Despite having terrible experiences in foreign places (always because of companions, never the places), I love traveling. And I actually enjoy traveling by airplane, especially by myself (a fact I've been able to realize as my last several plane flights were solo journeys). Whatever the destination, the act of traveling is exciting in and of itself for a variety of reasons. Plane travel has its own particular flavor. I took a moment after my last plane ride to document my thoughts on the matter and have reproduced them below.
Airplane travel is the closest thing we have to teleportation--the plane picks you up in one place and sets you down in another. It's nowhere near instantaneous (of course, we only guess that teleportation is), but it's a heck of a lot faster than any other method of transportation currently available.
Riding in a plane is similar to teleportation in another way (again, open for debate): presumably you are the exact same person when you arrive as you were when you departed. With a few exceptions, it seems that the average traveler on the average flight is unlikely to go through any significant changes during the journey. It's a very isolated, bubble-like kind of travel, as close to stasis as we get outside of sci-fi movies. Very little that you do on a plane has any sort of lasting consequences, mostly because you are so limited in what you are able to do. About the consequence I suffered from my last flight was feeling rather queasy fro consuming the in-flight snack.
I think this isolated character contributes to planes being good places to write. It's possible, of course, that the real advantage lies in the fact that you're stuck there--you can't turn around, can't change course, can't play on the internet. But while these are good distractions to have done with, I believe their absence merely contributes to the overall bubble atmosphere of the inside of an airplane.
"The things one does aboard an airplane seldom have consequences" seems like a dangerous statement, but I do mean it, in a way., And it contrasts sharply with the consequences I am now dealing with, of the decisions I made at either gate.
1 comment:
Cheers for the support Ayn. Maybe I do dwell on the rejections a little, though the blog is more my electronic version of Stephen Kings spike that he had above his desk full of rejection letters. I hear what you’re saying though. I thin I’m going to try and take a leaf out of your book and try to write more about the writing in the blog, though I’ll stick those rejections in there too as it‘s become a kid of ritual for me.
Rejections are just part of the whole deal. You’ve taken the first step though, which is a big thing, and a part of being a ‘proper’ writer, so to speak. The way I deal rejection is to have several stories doing the rounds, so that when one rejection comes in, I still have other things out there. Spreading my bets, so to speak.
Seriously, though, cheers for the support. Writing can be a lonely business and its great to talk to others in the game. Hopefully see you around the Drabblecast forums or the Blogosophere.
Keep up the writing
Graham
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