Actor John Travolta is reportedly selling his unique mansion in Ocala, Florida, according to Hello! Magazine, and some social media users recoiled at the excess on display in the reported listing.
Along with his late wife, Kelly Preston, Travolta purchased the home for $3.5 million in 2001. Preston died of breast cancer in 2020.
Travolta is so closely associated with aviation pursuits that the Smithsonian's National Air and Space Museum maintains a page devoted to his love of flying.
This aspect of Travolta's life is deeply reflected by his Ocala home in Jumbolair Aviation and Equestrian Estates, an exclusive gated community with infrastructure for residents to maintain hobbies and interests related to riding horses and flying planes.
In other words, it is a wealthy enclave, and Travolta's custom home is emblematic of that. Its interior took cues from the styling of aircraft cabins, and large windows provide a view of the plane or planes parked on the property.
Although Travolta's bona fides as an "aviation enthusiast" are widely known, that hasn't spared the actor criticism over his usage of private planes and their environmental impact.
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While the listing does not appear to be public, after consulting resources such as Zillow, a credible real estate listing for Travolta's home was shared by the Instagram account mansionsonig (@mansionsonig), reporting that it was priced at $10 million.
In comments on that post, many were impressed, while others found the property excessive and wasteful, particularly in how its design with access to multiple airplanes would imply frequent use of those planes.
"Omg I hate it," one user succinctly replied.
"This dude never had his priorities in check," another wrote.
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Less than five hours 🛩️ "He should just donate it to the county and make it a public or private for profit airport for that area," a third proposed.
In 2004, Preston described the home as part of Travolta's vision to access his planes in the way most people access their vehicles.
"It was always John's dream to have planes in his front yard — to practically be able to pull up to the house — so that when you wanted to go to dinner, all you'd have to do was step out the door, get on the plane and whisk off," she explained.
That is an idealistic dream come true, then, on one hand. In a perfect world, that would have no downsides, and you can admire the spirit of his dream, but unfortunately, there are downsides to private jet use.
According to Oxfam, billionaires using private jets release more carbon in a year than the average person could in 300 years. Superyachts are even worse, releasing as much carbon as the average person would in 860 years over the course of that same year, per Oxfam.
Travolta has not publicly commented on whether he is selling the property as a result of any change of heart about his jet use, but as more people learn about the downsides, it may help to prompt more people to think twice before they buy or charter a small jet. And while one flight may not change the trend of increasing global temperatures, enough change added up over enough people across enough areas can make a difference.
If you want to do your part on travel, experts suggest using a train when possible or picking destinations closer to home some of the times you take a vacation. Both can also save money too, but in general, flying commercial is not nearly as polluting as flying private, and climate experts aren't expecting anyone to stop using planes. If you want to put a dent in things, the point is it doesn't require sacrifice as much as it does simply factoring pollution into any major plans.
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