4/19/13 -- The Miracle of Modern Jet Flight

If Heaven Exists -
This Must Be What It Looks Like

I'm writing this while screaming through the sky at 600 miles an hour in complete and utter comfort on an Airbus A320. We've come to take for granted the miracle of modern jet flight. I think it should be a prerequisite for completing a flight that all passengers must loudly proclaim "HOLY SHIT I'M FLYING!" before the wheels hit the ground. I laze about in my board shorts while nice people bring me warm food and drinks. It truly is a modern miracle, and I do not take i for granted.

This evening's flight from Hong Kong to Hanoi was particularly stunning. The plane took off just before sunset, heading west, which means we had the pleasure of enjoying a three hour sunset during the flight. If heaven exists - this is what it must look like! Banking out of the Lantau island airport, we were shrouded in a heavy fog and light rain. I assumed a long and dismal flight, but just three minutes into our ascent, visibility opened up to a hundred miles or more. Towers of t-storm clouds stood frozen in the air, gently undulating as the plane passed through them. They are the type of cotton-candy clouds that look as though you might reach out and touch them. Moments later the sun settled on the horizon and lit the previously slate-blue clouds with a crimson splash of fire and gold. In the distance sunbeams streaked across the cloudscape, leaving deep shadows in the wake of the light. This is the stuff dreams are made of!