Airplane Thoughts

for some reason or another, i have been reminiscing about plane travel. it seems i’ve been flying pretty much all of my life. of course, my US life kicked off with a long trip across the ocean to the Great Lakes State. beyond that my mother had worked for a major airline for most of my life. because of that we flew quite a bit. the first movie i can actually remember seeing on the plane was Arthur followed by Hero At Large(?). my parents took us to Hawaii a few times when we were young and besides being impressed with the cocktail lounge upstairs i had always loved the little kids packs they gave you when you boarded. they would contain a small rubber figurine of a menehune, a plastic magnifying glass (the demise of many an ant on a hot day), a pair of red fuzzy footies, a deck of cards that were printed with games and a small pencil all sealed in a plastic blag shaped like a menehune (supposedly a hand puppet). aah the days before Gameboys. this would keep us occupied until it was time for the meal.

remember the days before plastic packages of flimsy cutlery. cutlery that is clearly no match for the consistency of the airplane rolls. the stewardess (before they became flight attendants) would set down a white tray complete with real linen, silverware imprinted with the airlines logo, miniature crystal salt and pepper shakers, a glass and china cup finished off with a small vase complete with a real carnation. to this day, i associate the smell of carnations with being on an airplane.

i miss those days, when travel was still magical and civilized. today travel is an annoying formality in getting where it is we want to go for work as much as play. we are herded from place to place, groped, searched and stuffed into our mini seats hoping for a beverage and no hope at all for a meal. if i could drive to Detroit, i believe i would. at least the seats are more comfortable.