Continue to be

Air travel has become for most of us, a nuisance of a journey to undergo in order to reach our destination. The technicalities of air travel (physics and engineering) and the discourse (the amount of hours sat in one chair inside an airborne restaurant with it’s own atmosphere) remains for me, a pretty f*cking amazing thing (despite long haul being exhausting). I am writing, from these conditions as described. I think we sometimes forget how high we actually are and how fast we are going. Now at 31,500 ft going 463 mph. It this respect, what is outside the window is also vast and far. Of clouds or mountains or rivers, it’s hard to really get a sense of scale without much to compare with. I once did see another 747 jetting through the stratosphere in a similar direction. It was tiny.

I’ve been flying since I was pretty young. For example, once custom checked my nappy to see if my mum had smuggled some drugs into London. In my teens and early twenties I flew a fair amount once taking about 10 planes in a 11 months. It used to be really fun and amazing. But somewhere within those 10 planes, I started checking to see if my life jacket was underneath my seat, I couldn’t sleep anymore, the food started to taste weird, I drank apple juice instead of alcohol and I worried during take off and landing. It’s all settled over the last few fights I have been on. Ergo, I don’t check under my seat anymore, it’s a bit pointless.

But flying, is a privilege, no matter how much one doesn’t like it. Yes the air is dry and the food is crap but then, England on the ground is like that and, there ain’t no view.

It is said the world has gotten smaller. But it’s the scales have always been the same. We are small and it is HUGE. Next time you’re on a plane and look down at houses and monuments and rivers and mountains, think about it, we are- really small. Our ideas and egos may be big but we, are not.

Cities throughout the world are becoming more similar, although they still have local customs which are alien to each other. Try not to upset the locals. Support the local economy. Remember, you are a visitor to somebody’s home.

After having spent the last 7 weeks in Holland, Jerusalem and The West Bank, Beijing and Hong Kong I am on my way back to London. I am neither in a hurry to want to get back to London (despite work) or eager to stay in any of aforementioned countries.

People are like places. They have a good side and a not so good side, some parts are trying to be better and some parts are neglected. It can suit the night more or the day more. Some places are more down to earth and some are too urban to make much real sense. Some are more simple and others more complicated. Some places you like to visit but you wouldn’t want to live there. And like places, we can make negative judgements too quickly upon them.

I guess what I am trying to say was best expressed by Jodie Foster as Ellie as her character in the film, Contact,

“A vision of the universe that made it overwhelmingly clear just how tiny and insignificant -- and at the same time how rare and precious we all are. A vision... that tells us we belong to something greater than ourselves... that we're not – that none of us -- is alone. I wish I could share it. I wish everyone, if only for a moment -- could feel that sense of awe, and humility... and hope. That continues to be my wish.”

- J