Desire To Fly

"Good morning Ladies and Gentlemen! Welcome aboard to flight A1601. This flight is scheduled from New Delhi to Goa. May your skies be blue and your winds be low!"

As the plane moved quietly through the taxi lane, the Rolls Royce Engines were waiting to roar in their full glory, as if it was indeed the Silence before the Storm. The moment the tyres stroke the rugged tarmac of the Runway, the engines soared to life. In it's full glory, the Airbus, a beast of a plane, roared through the air and in no moment,

I was up above the world so high, like a diamond in the sky.......

clicked by me :)

Aeroplanes. What a marvel of engineering they are. The most technologically advanced machine available to the masses, aeroplanes have fascinated me from my very early days, and not so surprisingly, still continue to do so! Now, I don't remember my first flight since I was quite small back then, but what's beautiful is that my very recent experience on a plane was almost exactly the same as my very first memorable experience on it! The stunning view that I had from the boarding area, where I could see a beast of a machine preparing to chauffeur me from point A to point B, the anxiety right before I flew, the seatbelt configuration issues, the PULL that I felt as soon as the aeroplane came to life, and finally, LIFTOFF. Each and every thing that I just mentioned are things that make air travel very special for me. Seeing the world beneath me get smaller and smaller after every moment gives me a sense of unimaginable power over the rest. The magnificent views that one gets from the window seat are heavenly, to say the least. They can definitely make a grown person cry. Imagine being within and above the very clouds that one has seen for one's entire lifetime!! No matter how many times I travel through air, all these thoughts definitely come across my mind and I'm always FASCINATED and taken away by what the human race has collectively achieved in terms of flying commercially.

I had been waiting for 5 VERY LONG YEARS to hear these words from the Captain of our flight (the ones I mentioned on the top), while I sit on the window seat having my cup of...well, I don't drink coffee or tea, so let's say water :) The last time I was on an airplane was in 2016! Twenty Sixteen! The whole world was different back then! Obama was the USA president, I didn't even have Netflix and IRON MAN was ALIVE for god's sake!!😭 After 3 years of not flying, I felt that the Delhi IGI airport was calling me from far away, more like it was pleading me to fly once. Every time I passed by the signboard of the IGI airport on the road, I got goosebumps and yearned to breathe the cool air inside the airport. See what I did there? ;)

As time passed, I got so desperate that the airport felt more appealing than the destination itself!😂 I'm not gonna lie, this time when I had my flight to Goa, I was more excited to go to the airport than Goa itself!

Anyways, 2016 was the time when I had my only international vacation to Thailand and I must say, the Thai airways is one heck of an airline!

Skip to the third of September, 2021, I flew Air Asia from New Delhi to Goa, and no matter the reputation of the airline, I loved flying on it! Flying in general fascinates me to a point that I tend to have a keen interest in the commercial and economical aspect of it as well, the airlines. I love to read and watch the analysis of airline performances over decades, how covid has impacted airlines and how some airlines gain a "cult status" (hey there Qatar Airways) and some tend to lose it (rip Air India) !

I went to Goa via Air Asia and returned to Delhi via Vistara Airlines. What's even better is that I got to experience both, an Airbus and a Boeing! And I know, Vistara is recognised as a better airline than Air Asia, but I found the opposite to be true!

All said and done, for people like me, who like FLYING more than anything, the airline, the class and everything else becomes second fiddle to the main, exhilarating experience of BEING IN THE AIR, and existing peacefully up there. Random fact, you're more likely to die in a building crash than in a plane crash! I know this is very random, but I just wanted to highlight how far we've come in terms of flying! Flying, to me, is something divine, something that I cherish and something that I want to experience with my close ones and I can never take it for granted😌

Hope you have a safe flight!

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