Flying

You would think after a few hundred flights and around 300,000 miles the wonder of flying would have worn off. And to a very large extent it has. There is nothing magical or exciting being stuck in a cramped narrow seat for 12 hours, but there are definitely times when you can't help but be amazed where technology and industralisation has got us.

Taking off for the first time on the massive double decker, super jumbo, A380 is definitely one of those experiences. Despite the solid engineering and science behind it, it is still pretty amazing when something that big actually gets of the ground. The fact that this aircraft is so quite when operating ust adds to the experience.

I was lucky enough to get a window seat on the upper deck on my flight from Sydney to Singapore last week. It was comfortable, seat, there is storage right next to you which is great, and the entertainment system is freaking cool. Nice, large crisp LCD screens, and a huge range of TV shows (I watched Buffy, and Bones), movies (I finally saw Juno), and multiplayer games (I cleaned up on Texas Hold-em). All in all, Singapore still gets my vote for best airline.

The next 10 flights (Singapore-Frankfurt, Frankfurt-Marseille, Marsielle-Munich, Munich-Berlin, Berlin-Copenhagen, Copenhagen-Helsinki, Helsinki-Frankfurt, Frankfurt-Zürich, Zürich-Washington D.C, Washington D.C-San Francisco), were nothing to write home about, I didn't get any upgrades, I went very close to missed connections, I ran out of battery on my laptop, all the usual things that make flying fun. I really must recommend not flying through Dulles. It took around 90 minutes to get though immigration, customs, baggage recheck, and security. It looked as though they were upgrading the airport, but if you are flying Europe to west coast US I'd recommend anywhere else, except maybe Denver where you are liable to get snowed in, or Chicago where you are likely to miss your connection. In fact just try and fly direct.

Thankfully after the 8 hours to east-coast plus 6 more hours to the west-coast, I was able to look forward to flying in business class home to Sydney. I'm not sure if it was the 14 hours of flying in economy, but this has been one of my most relaxed flights ever. For some reason the flight was basically empty, the business class cabin was only half-full, and I think anyone in economy probably got a row to themselves.

But none of that would usually inspire me to bother writing. What really did it was the view from the airplane at dawn. Seeing the sun rise of the horizon when you are flying 10km above the planet it pretty amazing when you think about it.

Trying to capture the view is not easy, while shooting out the plane window is not exactly ideal, I just don't think my point-and-shoot is up to it (blame the tools). Anyway, this photo is the best of the lot, it kind of works, but in real life, the blues are bluer, the sun a deeper orange, and the view far more expansive.