Wow, your answers were better than I expected. Very thankful!
Interesting to know about VFR vs IFR. For VFR, I wonder if the odds are so low of a mid-air collision that you can visually watch out for other planes (or listen for them on the radio).
So the analogy for flying and pre-approvals is sort of like... you're leaving one parking garage (sometimes with an attendant, if it's a big garage) then you are free to drive (fly) wherever until you are ready to park at the next garage and, again, if it's big enough you have to call them 20 minutes ahead of time to let them know you're coming.
Anyway... very cool stuff. I took one very short flying lesson one time. I really enjoyed the feeling of it. As a n00b, of course I often thought "this is really cool but this is not a video game, if I screw it up there is no do-over". Still, very fun. I'll stick to boating here in MN, though. 🙂