"UP IN THE AIR" or "DOWN TO EARTH"

ALMOST  THERE !



 I think that it was A.Einstein who observed that 'time' is relative.

     In an earlier post --"Getting There is Half the Fun"--, I muttered about a seemingly interminable flight from Anchorage to Chicago.  Actually, it lasted only six hours; just seemed much longer.  By contrast, this week's flight from Raleigh-Durham to Los Angeles was but slightly less 'clock time' and passed much more quickly.     

The flight tracker screen (above) was a 'mixed blessing'; once becoming aware of the remaining time, I began feeling like my kids who on long trips constantly asked, "Are we there yet?" 

  How do you use 'time' when flying?  Being six feet tall, I know that long naps in the cramped rows are unlikely, so I seek other ways to 'pass the time'. Looking around the cabin on this week's trip, I spotted: sleepers, readers, movie-watchers, blankstare-ers, workers (or at least, I suppose that is what the brief cases indicated), and other 'people watchers'.  Among the passengers was a large contingent of young Australian basketball players en route home after several 'travel ball' games in the Carolinas.  Many of them apparently had  sleep deficits and used the trip to refuel.  Several of them were TALL. For them to find comfortable sleep position could have earned Contortionist certifications.

Flaps down.  Back to Earth


If credit for the 'First Flight' belongs to the Wright brothers' efforts on North Carolina's sand dunes on December 17, 1901, air travel is relatively new in human history.  Our flight was 114 years to the date after that and looking out the window on the mountains below, I thought of the weeks of struggles by earlier travelers heading West.  So,  a not-so-trite question : How long is a LONG time?

I wonder if the children in those  long ago wagon trains ever asked, "Are we there yet?"

Satchel  


P.S.   A reader with an eye for historical accuracy noted that the Wrights' flight was in 1903 rather than in 1901.  He (she) also disclaimed having been there !