I’ve had a
like
love
hate
like
love
relationship with airplanes and airline travel over my lifetime.
I was eight months old when I took my first international flight with my family, flying to the US for a visit from West Africa where I was born. We then returned to Nigeria, and when I was close to two, we traveled to Europe before we settled back in the midwest where my parents were from. I remember nothing about my first flights.
My dad holding me after my first flight.
Family travel that followed was primarily by car in the midwest for summer trips. But after my parents divorced when I was ten, my sisters and I flew to visit my dad and stepmom and we went on some vacations. I recall having no fear of airplanes, and didn’t realize how lucky I was to have experienced air travel at a young age.
As I got older, into my teens and early twenties, I had several opportunities to travel to other countries.
I had one particularly memorable and tough flight where the weather was stormy and the flight was quite bumpy. I sat next to a girl my age, and after we landed, we exchanged addresses. We wrote letters back and forth for a while, stemming from this experience that bonded us. That flight gave me a pause on airline travel for a while as it was not an easy flight.
I look back and realize I felt changed after that flight. Flying came into my awareness as something that was no longer always pleasant. I chose not to fly much for fun after that experience.
Once I began my own family, we flew from the west coast to the midwest to visit my extended family for Christmas and summers. The greatest irony for me is that I married a commercial airline pilot.
These days, if you are sitting next to me on the plane, I am the person who always gets out my phone and takes pictures.
I feel like a child as I look out the window, taking pictures and videos on takeoff and landing…
and of the white puffy clouds, the lights on the runway, or the changing colors of the sky.
If you don’t love airline travel, I encourage you to ask a pilot or crew member why they chose their career, why they like it, why they show up for work —day in and day out.
Befriend someone who works for the airlines. They will share with you their WHY.
I hope the next time you have the opportunity to fly,
you look out the window and take in the beauty of our world.
-Carolyn
Oh I have had a similar experience in my life — lots of plane travel in the early days, then a fear of flying, then an epiphany, thanks to my husband (then my boyfriend) who booked a 10-minute flight from Cape Cod to Nantucket to help me get over my fear. It was astonishing and beautiful. And even though I dent the armrest with my death grip when we take off and land, I happily take the window seat now and snap photos.
I love the photo of the blurred city lights! Sublime!
Lucy, I loved your story and how you were able to get over your fear. I find comfort knowing others have experienced this. That 10-minute flight to Nantucket must be so beautiful! And thank you – I’ve been taking a lot of the blurred city light photos lately. So many airplane pics to chose from!
This is really beautiful. Thank you. I love your advice in this post and will take it!!
Hi Staci, the more I’ve learned, the less mysterious it has become. I think many can relate to feelings of uncertainty. I hope what I’ve shared can be useful. Thank you for writing!
Love this! Yes, like life, air travel can be bumpy and scary at times. You first travelled at such a young age compared others our age. I still remember my first flight at age 16 to visit my brother at college in Maryland. It was thrilling. My favorite flight is along the central coast from San Luis Obispo to San Francisco where I can look down and almost see my home and the beautiful place where I live. I always try to get the window seat.
Jennifer, I love to learn these stories about you! How fun to know you felt your first flight was thrilling. Many people feel the opposite. I couldn’t agree more about the flight from SLO to San Francisco, or returning here –it is so beautiful to see the coast of California from the window seat. When Andy is a passenger next to me, he can point out so many small places that I would never recognize. Fun that you always enjoy the window seat, too!
The world is a wonderous place through your lens, Carolyn. Thank you for sharing your thoughts, your heart, and your talent with us. In these darkest of times, it is beautiful souls like you that keep us hopeful and inspired. You are a jewel. ❤️
Jude, thank you for writing and saying this to me. I’m really trying to stretch these days and share more. I’ve been a journal writer on and off through much of my life and this feels like a treat to be able to share in this way with my images. I’ve also been trying to think about art more as healing and ways I can be useful, even just a tiny bit. I am so grateful to you and Dave for continued gleaning and dedicating so much time to our community.
Aw, thank you! I love this reminder. The older I grow, the less I like air travel, and I would love to recapture that joy I felt about it as a child.
I think a lot of people feel the same way. There is quite a bit of hassle with the whole flying experience — packing, arriving early, flight delays, etc. I’m trying to build that into my mindset to expect things not to go perfectly, and then be grateful when sometimes things are straightforward. I hope you can try and recapture the joy– it really can feel quite magical when I think about popping up and down across the world through the air.
So many beautiful photos of your travels, but that one with your father really is adorable! I love that I have to be present when flying, there’s no distractions. It is the best time to read a book!
I came upon the photo of my father holding me as I’ve been sorting through old photos as my mom is writing her life story to share with our family. It was a complete surprise as I had never seen it before.
I agree — reading a book these days is a luxury when we aren’t pulled in so many other directions. I finished a book from start to finish on a flight recently when we had some delays. I realized I wasn’t upset about the delays as it gave me more time to read! Thank you for writing!