Chicagoan Who Loves Planes Starts His Round-the-World-in-3-Days Trek

Trey Urbahn had his head in the clouds Saturday as the lifelong airplane lover soared through the sky in an attempt to fly around the world in three days.

He took off Friday on an American Airlines flight from O’Hare International Airport for San Juan, Puerto Rico--the first leg of a 27,808-mile trek.

He hopes to land a spot in the Guinness Book of World Records. If Urbahn, 32, arrives home as scheduled at 10:16 a.m. Monday on United Flight 44 from Honolulu, he will have covered six continents and every time zone.

Urbahn, a United Airlines employee who lives in the Chicago area, said he has been considering the global trip by commercial airline for three or four years.

“I noticed two or three months ago that all the schedules fit like a jigsaw puzzle. So I wrote to the airlines and most agreed to sponsor me to some extent.”

After the stop in San Juan, Urbahn was heading to Caracas, Venezuela; London; Cairo; Singapore; Sidney, Australia; Honolulu, and then back to Chicago. In all, six different airlines are involved.

Urbahn will have to hope for the best as far as delays are concerned. His tightest connection will be in London, where he has 65 minutes to change terminals for a flight to Egypt.