankle, where of course it got loose and
fell off. Not good.

I went underwater and looked around but it was
already too dark to see well underwater. I
wasn’t about to start poking around the rocks.
Who knew what was in there? I didn’t know and I
didn’t want to find out.

There was nothing else to do but enjoy myself and
wait until it got completely dark. Then I had to
wait for couples walking along the beach to get
out of the way before I made a mad dash to where
my beach mat was. The hotel supplied these at
the front desk upon check-in. I had only the
small bath towel from my room which wasn’t
capable of covering up much, so I wrapped the mat
around me the best I could and made a run for it
to my hotel room.

I got to my door just in time to see my captain
(I was a DC-10 flight engineer at the time)
coming out his door, two doors down from mine,
probably en route to dinner. “Oh, hi Meryl.
How’s the water?”

“Very nice,” I managed to say. He didn’t realize
I was stark naked behind that thin mat.

“Well, see ya around,” and off he went. Thank
God.

I was still fumbling with my key when the
copilot, whose room was on the opposite side of
my own room, came out. “Hey, Meryl, how’s the
water?”

“Uh, very nice,” I managed to say. I was frantic
to get into my room. He wouldn’t let me go.

“Isn’t it pretty rocky?” He was persistent.

“Well, there are rocks but there’s plenty of room
to swim on top and the surf is very gentle.”

“Oh, well maybe we’ll see you out there
tomorrow.”

“Ummm, okay,” and I finally was able to bolt into
my room.

The next morning, at first light when nobody was
around, I “wore” my mat out to the water’s edge
and, in my original Birthday Suit once again,
hastily got in the water, leaving my mat right
there at the edge. I didn’t really think I could
find my suit since the tide had gone out during
the night, but I liked that suit and wanted to at
least try to find it.

As luck would have it, I found it hooked on a
rock and I hastily put it on under water. I
decided to stay in the water for awhile, but kept
my suit on this time. I’m telling you, it just
isn’t the same. This wasn’t the last time I went
swimming naked and, if you insist on knowing, it
isn’t the last time I lost my suit. Fortunately,
I was always able to retrieve it right away.
This was the only time I dropped it and had to
leave it, and was fortunate to get it back the
next day.

I grew up in San Diego and was at the beach
virtually every warm day when I was growing up.
Although two of my three older brothers had been
surfers, I never got into it, other than
body-surfing. I had a pet mallard (duck) named
Meredith growing up, and she would body surf in
the wave right next to me sometimes, or sometimes
I would surf a small wave holding her straight
out in front of me. What a kick that was and she
seemed to enjoy it, too.

Sometimes Scott, the youngest of my three older
brothers and I would play catch on the beach
after swimming, and Meredith got to “be” the
ball. It always caused a stir among beachgoers
as she flapped her way between us back and forth.
At home she couldn’t wait to dive right into her
own fresh-water pool again.

Much as I loved body-surfing, I never did learn
to surf with a surfboard like my brothers.
However, on one Honolulu layover I got it into my
head that I’d like to learn to surf with a board;
so I hoofed it over to Waikiki Beach where I
rounded up an instructor and we headed out.

I thought I’d be better at it than I was;
generally I have really good balance. It was a
struggle, though, and I’d finally just stood
upright for the very first time and was actually
riding my first wave when I heard someone cry,
“Meryl!”

I looked to my left and there was my captain,
merrily riding the wave right next to mine! I
just had time to wave back as I fell off my
board; the distraction was plenty to knock me
right off.

My captain later told me he kept his own
surfboard at our layover hotel in a locker. I
hadn’t known they had lockers and it turned out
there was a waiting list for them. However, I
decided once was enough for me with regard to
surfing and stuck to swimming, snorkeling and
body surfing after that.

On our flights home, I’d always find somewhere in
the cockpit to hang up my wet bathing suit after
making sure the captain didn’t object. When I
did this, sometimes one or both pilots would dig
out their own wet swimming trunks and more than a
few times there would be three wet suits strung
out in the cockpit. On the way home we’d eat
shrimp cocktail and leftover hot fudge sundaes
from first class and talk about what we’d each
done on our layovers. Those were awfully good
times.”

To be continued next week…

Cap'n Meryl's Special Offer

And with that,
Until Next Time,
Maintain Airspeed,

Cap'n Meryl

www.fromthecockpit.com
www.flyingfearless.com
www.fromthecockpit.com/profile.htm(keynote speaker)

PALM SPRINGS OR BUST

Link to this week's column at
USAToday.com/travel:

USA Today.com Column

The very last time I had a layover as a pilot in
Palm Springs, I was flying the B-727 and we
stayed at a hotel and spa called the Spa Resort.
This was years ago, in the mid-nineties or so.
It was (and still is) a wonderful hotel with big
pools, Jacuzzi’s and of course, a great spa.

However, what I remember most is wandering around
the property and coming out onto a sun deck. The
sign on the door leading out onto the deck said
“Clothing Optional.” In hindsight, it was fairly
naïve and completely thoughtless on my part to
interpret the sign to mean the type of clothing
to be optional. What it really meant, of course,
was “wear clothes or don’t—your choice.”

