vendredi 22 février 2008

The view from above

I moan a lot about travelling, I know. I used to love every minute of it, really couldn't get enough. But I guess it's like anything - familiarity breeds contempt.

Recently, there seems to have been a concerted effort by the airports, airlines, governments and (to use swearing mother's words) the bloody terrapins to take all of the joy, the fun and the glamour out of the travelling experience.

Today at CDG I would quite happily have lamped the third person within 20 paces who asked to see my ticket and passport. When I asked him if he was, indeed, doing the same job as his two previous colleagues he said 'no, I am more important'. How do you argue with that?

Sometimes, however, a sight from an airplane window will remind me of the reason why I fell in love with air travel, so many years ago.

Take, for example, the view of Mont Blanc on the approach to Geneva. At sunset, on a cloudy day the mountain seems to sit on top of the clouds, everything - clouds and mountain alike - turned pink by the last rays of the day. Spectacular and moving.

How about the endless red desert as the plane crosses the Red Centre of Australia, en route for Sydney or Melbourne? The sheer scale amazes.

Or the fantastic view when coming in to London City, as the plane scrapes the rooves of the Canary Wharf towers?

Anyway, I'm throwing this open for you to tell me about your favourite views from airplane windows. I'd love to hear about the view that brought a lump to your throat, the one that says 'home', the one that makes you smile to yourself.

For me, the absolute favourite has to be the sight of my front door, clearly visible on a westerly approach to Lyon....

9 commentaires:

aims a dit…

A view that got to the three of us as we were flying to Puerto Vallarta was the one of the grand canyon. All three of us had been down at the bottom alongside the river..my brother standing and watching as The Man and I said our vows...

Georgina a dit…

Flying into Derry or Belfast airports, just leave you agog!! It's green, green, green and welcoming. It sings "this is where you belong and where you will live happily ever after" AWESOME !!!!

travelling, but not in love a dit…

Aims - taking vows in the Grand Canyon? You old romantic, you!

And hello Lehners...it's true, flying anywhere in the UK / Ireland and it is surprising how green it really is compared to the rest of Europe - green green grass of home and all that, eh? And welcome to my Blog - hope to see you again soon.

Anonyme a dit…

flying into Copenhagen - the islands, the water , the city.Any city at night so so pretty easpecially if its near the sea.
Cardiff Rhoose cos it means I am home on Welsh soil.
Oh and Northern Cyprus 15 years ago- two sheds and little else.

The Hangar Queen a dit…

Hmmmmm..I think I'm going to like this blog.There are so many of those moments that choosing one is impossible.
The approach to SNN over the Aran Islands with the Inis Oirr lighthouse being the first bit of home I actually see.
Landing on 19L at IAD is like a hight speed retrospective of my 15 yrs in the US so that's always special.Landing on 1R brings me right over the Air and Space museum and my kids names are on the wall of honour there.So much to be grateful for.

Then there's breaking through a low layer of cloud into a clear night sky with a full moon.I've done that with the person I love most in the world sitting in the left seat.

Magic.

travelling, but not in love a dit…

Hi HQ,

I agree, breaking through clouds is amazing - both ways. A few days ago I flew to the UK and it was beautiful blue skies above a bed of fluffy clouds all the way.

We broke through the clouds on the way down and we were no more than 500 feet above a miserable, damp, grey and heartless day.

I wanted to go straight back up again.

Welcome to my blog, I look forward to your company and commentary.

TBNIL.

Swearing Mother a dit…

I never see any of those sort of views, my eyes are closed shut most of the time or glued to the current copy of Vogue as I concentrate, yoga trance style, on NOT PANICKING because I am in a confined space, N thousand feet in the air, and if I get up to go for a wee the whole bloody plane will over-balance and we'll plummet to the ground. And it'll be all my fault.

So my favourite view from a plane is when the door opens and I look through it and see steps to the ground on which we are standing. Phew.

A Lewis a dit…

I travel for a living too, and get to see many of the same cities and sites over and over again. One of my favorites is the Sierra Nevada Mountain Range along with the Cascade Mountains just north of that....with Crater Lake in between them. Yosemite, Lassen Peak, Mts. Shasta, Hood, Rainier, Adams, St. Helens. Amazing any time of the year.

travelling, but not in love a dit…

SM - I'd never have put you down as a nervous sort?

Although I guess Mr T wasn't a nervous sort either - and he needed to be sedated before the rest of the A Team could get him on a plane.....

Lewis - those sound like amazing sights.

It's like an added extra isn't it - to get such 'out of the window' entertainment for free...and happily the next generation of planes have bigger windows....