So, we’ve talked about airports. They’re like purgatorial landscapes filled with endless $12 sandwiches and, at least in Canada, more maple products than God ever intended for us to create. But what about flying on an AIRPLANE itself? Unsurprisingly, it is not that much fun! Once you’ve braved the arduous airport process and have made it to your gate, depending on how early you get there, you have a loosely-specified wait time before getting on the flight, where you have to sit there with your carry-on and try to stay occupied. Again, I have to pause here to say that I understand that this is a fairly privileged thing to complain about, but at least I’m not whining about like, the trials and tribulations of owning a yacht or something.
Anyway, after the waiting is up, the fun begins. Everyone now needs to pile onto this airplane in arbitrarily-formed lineups, which can kind of always take forever. The thing about traveling by air is that you’re in a perpetual state of mild stress, and the tensions only keep rising until you actually are seated on the plane and in the process of taking off. Once you have shuffled your way onto the plane, you now have the fun game of trying to find a place to shove your carry-on in the overhead bins. I actually have a hack for this though, but I’m gonna go ahead and keep it a secret, to maintain a level or mystique, and to also not get in any kind of trouble. Finding your seat by being forced to slink around the plane so as to not be pressed up against anyone is a joy.
Oh, you have a middle seat? GOOD LUCK. I’m (mostly) kidding–ALL seats on the plane suck! The window might be the most tolerable just because you get to be next to a wall. Congrats, now you are stuck on this plane with all these people for however many hours it takes to get to your destination. Realistically, though, I am very grateful that I even have the opportunity to travel by plane. It allows me to come all the way to BC just to go to school while still being able to visit my family in the summer. Air travel is also apparently one of the safest modes of transportation! All of my instinctive feelings go against this fact, but I will choose to accept it. If you also don’t love flying, then you understand where I am coming from, I’m sure.