Travel through time

When I was a little girl, watching the mini-series Around the World in 80 Days with Pierce Brosnan was by far my favorite pass-time, apart from writing plays and short stories. I was fascinated by the adventures Phileas Fogg experienced while traveling around the world by train, ship, and alternative means of transportation, such as an elephant in less than three months. Set in the late 19th Century, it must have been quite an exotic undertaking, especially accomplishing it in such a short period of time. Today, you can circle the world in around 30 hours, assuming that there would only be short layovers, but I think traveling has lost a lot of its charm. 

While it was still special to travel to exotic places in the mid-20th Century, today you can buy cheap tickets to get you almost anywhere in the world, if you don’t mind not having any legroom, having many layovers, getting crappy food or none at all or having to pay fees for your luggage and for selecting a seat prior to check-in. With some airlines, you can even pay for pre-boarding. While Phileas Fogg really enjoyed his ship voyages, playing whist with other affluent gentlemen dressed in nice suits, today, most travelers just want to get to their destination as fast and as cheaply as possible. 

I wish I had been alive in the 1960s, when the first jet airplanes were introduced and people who could afford to fly, were able to witness the birth of an incredibly fascinating industry. I imagine women wearing white gloves and elaborate hats boarding a brand new Pan Am jet clipper, Jet Clipper Flotte Motte (which means lively/fast moth in German... I promise, it really existed. Hilarious, right?) for example, and being in awe like a little child who takes its first steps when the heavy plane is slowly airborne. Today, very few people actually admire what planes are capable of, and I am glad to be one of them. 

When I was smaller, every time I went on vacation with my parents, I could only think about the nice sandy beaches and delicious food that would await in Greece or the exciting sites I would be able to visit in London or Paris, but in the past few years, I’ve started enjoying the journey as well as the destination. I always research the plane(s) I will fly with-- make, model and sometimes also the registration number-- and am excited when the plane is new or equipped with new seats. My frequent flyer status permits me to enjoy a delicious snack and some alcohol at the lounge -- if my layover is a bit longer, I like taking a nap in one of the beds in a separate, dark room-- check in at the business/first class counter and pre-board. Instead of choosing the cheapest flight, I am loyal to one airline (alliance) and I am rewarded with occasionally being personally welcomed on board by the purser and a few upgrades a year.

It is not only my frequent flyer status that excites me, but also the fact that traveling is really special. Even if I am in an economy seat that lacks legroom and am served chicken or pasta again, my heart still races when the pilot announces that “our flight time will be approximately 10.5 hours and that our route will take us to Vancouver via the North Sea, Scandinavia, the northern tip of Scotland, Iceland, the southern tip of Greenland, the Baffin Sea, Hudson Bay, Nunavut, the Northwest Territories, Alberta and British Columbia.” It is extraordinary how fast planes can take us to other continents, but we should still enjoy the journey, listen to the engine’s powerful buzzing as they make the plane move through the air at a speed of almost 1,000km per hour, watch the curvature of the earth at sunset and the icebergs of Greenland at sunrise, and at dinner raise a glass to all the journeys the plane has safely made in its lifetime. I can guarantee you that the plane will love you back!