Views From The Wing
I’ll admit it: I love to fly.
And I’m a map geek, so I love following our flight path. We went quite further north this time than I’ve normally seen on this route, but flying time remained the same.
This was our first flight on an A380, and we were very impressed. Not only with the size of the aircraft, but also with the ergonomic improvements. The cabin is much quieter, and the lavatories a bit more spacious and comfortable. Thank you, British Airways, for a lovely, comfortable flight.
Do you like to fly? What’s the longest flight you’ve taken?
(This was an unsolicited post; no compensation received from British Airways.)
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Welcome almost back! It’s such fun having you travelling because I get to enjoy the destination with a virtual show! Yes, flying can be quite tedious, but with this aircraft that I had the privilege of travelling before, it’s a breeze. Hope you had a great journey, cannot wait to see what comes out of your coffers, a girl with flair in Paris must have shopped!
FF
Oh Susan, I swear that every time you mention something personal I find another thing in common with you. Yes I love to fly. I love to be on top of the clouds, I love to look down on the earth (as it were), and I adore maps — I was originally a Geography teacher. I haven’t been overseas a lot just a few times, getting to New Orleans from Sydney took about 21 hours with a break at LA, USA. Sydney to Dublin via Bangkok and London would have been the longest — about 22 hours.
Not really. I get motion sick easily and although I haven’t sicked-up on a plane I’m sensitive to every little jiggle and bounce. Years ago I drank alcohol and a plane was a place I’d always have a drink. Nowadays I breath deeply and try to calm myself.
If there were some way to get where I want to go without flying I’d do it.
That said, I’m married to a million-mile-man and have relatives spread across the country so I do fly, but it’s not my favorite thing.
You got great photos!
I am the same and I would get myself into a terrible state at the thought of the flight. So, I made the decision that I was not going to fly, if I couldn’t get there by train it was off the agenda!
I hate to fly but I love going places…wish I could just blink and be there! I do not know where the angst about flying came from…I use to fly several times a week when I was in advertising…I am like Ginger I have to go through some calming exercises in order to get there. But, the mountain view is nice!
Yes-Flying long haul on the A380 was a different experience altogether. I flew Paris/Sydney by Emeratis with a brief stop-over in Dubai. Culture shock on both accounts. The food was delicious, My kind of films were on offer and the lack of noise made the whole thing such a pleasure. I used the stop-over to have a foot and leg massage in the Emeratis business lounge. Well worth it. The next morning after a good night’s sleep I was able to give myself a Pilates work-out and all was well. No jet lag at all during my 10 day stay.
I enjoy flying once we’re up there, so long as there’s not too much turbulence. I love looking out the window too, especially over mountains. Such a typical view of England – love it! The longest trip we took was from Auckland New Zealand back to London, via Los Angeles. We had two refuelling stops but apart from that it was a non-stop flight. Ginger, I suffer from motion sickness in cars if the road is bumpy, in buses if I try to read to relieve the boredom, but so far I’ve been fine on trains and planes!
We used to fly long distance a lot . The best was UK to US with amazing views of the mountains & glaciers of Greenland . The longest ( & worst ) flight was home to London from Bali by Garuda airlines – 22 hrs . During which time the toilets stopped functioning & we found the aisles running with water – fortunately clean . I don’t think Garuda function any longer . I used to find flying thrilling but it became tedious & uncomfortable . We drive to Scotland now but your photos brought back memories .
I don’t love it, but I do love the destinations. Wonderful pics!
No, I don’t particularly enjoy flying. Our longest flight was to Beijing. Another long flight was to Athens, Greece. We usually listen to Tony Bennett on our iPod with headphones for very long trips.
I love to travel, in all it’s forms! DH travels for business frequently so lots of miles build up. We use them to travel long haul in Business class. Domestic trips in Economy since they are short. Longest trip so far, Houston to Brisbane, AUS. We enjoy the European train network a lot. Wish the USA was better connected this way.
