My Houston stay was fabulous, and I have plenty to share blog-post-wise documenting my actual trip. But before I get into the road-trips, gym-bodies and yummy food, I have to point out that flying happens to be right up there on my things-I-love-about-travelling-list.
I give you 7 reasons why I love being up in the air so much:
001.)THE ACTIVITIES. Unless you’re on a work trip or accompanied by a small flock of children, it is in effect free time.. Your chance to relax, unwind, and put your life in the hands of one trusted man/woman pilot. I’m a big fan of many sitting-down activities. Reading, writing, watching, eating, sleeping. So the fact I had ten whole hours to interchange between these five different activities, undisturbed, was simply blissful. (And the fact the two seats next to me were empty on my flight to Houston, and I had a whole row to myself, enabling me to lie down, stretch out and make-shift a decent pillow out of the 3 available cushions, made my activities all the more enjoyable…)
002.) THE VIEWS. I am the girl with her nose up to the window, trying to catch a glimpse of every bit of planet earth in sight.
003.) THE PEOPLE. It’s just fascinating isn’t it, the people you see when you venture out of your home town. I get the same sort of buzz just being in London. But planes are even more interesting as you’re stuck with these people for any number of hours, so you see a lot more. On my flight home, the man next to me slept the entire flight, (10 hours) only getting up once at the very end to pee. I was both intrigued and impressed.
I often hear people chatting who’ve obviously only just met. It’s a nice feeling. You never know who you’re going to cross paths with.
004.) THE FOOD. Now not all plane food is desirable. But I’ve always generally had positive experiences with meals on planes. I’ve never been hungry on a flight. With long-haul flights, the airlines tend to be over-generous and I end up with packets of bread rolls and biscuits saved in my bag for later.
On my flight to Houston, my main meal was well flavoured, piping hot and a generous portion, the side salad pretty decent and a delicious chocolate pudding. Then a few hours later, on this particular flight, we were given scones, with clotted cream..and they actually tasted like..scones. Bravo British Airways.
I also love the element of surprise when you see the air steward pushing the trolley of food down the aisle. You can smell it but you can’t see it. Too hard to tell. What could it be on my compact little dinner tray?! (Like a small child, I am easily excited by such mundane things).
005.) THE DO-NOTHING TIME: I like to think of it as time to reflect/meditate, to breathe. Being up in the air gives you a chance to stop and think, to just be for a few hours. Unless your flight has Wi-fi, no-one can contact you, no messages, no emails, no distractions, just you and your own presence.
006.) THE WARM & FUZZIES. You’re either going somewhere awesome or you’re coming home from somewhere awesome about to greet your loved ones. So either way, it’s a happy time.
007.) THE NOVELTY. You’re on an air-plane, in the freakin sky. You can literally see the earth beneath you. Some people will only ever dream of setting foot on an air-plane, or going to a foreign country. So that’s something I love about flying; that I get to do it in the first place.
The Colourful Kind 