Is that a ship?

(36,000 ft. somewhere over the North Atlantic) - Whew! That was a worldwind trip. I am sitting on a plane out of Newark heading back after a worldwind tour from Geneva to Palo Alto and back. I had a miniconference and some other stuff to attend to on short notice. I'm always amazed that you can go from there to there and back again with such little fuss and muss.

I left Geneva early last Tuesday. In a rare Swiss moment of inefficiency and ineptitude the train broke down at the Gare Coravin canceling it. I just barely made my flight and then took the opposite of the great circle route: Schipol, Amsterdamn - Houston - SFO. Almost 24 hours of constant motion going the slow way through the tropics. Uggh.

More thoughts on the trip later, but I had a good visit, a good conference, and got to see alot of folks that I had missed for awhile.

"I believe that anyone who flies in an airplane and doesn't spend most of his time looking out the window wastes his money," - Marc Reisner in 'Cadillac Desert' about flying over the western United States

... which I always thought even before I read him say it so I am always amazed at what other people do on planes. Most of them just sit and stare at the seat in front of them.

Me, when I'm on my plane, I can't help but spend most of my time with nose pressed to glass. How one can waste such an opportunity by inspecting the contours of the upholstery of the anterior seat is beyond me. On the way out, since the plane was going to Houston, we flew tighter down the east cost of Canada than I have before. It is fascinating to see how civilization encroaches by bit and piece into the frame of the window. First one only has ocean, which is not so exciting (although on my way west we flew over a storm in the North Atlantic and trhough a break in the clouds white caps were visible below. A swell that you can distinguish from 35,000 ft. is one big wave), but then you make landfall, which as the shadow of the plane crashes onto the coast always seems dramatic to me. Next below is some little NE Canadian Inuit village, probably only accesible via boat, then a 1/2 hour later a little road, then a bigger village, we're then over the countours of the northern maritimes, and before you know it you realize you've entered the mouth of the mighty St. Lawrence seaway that drains the Great Lakes and points beyond to the Rockies. To see such features from the sky first hand that you have only seen on maps before, gives them a sense of realness that is enthralling. So much to see! What a view! How could anyone miss it?

When I fly, I never waste my money and I always choose a window seat.