As a general aviation enthusiast, Oshkosh has always been high on my bucket list — I just imagined I’d get there as an older, wiser man. Not the wide-eyed wanderer I found myself being all week.

First, the company I was keeping: Jon of Fly8ma. I knew he had a serious YouTube following. I didn’t know how serious until I watched it play out in real time. The F22s on their first flyby shook the walls — jaw on the floor. The guy next to me just nudged me with a smile: “First time?” It was that obvious.

For anyone who hasn’t been: bring comfortable shoes. The scale of everything is unprecedented. My watch was logging over 20,000 steps a day. A little more concerning was the average four hours of sleep a night.

Above everything else, it was the people. Fly8ma fans kept stopping Jon as we walked from stand to stand — about as close to celebrity as I’ll ever get. But every single person we met was extraordinary — the student pilot working his stand, the B-52 vet among the 6,000 EAA volunteers coordinating the flow of traffic. Every interaction was memorable. For anyone in aviation looking to network, I can’t imagine a better event.

The numbers alone are hard to grasp: over 1,000 exhibitors, close to 3,000 aircraft on display, and a record 730,000+ visitors from all over the world this year. I was proud to be part of the South African contingent — the largest group on the field, with over 200 attendees.

For decades, “Kamp Plakkerfontein” — affectionately known as Little South Africa — has been run by Neil Bowden of Air Adventure Tours and his team, who arrive weeks early to build one of the most vibrant campsites on the grounds. Hundreds of tents, VIP RVs along the perimeter, a food hall tent, a fully stocked bar with the cheapest beer in America, a shaded, misted rec area for the hot afternoons, and braais and fire pits for the evening debriefs. At the end of the week, tents, sleeping bags, and tin cans by the tonnage get donated to local charities — a fitting gesture once you meet the people behind it. Some of the kindest, coolest, most interesting people I met all week were at the Saffa camp.

Many are ex-SAAF and SAA legends, and the stories that come out over a couple of beers do nothing less than floor you. The history that simmers at an event like this is real — and something I worry about losing as that generation phases out. A little like the glaciers back in Alaska, slipping further away, a slow and inevitable retreat.

For me, much like the disappearing snow, all I can do is immerse myself in whatever time we have left with these people and these places, hoping some of it rubs off. Real, raw, immense places and people that make you pause are rare and slipping away. The least we can do is acknowledge and appreciate them while we can.

Maybe that’s the broader lesson. Every interaction I had that week was unique. At Oshkosh, and at events like it, aviation bridges gaps that shouldn’t be bridgeable. I found myself connecting with students, aspiring entrepreneurs, environmental advocates, fighter pilots, airline operators, business owners, and influencers — people I’d normally never have the chance, or honestly the reason, to talk to. But with one thing in common, I ended up bonding with them anyway — making friends, swapping stories, and in more than one case, finding real opportunities.

I can’t be more of an advocate for putting yourself out there, no matter how uncomfortable it feels. They say it’s all about who you know — events like this open the field wide. I’m only just starting to understand what that’s actually worth.

For anyone considering EAA AirVenture: if you have the time and the means, stop weighing the alternatives. Pull the trigger. You won’t regret it. From everyone I’ve talked to since, I’m not the only one who feels like I got far more out of it than I could ever put in.