Looking backward, looking forward into the new year

12-30-2001

Sunday, December 30, 2001

On this final Sunday travel section of 2001, we'd like to look back on the first year of the new millennium and speculate a bit about the future.

	When it comes to travel, this certainly has been a year of enormous change.

When it comes to travel, this certainly has been a year of enormous change.

For the first eight months, the world seemed caught in the ever-widening whirlwind of confusion that had come to characterize modern life. Beyond questions of where to go, our attention was focused on issues such as ticket prices and skimpy in-flight services. Then there was the spiraling cost of jet fuel and the traffic gridlock that gripped the over-crowded airports. At US Airways, labor negotiations and a pending merger with United Airlines made the future particularly difficult to predict.

Little did we know how difficult it would prove to be.

By early summer, the merger that promised to preserve service levels at Pittsburgh International had crumbled under the weight of falling share prices. That sent local officials scurrying to find some way to shore up US Airways and preserve our way of travel, along with the local jobs it produces.

Then on the 11th day of September, many symbols of America that we believed to be immutable quickly and completely disappeared right before our eyes.

Since then, so many unprecedented events have occurred, it's hard for many people to believe things can ever be normal again. As individual citizens of the world community, we have walked together through valleys of darkness to face a future with, perhaps, greater humility and unanticipated clarity of vision that includes great prospects and uncertainties.

We've also seen indisputable evidence of the contention that travel ranks as the world's largest employer. While airports and airlines scrambled to ensure that the formerly unthinkable never will happen again, the flow of fliers was dramatically interrupted. Many businesses have found ways other than travel to conduct their activities. Millions of leisure travelers have decided to stay close to home.

The economic fallout from this has already sunk several cruise lines and pushed a number of major airlines to the brink of insolvency. To conserve their cash, domestic carriers cut in-flight services to the bone, virtually eliminating meal services and cabin amenities.

It remains to be seen how long this situation will last and what the long-term consequences will be. With fewer planes flying, more seats are occupied, and on-time performance has improved. Security procedures do add extra time to the departure process, but with a few exceptions, including peak periods, air travel is actually more timely and reliable than it has been in years.

Even in-flight service may make a comeback. US Airways already has resumed providing pillows and blankets to passengers who want them.

And almost every travel destination is waiting with open arms to welcome visitors back. During the next few months, there will be plenty of travel bargains for anyone willing and able to venture away from home.

Out of the tragedy and turmoil of recent months, our wish for this New Year is that ancient animosities can be forgotten and eternal inequities overcome, so that people everywhere can enjoy the blessings of life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. An ambitious resolution perhaps, but then this might be the dawn that follows even the deepest darkness.

New Year revelry

At any rate, Tuesday will be the first day of the 2002nd year of the Gregorian calendar. It also starts the year 2048 of the Julian period, which was established by Julius Caesar back in 46 B.C.

Actually, though it seems natural now, Jan. 1 has not been considered the start of the New Year for all that long. In fact, 2002 marks only the 250th anniversary of the implementation of Jan. 1's special status.

Before the British Calendar Act of 1751, the new year was generally celebrated at the vernal equinox in late March, which certainly makes sense from a seasonal point of view.

With the general acceptance of the Gregorian calendar, Jan. 1 now ranks as the world's most widely celebrated holiday, observed in some 133 nations, from Albania to Zimbabwe, though in a few places, the day has extra meaning.

It's Independence Day in Haiti, anniversary of the Triumph of the Revolution in Cuba and Founding Day in Taiwan. Old Russian traditions call for decorated New Year's trees, parties and gifts for children, delivered by Grandfather Frost and Snow Girl, his granddaughter. Parades will be staged in the streets of London, Paris and other European capitals, especially where today the euro becomes legal tender.

There will be parades in this country as well. In Philadelphia, the Mummers will march up Broad Street, with their spectacular costumes and string bands. As explained in this section's cover story, New Year's day in Pasadena means a celebration of roses, followed two days later by a football game that should decide this year's National Collegiate Championship.

Although the football attention of most readers will be focused today on the Steelers/Bengals game in Cincinnati, college bowl frenzies in a dozen Southern cities will keep many of us glued to our TV sets over the next four days. Some of us will run in marathons or leap into frigid bodies of water. Many will visit relatives or just stay home to recover from too many festivities and figure out how to keep their resolutions.

No matter how you choose to observe the day, best wishes for a safe, prosperous New Year, one full of many joyous journeys.

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