It didn’t take terribly long to realize my
mistake when I stepped out and was greeted with
lounge chair after lounge chair of guys
sunbathing au naturel. Not only had I found the
Naked Deck, I had found the Naked Deck for Guys.
The women’s area was elsewhere as I later
discovered. Not one guy of the dozen or so there
even looked up as I discreetly made my exit,
trying not to laugh out loud, without success,
I’m afraid.

After so many years, I just returned from Palm
Springs last night from a speaking engagement for
a medical group and it brought back the memories
of some fun layovers (not the least of which was
the aforementioned one). This time, however, the
flights were all operated by United Express and I
had the supreme pleasure of being bumped off my
flight due to overbooking. Oh, the indignity!

I can’t even begin to think how many times I’ve
witnessed tears and outrage in boarding areas as
passengers have missed their flights due to
overbooking. “But my seat was confirmed! I
bought a non-refundable ticket!” cry the
indignant travelers.

Although I felt no inclination to blame the
ticket agents, I did wonder what the deal was.
After all, I even had my seat assignment. It
wasn’t a boarding pass, though. More of a
wishful-thinking slip, as it turns out.

The association which paid me to come speak had
provided me with a free ticket, but it wasn’t one
they bought. They had been given the ticket by
the airline as they give it so much business.
Many of their members are Million-Milers. The
problem came about when nobody gave any thought
to the fact this route is flown only by regional
jets, and overbooking is probably even more
common than on larger planes.

My ticket had the lowest possible priority, since
it wasn’t paid for in cash. I trudged down to
the tarmac along with about half a dozen other
unamused passengers when the agent said, “Take
any open seat.” Yeah, right. The agent had made
a mistake and there were no seats left.

I was rebooked on the next flight three hours
later. Fortunately, I brought ample work with me
to the airport and had no problem filling the
time. My talk wasn’t until the next morning, so
what I lost was about three hours of sunshine in
Palm Springs.

Now I’m sure at least some readers are wondering
why I didn’t simply use an airline pass or even
fly in the cockpit. For starters, airline passes
are for standby travel only, which means I
wouldn’t have gotten to Palm Springs at all as
every flight was overbooked.

Secondly, airlines’ policies on pass travel
confine such travel to pleasure trips only. One
can’t use them for business purposes, and that
goes for riding in the cockpit as well.

The upside, and indeed, the irony, is that I was
given a free round-trip ticket good anywhere in
the contiguous United States. So the next time I
do need or want to go someplace on my own, I
won’t need to travel standby and can use it for
pleasure or business. This was certainly a nice
surprise and made the extra waiting time worth
it.

The event was held at the La Quinta Resort and
what a stunning property this is, with 48 pools
and 52 Jacuzzis. There are thousands of colorful
flowers and beautiful waterfalls on this very
large property which dates back to 1927. Lots of
movie stars used to take vacations there,
including Clark Gable and Katherine Hepburn. I
was met at the airport by a limo and was treated
very, very well by the organization which invited
me.

Being a pool person, I considered it my duty to
swim as much as possible even though I wasn’t
there long on this overnight trip. Each group of
around a dozen hotel rooms forms a courtyard
around its own pool and Jacuzzi. I went swimming
when I got in around 8:00 PM, then again around
11:00 PM, then again at 3:00 AM and again at 6:00
AM. I never sleep more than a few hours at a
time anyway, so each time I woke up I hopped back
into the pool again. The water was literally
just a few steps from my door and the water
temperature was over 90 degrees. Desert nights
in winter are cool and it was around 50 degrees
outside but I was toasty in the water.

My talk was quite informal and went very, very
well with great reviews. I was treated to
breakfast, went for another very quick swim, and
was also a guest for a wonderful lunch outside.
It was a giant tortilla salad in one of those
wonderfully tasty shells, some cold salsa-like
soup with sour cream, and a whipped cream
raspberry chocolate concoction for dessert. So
much for the diet—right out the window.

I get so many emails each week asking about my
personal situation with my airline that I don’t
feel right simply ignoring the questions, but I’m
not in a position to answer them for legal
reasons. Once again, suffice it to say I hope to
have my personal issues resolved within a few
months so I can once again write about flying as
a pilot rather than as a passenger.

Al The Web Guy and I have decided to offer a
special deal for those who would like to order
both my books. We’re testing the popularity of
“bundling” “The World At My Feet” and “Flights of
Whimsy.” Right now, if you purchase each
separately it costs a whopping $37.85 including
shipping. When people order both the same day, I
can see the orders come in and just charge once
for shipping, but others who order one at a time
get hit twice for shipping and it does add up.

For now, our special offer is to buy both books
for a total of just $25.00 and we’ll pay the
shipping anywhere in the world. Such a deal!
The only link for this special offer is right
here for my readers and I’ll include it, as I
mentioned, until the end of February, when Al The
Web Guy and I will evaluate the results of this
offer. All books ordered through this link will
come signed by me.Cap'n Meryl's Special Offer

And with that,
Until Next Time,
Maintain Airspeed!
Cap'n Meryl

www.fromthecockpit.com
www.flyingfearless.com
www.fromthecockpit.com/profile.htm(keynote speaker)