Flying

I promised a couple of weeks back to write down some of the thoughts I'd had whilst on holiday, & obviously haven't gotten round to it yet! I'm going to go some way to making amends there with this blog entry....these thought were all written in the back of a text book (which I was reading for my PhD) on the plane on my way over to Murcia in Spain....which for me is a relatively new thing. In the past, I wouldn't have dreamed about writing in a text book; now all of my text books are filled with underlinings, highlights, notes in the margins...& I love them for it now! They look loved, used, & full of bits of me; so much more personal now.

Over the last year I've been lucky enough to do some of my PhD work up in the sky sitting on planes and it's such a lovely place in which to work. There's none of the distractions which are found on the ground. I can't just get up & go out for a walk or for a coffee, and I think that because I know that, I don't want to. I settle down for the duration of the journey & work. And it's lovely to be away from everything. I love that feeling of being away from everything & not being able to do anything about whatever is going on below down on the ground. Away from mobile phones, away from computers; it's just me & my books / papers....& of course, my thoughts. It's nice too to be able to look out of the window at the world miles below or to simply gaze at the clouds & observe the many different cloud formations there are.

There's something reassuring for me too, knowing that I'm safe in the hands of the pilots. I know I don't need to worry about anything; it's nice to completely hand over all responsibility for a while. I know I'm safe up there in their hands. And I know, and trust in the laws of physics and nature to keep the plane up there in the sky. How incredible! And how lucky are we to live in a time when we can enjoy the wonders of air travel. I remember flying over the pyrenees and being amazed at the stunning scenery below; the rugged mountains and stunning shades of aquamarine as pools/lakes reflected the blue of the sky. I was also aware of the danger though... stunning to look at, but if the plane did need to make an emergency landing, it would be impossible to find anything resembling a landing strip there. And sometimes it's that little edge of danger that makes me stop and look at the world with awe, wonder and amazement.

I wonder if the pilots are aware of the responsibility they carry; do they think about the fact that they have all those passengers' lives in their hands? Do they ever stop to think how much we, as passengers, have to trust the pilots who fly us round the world. Are they aware of a sense of power, knowing they're in control of such a big and powerful machine? And it's such a shame that passengers are no longer allowed to visit the cockpit to see the pilot's eye view; it must be amazing to be up front and to see the views directly ahead through their windscreen.

I enjoyed sitting listening to the sounds of the engines. I find it reassuring to hear their gentle purr. I like to listen to what's going on around me, rather than blocking the outside world out with distractions like MP3 players. It's fascinating too, to overhear snippets of other passengers' conversations.. to sometimes hear their fears, their excitements, their plans. I like to look around me & wonder where everyone is heading for; are they off on holiday, business trips, visiting family/friends? Every person sitting in that metal capsule flying through the air has their own story to tell... and we quite often never know what story the person sat right next to us for 'x' hours might have to tell.

Aeroplanes....full of people with interesting lives and stories to tell.....

Holidays

I'm just back from a week away in Spain, and although for myself it was a bit of a working holiday (I took PhD work away with me), whilst I was out and about, I was observing other people and it got me thinking about a few things; things which I intend to write about over the next few days / weeks ....

Holidays mean different things to different people. For myself, when I'm away anywhere, I want to make the most of my days and of my experience of being in a new place. I'm up early and out and about. And I like to be out all day; maybe returning to my hotel / appartment early evening just in time to get changed ready for a nice evening meal out, trying the food and meal rituals of wherever I'm staying. It was interesting to see how many British people in Spain were eating 'English breakfasts,' 'Sunday lunches,' and the kind of fast food so readily available in Britain; when I'm away, I like to eat as much of the local food as possible. When I'm in a different country, I want to experience the local foods and drinks; I don't want simply what I can get at home.

I also like to see as much of the place I'm visiting as I can; if I'm going to travel to a new town, city or country, I want to see as much as possible. Holidays, for me, are full of movement; full of new experiences, sights, sounds, tastes and adventures. I'm not someone who could lie on a beach or sit around a pool all day. Yes, I like to pause for a while with a coffee or a drink and sit and watch life happening around me, watching the local culture taking place, but for me, no longer than an hour or so ... I'm too worried about missing something. I have to see everything!!!

I think we can learn so much from the different cultures we visit. It can be interesting to see different ways of life, different ways of thinking about things, different ways of doing things; and for me, that's an opportunity to stop and reflect on how I do things. Can I learn anything from the culture I'm visiting? Can I change anything about how I live my life as a result of watching other cultures in action. And isn't that what life's about....experiencing new things, reflecting on old things and considering maybe changing things in our own lives?

Holidays for other people though mean different things, and it's important to accept those differences. Some people like to go away simply to lie in the sun and do nothing; for me though, that would feel like a waste of time and a wasted opportunity to visit the sights of wherever I was. Other people like to party as much as possible; making the most of their evenings, and maybe whiling away each day recovering from the previous evening's hangover and preparing for the evening ahead. Neither of those options hold any appeal to me, but doesn't that just show how different we all are.

Holidays mean different things to different people.....what does a "holiday" mean to you? And might that change depending on where you are in your life?

For me, my recent week away was a combination of getting out and about and seeing new things from early every morning until early afternoon and then after lunch in the sun, working on my PhD before getting out to different restaurants each evening to sample the local cuisine....even if a lot of it seemed to be more Italian and Chinese than typical 'Spanish'!?