Chris Gash

Last month marked 11 years that I have illustrated Joe Sharkey’s On the Road column for The New York Times. 11 years is a great run by any measure, but as much as I loved the assignment, I felt like it was time to move on. This past Tuesday was my last spot for the column, about biometrics and other technology that will hopefully improve security at Customs. Here it is, followed by a little retrospective of some old favorites:

These go way back, some before color on the page – passing the torch at the TSA, airline site designed for women, runway delays, and marketers target jet-lagged travelers:

I have ripped off airplane safety diagrams countless times as you can see here – the difficulty of upgrading your seat, in-flight live entertainment, banning personal items in seat-back pockets, more guns showing up at airports, passengers boarding with giant carry-ons to avoid bag check fees, and passengers need to know emergency protocols if they sit by the door:

Over the decade plus, I changed up the look of the column many times to keep it fun, including using photos – business travelers keeping receipts, airline fees, and airport fees:

Here were two spots of many about weather – the first in the lead up to Sandy, which none of us expected to be more than an inconvenience, hence the lighthearted tone. The other for that winter a few years ago where the constant snow had planes stranded in Newark and JFK:

Two of several columns about the rebounding hotel industry:

The race for wifi on every plane; the writer jumps ship from the Queen Mary to find a wifi connection:

Here are just a few of the many TSA stories we did – freeze drills at checkpoints, body-imaging first comes to airports, more recently the battle rages on against body-imaging, and the backlash against lifting the ban on pocket knives (even though you could already bring knitting needles, scissors and hockey sticks on board):

Two consecutive weeks about yellow light traffic cameras:

We also did a lot about the general difficulty of flying, just getting from A to B:

And fees – the randomness of add-on fees, the most expensive cities for travel taxes, the corporate spending bonanza at the Superbowl, and traveling on a tight budget:

Every summer Joe would write about the peak season and all the crowding on planes, here are a few of those:

And finally a few random ones that I liked – in-flight movies, who invented wheeled luggage, travel stories, shrinking international service, the state of affairs for flight attendants, and disgruntled flight attendants:

Thanks to Joe Sharkey for all the great columns, to Phyllis, Minh, Zvi and James for always working with me on scheduling holiday delivery, to Brent, our original editor, and to Steve Heller, who originally dropped my name to Brent when the Times was first looking for an illustrator for this. Thank you, thank you, thank you! And, like I always said I would, following my resignation I finally told Joe that I am deathly afraid of flying and have never set foot on a plane in my life.