Ricky on his first flight to the beach – or anywhere for that matter!

I’ve previously posted about the “fastest routes to the beach“, but the new flight from Olive Branch (our primary residence – a suburb of Memphis) to PCB trumps any shortcuts my husband has found: his fastest 6:45 drive time is a tortoise’s pace compared to the 2:15 flight from OB to PCB.

Yes, you read that correctly: 2 hours. 15 minutes. And you’re there.

If leaving from Olive Branch (or PCB or Oxford), you arrive at the airport 15 minutes before take off. No baggage check in lines. No TSA hassles. No chaos. You just show up, check in, walk to the plane and get on. Could not be any simpler!! (Memphis, Destin, Birmingham and New Orleans require a whole 20 minute arrival before departure, but you won’t miss the extra 5 minutes when you arrive at your destination less than 3 hours later.)

For us, personally, this is a fabulous service. We often drive down to the condo on a Thursday or Friday night, and then Stan will come back home during the week for work and drive back the following Friday and we drive back home together on Sunday. The gas – not to mention the wear and tear on the vehicle and eating awful fast food along the way –  for 2 round trips in 10 days isn’t cheap. And we do this very, very frequently. Even if I’m not staying for the mid week, we spend at least one weekend a month at the beach, sometimes two if we can arrange it. But even more important? The TIME. While we often laugh that there isn’t really a better way to spend a Thursday evening than driving to the beach (and we do sincerely mean that – that’s quality time for us, solving the world’s problems along 78, 65 or 331), we do spend an awful amount of time driving instead of enjoying our special place in paradise. But to leave OB at 3:45 in the afternoon and then have a glass of red from our balcony overlooking the gulf by 6:45? Please!! Pretty Please! With Sugar on Top!! Woohoo!!! Even better? The dreadful day you must leave paradise and you realize you don’t actually have to get up and be on the road by early afternoon (at the latest) – instead, you get a whole other day at the beach, and can catch that late afternoon (or early the next morning) flight home without missing a beat.

Needless to say we have been SOOOOO EXCITED about this service  – so much so that my husband, brother in law and nephew all booked the inaugural OB to PCB flight on Friday, June 7th (I was already there on one of those weeks we thought he would be driving back down to get me). Instead of driving in and arriving at midnight, Stan, Rick and Ricky were enjoying an evening out with us (my cousins were with me) at our favorite Tiki Bar on the beach – while the sun was still shining.

And on Sunday? We flew back home that evening, but enjoyed our day leisurely, even finding time to get a great dunkel and bavarian beer cheese pretzel before heading off to the airport.  Simply Divine!!

As a personal sidenote, I also want to give a quick shout out to Keith Sisson, COO for Southern Airways Express: he personally met us Sunday evening (on his birthday) to arrange and ensure passengers coming in late from the beach (a tad bit later than originally planned due to Tropical Storm Andrea) had appropriate transportation to get from DeWitt Spain to various destinations (ranging from parking garages downtown to East Memphis to Olive Branch).  Impeccable customer service!

So, if you’re dreaming of getting away, check out the Southern Airways Express website, or find them on Facebook. Flights from the Memphis area include flights out of DeWitt Spain and Olive Branch to PCB, Destin and Gulf Shores.  Flights from Oxford, MS are scheduled to begin late June to Destin and PCB.  Southern Airways Express will begin flights from Birmingham and New Orleans to the gulf in late June.

And check out these precious pics from the Inaugural Southern Airways Express Olive Branch to PCB Flight on June 7th!

A truly awesome pic! What a view (notice the large windows – much larger than I would have thought!)

Stan and Ricky seat belted in and ready to go!

Rick Prendergast (my brother in law) and Ricky, my nephew – it was Ricky’s first flight!

Ricky enjoyed listening to Captain Scott over the headphones!

Gorgeous double rainbow!

Ricky was all smiles!

Champagne to celebrate the flight!

Fanfare upon arrival at PCB

Greeted in PCB by a rainbow

Red Carpet and Balloons upon landing in PCB