In 1962, at the tender age of 9 I took my first airplane flight on Scandinavian Airlines (SAS). We went from Los Angeles to Copenhagen, Denmark. It was a long flight about 14 hours with a refueling stop in Greenland. I recall staring for hours out the window as the landscape far below changed from brown California hillsides to green fields of the American plains to vast Canadian snowscapes over the polar regions. As a young boy the scenery was mesmerizing and I got a sense of the beautiful vastness of the world.
60 years later, I am retracing elements of that trip only this time to Scotland; the first leg of Brenda and my wanderlust journey for the next several months. How things have changed.
Air travel has become commonplace where it used to be a special experience. In the 60’s, my mother made us get dressed up to travel. In this era, sweats and shorts are the standard attire.
In 2022, we more easily experience the richness of world landscapes and cultures thanks to modern air travel. You would think it would build a growing awareness and respect for our world. Unfortunately, it has not. Just as we used to get dressed up to travel as a sign of respect for others and we looked out the window a lot, today we seem more closed off and self absorbed by being plugged into our phones and laptops. Have our inward desires triumphed over seeing the real world?
It looks to me humanity has taken a step backwards. But Brenda and I won’t let it stop us from getting dressed up to travel and look out the window and appreciate the cultures and wonders the planet offers as we wanderlust to our next stop, Scotland.