I had never sit at the window side of an airplane, until yesterday.
I was in for a four-hour flight from Johannesburg to Nairobi in broad daylight and I decided to see what I could make of it. Equipped with the classical opportunity of sitting beside the window, I kept my eyes wide open for the first fourteen minutes (or more than that) of the flight. I was both among the passengers taking off and also among the onlookers observing the take-off. What a classical opportunity!
Some two hours later in the flight, I had already pulled down my window shade because of the blazing effect of the sun rays and even took an uncomfortable nap, then I decided to pull up the shade and have another glance. Behold! We were over a lake... at an altitude of about 12,496m (41,000ft) and, honestly, it is a sight that I had never come across. I am afraid my description might be subjective and might even water down the quality of the scene. So, here are thousand and more words to describe it.
Mind you, that was just one of the fairly amazing scenery. What I think is the most amazing instance for me actually was the take-off and what comes with it as the airport facility that facilitates about twenty-eight million passengers per annum turned to just a brownish mark on the surface. This went on until every structure, the entire city and beyond became exactly like they normally appear on Google Satellite!
Despite knowing that I was wrong, I could not convince myself that the brownish spot which specifically indicate the airport from which I had taken off few minutes earlier is bigger in size than the smartphone I was holding. It so much felt like if I threw my phone towards the brownish sector of the surface which marks the entire city, it would perish or at least cause an earthquake.
My thought: if there is indeed a Lord who is high above every single thing (and I know for sure that there is), then why do we always seem to forget how powerful He is? My God!
While I was high up trying to curtail myself from misusing this new power that I just gained by not perishing the city, I can't but think about the usual standard that this city, just like every other ones, is established on; hierarchy. I knew for sure that the city definitely has its high-class citizens and nobles who presumably are treated with higher regard and command greater authority, but from that height, I honestly couldn't see any solid reason to believe so. After all, nothing I could see exceeded a brownish spot on the surface.
While the lesson from this could be that you shouldn't judge a book by its cover, or, in this case, Johannesburg by its tiny brownish appearance from the sky, I think there are more lessons that can extracted. (I would love to see what your extractions are in the comment section below).
If you ask me what main lesson lies in this entire story, I might as well tell you that it is the fact that sitting by the window side in an airplane flying during the day is one of the best thing you might ever experience.
As sweet as this thing is, if you are a first-time passenger, you probably do not want to sit beside the wing or, at least, look at it. You will definitely have a hard time convincing yourself that the plane is fine. The wing by my side vibrated so much that I thought I was going to eventually need the emergency exit, I’m glad I didn’t have to.
Fun fact: the atmosphere is indeed an envelop of gases. And clouds do move!
I am going to skip the discussion about landing because…well, it was almost the opposite of taking off except for the obvious fact that I landed in a different place. Although I think that the landing in Nairobi is a bit rougher than it was in Johannesburg or maybe, just maybe, I didn’t notice because I was just waking up during arrival in Johannesburg. I’m also going to skip the discussion about when we passed over the gigantic mount of about 5,895 meters (19,340 feet) height above sea, Mount Kilimanjaro. And I’m going to skip a whole lot of things, at least for now.
Have I told you about how I became friend with a serious immigration officer because I could talk about his areas of interest; Criminology and Psychology? Oh, another time then…
Till I write you later,
Peace.
(Don't be surprised when you see 9:00am on the article, I’m two hours ahead of you guys😌)
I zoomed in on the spectacular view of the cloud and it's so much pulchritude to behold. I love it.
My insights and extracts from your air travels documentary is that; Indeed, the mercies of the one above us supercedes his wrath. And on a personal level, no matter how far and high we go in life, constant reminder of what constitutes the "brown spots" should never be forgotten. That way, we keep it alive.
Thank you for sharing with us. Looking forward to the next TDWT dose. Peace.
Wow, that's amazing.
Well, you made me to remember my first flight and how scared I was then in August 2021. Though, it's an awesome experience too and I enjoyed their services too.
I can't wait to board another flight soon. The sights of countries showing tiny from the airplane is very far above it is very nice. I wish to visit more countries out there to have more insights about them.
I am very grateful to God 🙏. God is great and everything in the universe is in His control.
Thank you so much for sharing this with us.
More strength and grace to write more.