Unless you live under a rock, you probably know all about James Franklin’s new contract that made waves around the Penn State community a few weeks ago.

Included in that contract is a hilariously specific privilege: Franklin is guaranteed 55 hours on a private jet every year. This got some staffers thinking…What would you do with those 55 hours? Here’s what they came up with.

Gabriel Herman

I believe it’s only right to relax on a private jet. If Franklin were with me during those 55 hours, I’d probably talk his ear off and ask for the best spots to eat in Nashville from his days coaching at Vanderbilt.

However, if I were not with Franklin, I’d probably just replay the Spider-Man video game from 2018 and then do some sort of movie marathon — on a plane, of course. Because that’s cool.

Michael Tauriello

To maximize the time used up and the overall enjoyment of the time spent, I chose round-trip vacations to Tokyo and Aruba for James Franklin. Tokyo uses up approximately 38 hours of the travel time budget and is known as one of the most popular Asian cities to visit — primarily for its cuisine, but also for the sights, the neon lights, and if he chooses to travel at the right time of year, the cherry blossoms.

However, that still leaves him with 17 hours on his plate. To take some more time up, a round-trip vacation to Aruba should be good no matter the time of year, which takes 15 hours in total. Unlike Tokyo, Aruba is warm year-round, allowing Franklin to take the trip anytime he chooses. In my opinion, it could be best to save that trip for a few days after a bad loss, just as a nice way to clear the mind.

That still leaves the coach with two hours to spare…Perhaps a quick trip up to Toronto and back for some more recruiting?

Nolan Wick

With 55 hours on a nice private jet, I would find myself in a situation I would never have expected. The most obvious thing I’d do would be to fly across the country to see my friends and family I normally don’t get to see as often as I’d like.

Then, I’d have them accompany me on trips around the world to the likes of Europe, Australia, Bora Bora, and beyond. Depending on how many hours I had left at that point, I’d fly to every single Penn State away game until they were gone.

Sarah Sacker

This is going to be fun, and I already know my first stop will be the Bahamas. From State College to the Bahamas is around six hours, so I have 49 hours left. Next, I would go to New Orleans, which is about 2.5 from the Bahamas. 47.5 to go I would then go to Nashville which is an hour and a half. 46 to go I would then head to the windy city, Chicago. That will be around two hours. After Chicago, I would head to Austin, Texas, which is about three hours, so I am now down to 41 hours.

From Austin, I will then go to Cancun, Mexico, and spend some time at a nice resort which will take 2.5 hours. From Cancun, I will go to Denver, Colorado. That will be a bit longer with a six-hour flight so I still have 32.5 to go. From Denver, I will head to Salk Lake City to do some skiing for a few days to take me down to about 30 hours. After I get in a few nice days of skiing, I will head over to Los Angeles and take another two hours off my remaining hours. From Los Angeles, I would fly on over to Hawaii which is around six hours.

With 22 to go, I would then fly from Hawaii to Anchorage, Alaska, which is one of the most beautiful places I have ever had the opportunity to visit. That will be around six hours. From Anchorage, I will then travel to Seattle, Washington, and maybe catch myself a game to see the NHL’s new Seattle Kraken. That will be three hours, so I have 13 hours left to go. From Seattle, I would then head to Toronto, Canada which is around 4.5 hours. 8.5 hours to go, I think I will stop in Quebec which takes off another 1.5 hours. From Quebec, I will then go to see my family so I will stop in Baltimore for a few days. That will be around 4.5 hours, leaving me with 2.5 hours left, and I would then fly back to State College, leaving myself with an hour left.

This is all without calculating any stops needed to be made, so I am sure I am over 55 hours by a little. But hey, I traveled to all the places I wanted to go! Fifty-five hours of James Franklin’s private plan sounds like a dream to me.

Will Pegler

Man, don’t you just love Los Angeles? James Franklin had once long been rumored to take the USC job, and even though he sort of put those to bed by signing his new 10-year deal, why not play a little pretend?

If I were the Langhorne, Pa. native, I’d love to experience that descent into southern California as much as possible. I could get a nice view of the Hollywood sign, the Pacific Ocean, and of course USC’s lovely campus.

It’s roughly a 7.5-hour flight from University Park Airport to LAX. I’m a journalism major and not an overly smart fellow, but that would leave about seven opportunities to fly to LA with those 55 allotted hours. Obviously, I’m not factoring in the flight back to State College. But instead of flying back on the private jet, I’d road trip it back with the rest of Onward State’s football beat, and maybe even stop for a few beers along the way.

What do you think, James?