Yesterday's blog post was very short - maybe you enjoyed it? You thought "Oh YES! Finally she's learning to limit her ramblings!" But no. I'm back today!
We drove from our house in France at 12.30 yesterday and arrived at Barcelona Airport two hours later. The flight to Rygge Airport (which, according to RyanAir is an "Oslo Airport". NOT) took three hours and ten minutes. I'm always amazed at RyanAir - in many ways and not necessarily positive - because I'm sure they set their flight times longer than they really are, so that they can play their fanfare on landing to celebrate "yet another flight that has landed on time, making RyanAir the most punctual airline in Europe!" If you've never flown RA, you haven't a clue what I'm talking about. If you have, you do. Suffice it to say it's an extreme low fare airline, with no extra service - you have to take it or leave it. I don't like to criticise it too much - I don't want to jinx it!
It's well known that RA mostly lands at airports far out of the city you think you're actually flying to, like Rygge, which is down the coast from Oslo. I loved it when a humourous RyanAir steward on a flight last year announced the following: "Welcome to Rygge Airport, in the middle of nowhere!"
Watch John Denver sing "Leaving On a Jet Plane" - beautiful!:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KoPT5Mq1pzQ
I practically grew up on airplanes. Well, maybe I didn't, but my sister certainly did! She was only four when our family started flying around the world, due to my Dad's job. This was in 1967, and wow! The airlines back then! The stewardesses! The service! The luxury! The airline names! We flew PanAm, TWA, Alitalia, BOAC. We flew on VC10s, Boeing 707s and even Fokker Friendships. My Dad's assignment with the IMF (International Monetary Fund) meant flying First Class, so space, food and drink came plentiful. My sister used to lie in the aisle on her tummy, drawing and playing. The stewardesses simply stepped over her.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fokker_F27_Friendship
Cape Town? I think
"Out on runway number nine, big 707's set to go" - Peter, Paul & Mary - "In the Early Morning Rain":
Our parents thought the flights between Oslo and Dar-es-Salaam were too long when travelling with three children, so they always planned multi stops when we went on home leave. We got to be tourists on the way, and my Dad went to bank meetings with colleagues at our stop-overs. Before I had turned fifteen I'd been to Nairobi, Jerusalem, Istanbul, Athens, Beirut, Paris, London, Zürich, Kampala, Karachi, New Delhi, Bombay. I used to write down in a small notebook all the cities I'd visited, so that I'd remember!
Dar-es-Salaam Airport 1967 with a family friend - waiting for an arrival - on the terrace overlooking the runway
I've made friends onboard planes. Once as a young girl, flying between Rome and Beirut on my way to visit my family - stationed in Kuwait at the time - I connected so well with a Lebanese guy that even now I remember his name - Walid! A student in the States, he was on his way home for Christmas. He said as we walked together from the plane to the gate (you did that in those days, waving at the people who'd come to meet you, usually they were on a terrace with a view of the whole runway) - "This should be fun - my family will think I'm bringing a girlfriend back from America!" I had his name and address in my contact book for ages.
As my friend Grete commented on yesterday's blog post: "To leave is also to arrive." Yes. This is so true. It is something I have to be reminded of, because I hate goodbyes. I have to remember that something lies at the other end of the journey. Even if it's heartbreaking to leave, to part with someone you care for. Brief encounters can touch you too - only a few years ago I talked intensely with a man on a plane for three hours - it was like meeting my soulmate! We shared the same interests, happened to be reading the same book, talked the same way - in short we were twins! My travelling companions thought I'd met an old friend. But no exchanging numbers - it was merely a sweet moment in time, passing, floating, disappearing as soon as it had appeared... this is something all travellers will recognise. It is in the nature of travelling.
Big Mama at fifteen in Dar (dress made by Mum). Just weeks before leaving for good.
Dar-es-Salaam 1970, brother on right, with neighbour Andrew
And do watch Nazareth's version of Joni Mitchell's "This Flight Tonight"!:
Hah! We have JUST been listeing to Peter, Paul & Mary + John D. leaving on that jet plane!
ReplyDeleteAnyway, if it's friday, this must be Oslo. For sure :-)