Many Dreams Aren’t That Hard to Achieve

Toward the end of Up in the Air, the character played by George Clooney calls up American Airlines and asks to transfer some of his Frequent Flyer miles to his sister.

“How many miles?” the agent asks.

“Enough to go completely around the world.”

I saw that movie with my parents several years ago, and as soon as we left the theatre, my mom asked, “How many miles does it take to go around the world?”

She thought I’d know the answer, and of course I did.

Well, it doesn’t actually take that m...