New Perspectives Out of Airplanes
At the end of your show this week (9/19) you said that next week you
would have someone talk about how perspectives change when you travel
by airplane.
The most memorable flight I have ever taken (and considering that I am
only 24, I have flown a lot) was when I was flying to visit my parents
who were living in Nairobi. I had flown into London the night before,
and spent the night in an airport hotel. My brother, Eric, flew in the
next morning, and we spent the day in London. Although Eric was almost
dead on his feet with fatigue, it was the first time in ten years that
either one of us had been in London, so we explored the city for all
we were worth...
Since I had no conversation to draw me out of myself, I became
introspective as the hours went on. When the movie was over and
I clambered over my sleeping brother to stretch my legs, I went
to the back of the plane to look out the window just in time to
see the first glimmering of light over the horizon. I remember
looking at the ground wondering if we were over the
Mediterranean or the Sahara. It was too dark to tell, and all I
could see was a vast amount of nothing thousands of feet below.
Watching a sunrise from a plane always is one of those occasions
where I wax poetic, but never more than this time, after five
hours of internal meditation, watching the sun rise over the
desert in all of its glory as the emptiness below took on the
shape of the rolling sand dunes catching the pinks and lavenders
of the earliest light. And then there was the Nile stretching
long and thin in the distance. I date my awe of flying to this
moment.
I have been flying somewhat regularly for as long as I
remember. Air travel had become somewhat routine. I was beginning
to fear that the thrill of travelling had started to vanish. But
this moment re-installed permanently, I think, a tremendous
respect for air-travel, and a renewed excitement for travelling
in general. There was something about watching that sunrise (with
240 sleeping people, in a would-you-like-tea-or-coffee-with-your-
meal controlled atmosphere.
Thanks for your wonderful show.
Cheers!
Kristen
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