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OGDEN — Flying can be expensive. You need a ticket, which will likely cost at least a few hundred dollars, and may have to pay baggage fees.
One woman has figured out a way to travel across the country without paying a dime.
Amber Nolan flew into the Ogden-Hinckley Airport Friday afternoon. She’s a freelance writer from Florida who loves flying, so she came up with an idea to promote general aviation. She calls it “JetHiking.” It's just like hitchhiking, but on a plane.
Nolan and pilot Harry Anderson arrived in Ogden after a 3 ½ hour flight from Seattle Friday. For the past couple of years, Amber has been hitching rides on planes hoping to visit all 50 states.
“The idea came to me because I just thought it would be a fun adventure and a different way to see the U.S.,” she said.
She has been on more than 100 flights so far. She’s flown on all types of planes: single engine, twin engine, jets, experimental planes and two-seaters.
“The biggest was probably the Citation, or the B-17 bomber, which was the coolest airplane I’ve been on,” Nolan said.
She’s landed at all types of airports, on grass runways, and in her favorite state, Alaska, she landed on a glacier.
And she’s met a lot of people along the way.
I don't actually count the state unless I go exploring a little bit, so that sort of forces me to stop and smell the roses.
–Amber Nolan
She began her 50-state “JetHike” in July 2012 and has been in the air pretty much nonstop since, logging thousands of miles, crisscrossing the country as many as six times. She often finds her “rides” from pilots who follow her journey on her website and through social media.
“Usually I just go up to the airports and tell everybody what I’m doing, and the staffs at the airports have been really helpful. But it’s usually just hanging out at the airports,” Nolan said with a laugh.
She’s seen some pretty spectacular scenery on her trips. And once she gets to a new destination, she’ll hang out for a few days to see the sights. But she knows her visits could be short ones.
“The most difficult part is you’re constantly on someone else’s schedule,” Nolan said. “I go where they go. I have to be ready when they’re ready, so your bag is always packed.”
She plans to write a book about her trips, and hopes readers will learn more about the general aviation industry and the people who are part of it.
Oh, and she will for sure get her pilot's license. So where to next? Nolan wants to go to Oklahoma, which would be state No. 48, and there are Utah pilots who are ready to take her. Then the only two states left will be Kansas and Hawaii.
“I don’t actually count the state unless I go exploring a little bit,” Nolan said, "so that sort of forces me to stop and smell the roses.”
Contributing: Viviane Vo-Duc