Nice pictures! Everything looks so clear (except the air in LA). I’ve flown back and forth to England so many times, I don’t really look forward to it. However, I almost start to miss is after a year or so! With the view-on-demand personal screens, and even a minor upgrade, it’s a lot more comfortable these days.
I’m old enough to remember when flying was pleasant. Now I hate the lines, taking off my shoes, and being packed like sardines onto a plane.
Ditto – used to like it – but not anymore. I’m small, with short legs and can sleep anywhere – so once on I’m OK – but getting to the airport, through security, and fighting for overhead space (for my little backpack since I pay for my suitcase to ride under) is awful.
Taking off your shoes (while trying to juggle everything else) is the WORST!
We lived in Balikpapen Indonesia 83-86 and flew from Singapore to Brussels, then to Chicago, Kansas, Seattle, back to Indonesia via Seattle, Toyko, Singapore and then Balikpapen, 2 different times with an infant. Those were the days:)
San Francisco to Nairobi was a long set of flights – 32 hours. I enjoy being up in the air but don’t enjoy staying cramped in one space for long periods of time. I used to get sick in the old Airbus jets because of the overshoot in their control systems (it wobbled). The new jets don’t have that problem and I’m so glad! I agree with Wendy on flying over Iceland – it’s amazing!
Our longest flight, was really 4 flights from Madurai at the southern tip of India to Chennai and then onto New Delhi where we had to wait until after midnight to get a flight to Amsterdam and then finally on to NY. I think it took more than 24 hours. Really poor planning on our part! I don’t love flying because I never sleep, but I do love to travel.
I have a hard time relaxing on an airplane and the pre-flight anxiety I feel has been made worse by all the security measures these days. The longest flight I ever took was from California to the Philippines, when my father was stationed at the U.S. Naval Base in Subic Bay and our whole family moved there. It was 24 hours of travel, not very fun, though there weren’t too many people on the plane from Tokyo to Manila!
I’m not thrilled about the flight itself, but I love to travel, so . . . .The longest flight I ever took was 19 hours from Vancouver to London, England on a turbo-prop plane, a charter flight I took to visit my relatives when I was 14, in ’67. The plane stopped for refuelling at Frobisher Bay, patches of snow still on the ground in June. . . . (so, just to clarify, it was a total of 19 hours, but in two segments)
I “endure” flying. I figure I’m either going somewhere different and/or exciting or I’m coming home..both good options for different reasons. DH and I try to travel to Europe every two years (or less if I can get time off work). For us, from Melbourne, Australia, it’s at least a 24 hour trip – that’s the endurance factor. Premium economy on the a380 is great but expensive if we want to travel every 2 years. So, we endure the length of the flight as well as the cramped cattle class conditions. But give me a ticket now and I’ll happily ‘endure’ again 🙂
Like many others, I love travelling, but dislike flying. I’m a bit claustrophobic on planes and the noise bothers me. I make sure to get an aisle seat so I can get up and do stretching exercises as often as possible.
No real long hauls, just Montréal to various European destinations and to Western Canadian cities; the latter are work trips.
What I dearly love is railway travel.
I worked for Swissair for many years (sales) and especially during those years I took the opportunity and discovered many countries, especially the Far East but also the States. Once I did a round-the-world-trip from Munich to San Francisco, then Jakarta, Hongkong, Bangkok and back to Munich.
Annette | Lady of Style
I love flying except as a passenger in the economy section of a commercial passenger aircraft. That has become so miserable due to the cramped conditions that I avoid long-haul flying. For eight years during the 1970’s, I was a flight attendant then purser for Pan American World Airways, which had only international routes. Even then, how little we could do to make passengers comfortable was frustrating…but at least we had the tools and space to try (compared to today). The longest flight I’ve been on took nearly 20 hours block-to-block on the long-range 747SP. That flight from JFK to Hong Kong took that long because of a ground delay, strong winds on the nose during flight and a diversion due to a cyclone. Fortunately, I was working the flight, which was to me less physically taxing than sitting throughout a long flight.
Loved flying on the Singapore NY to Singapore non-stop on an all business class flight. 21 hours non-stop! The 19 hour Singapore – LA was also great fun…