Fly me a river
Written by Suet: sue 6 Comments
Am I the only person on earth who still loves flying? I love the whole thing, from the whiff of jet fuel you get as you approach the airport to spending $3 on rock-hard cardboard pastries at Starbucks that I would never purchase in any other situation.
I arrive schlepping my bags with a goofy grin on my face, make happy talk with the gate agent, eye my fellow passengers with glee. It is all good for I am going somewhere. Anywhere. I don’t even care where it is. I just like waking up somewhere else.
(The only down part of the equation is of course Security. Even Buddha would have been a little cranky going through Security. No one likes to walk across that nasty carpet with their shoes off.)
People complain about waiting at airports, but ever since Wifi, airport time is happy time for me. I get to go somewhere AND I get to waste time on the Internet without having the nagging feeling that I should be doing something more productive, like de-molding the shower or preparing my taxes. Airport time is time off.
Then there’s the boarding which is a bit of a hassle, what with the getting smacked in the face by bags and umbrellas, but that is okay because the very best part follows.
Takeoff. I am the antithesis of a nervous flyer. I am an ecstatic flyer and takeoff is my favorite part. The engines cranking up to full rpm and bumping faster and faster down the runway, the grass becoming a blur…that rush of extra gravity as the plane fights to become airborne and then…flying.
It is a miracle to me, being airborne. People wished for this ability for tens of thousands of years as they watched birds wing through their air, and I get to do it. It feels like a very special blessing to me, every single time.
March 13th, 2008 at 1:40 pm
I love flying, alone. For some reason, my family and friends all become gape-mouthed, passive bumpkins incapable of using a ticket machine, reading the security signs, or following the overhead gate signs. Then, I become responsible for herding them through the experience, leaving me in a festering, sweating seeth of amazed anger by the time we reach the gate. But alone? Yes. The sky is the limit.
March 13th, 2008 at 1:59 pm
I love it all too for much the same reason you do, I don’t even mind going across the carpet barefoot. As I grow older I am more fearful of flying and less able to manage that anxiety but the one thing I do is take an old friend’s advice and pay attention to that moment of takeoff because it is so miraculous.
March 13th, 2008 at 7:17 pm
I love the “concept” of flying, but when it comes time to actually drive to the airport,I start to panic.
March 14th, 2008 at 10:26 am
I’m in the “don’t like it” group… love the take-off…speed, etc. – but everything else from the airport, to the waiting, to the stale air and the crowds…but SEE, it is all in the perspective! You love it and see all the fun!
March 14th, 2008 at 12:41 pm
Me, too! My dad used to take me to O’Hare when I was a kid and, although I was enamored with the flying planes and dressed up flyers, another thing caught my attention.
The bar area. People in suits were ordering expensive, adult drinks and the clinking glasses seemed so sophisticated to me. It’s never been like that for me, but I have to fly next week so I’m going to look for a big, grown up bar and see if I can re-create that feeling. Then, I’ll be grinning down to the boarding area where I will feel much the way you do about flying.
Freebird!
March 14th, 2008 at 11:33 pm
I’m with you…it’s fun going places!