<p>OK, minor question for these boards but figured someone will know. I love looking out the window on plane flights and will be flying back after driving out. Do I want to look north or south? I’d hate to be sitting on the right side and keep hearing the pilot say “out of the left side of the plan”, or vice versa. Or is there nothing that interesting? Does the plane just follow I-80? I already know the drive out will be pretty boring scenery until somewhere in Wyoming! I’ll be flying Southwest if that makes a difference. Thanks!</p>
<p>Although I’ve flown that route lots of times I can’t remember if one side is preferred over the other. Other than take off and landing, unless you’re over a major formation, like the Grand Canyon, Greenland (glaciers, icebergs), or certain mountains, the plane’s usually too high to see much of consequence.</p>
<p>If you ever fly into San Diego try to sit on the left side of the plane since downtown San Diego will be just outside the plane on the left and you’re seemingly very close to the buildings, and Coronado bridge and the bay are on the left as well. It’s particularly pretty at night. I think the landing in San Diego is one of the most scenic landings at a major airport.</p>
<p>My guess would be that you’ll be above the clouds for most of the flight.</p>
<p>Yes, the view coming into San Diego is great - we were on the north side of the plane last time and even that was fun with Balboa park right below us.</p>
<p>I hope there aren’t clouds all the way!</p>
<p>Haha I live in SD and I fly once in a while. Both sides are good I like seeing the desert turn into sparse housing which in like 10 minutes becomes downtown.</p>
<p>Anyway on topic, I think either side will see mostly the same things</p>
<p>I thought this was going to be a question about getting a good Chicago skyline view, which I think about whenever I fly East, but won’t be a factor for you coming from California. Chances are, you won’t get a very good city view from either side, and the scenery along the way should be pretty much the same on both sides.</p>
<p>I like that you’re thinking about this, though. I think we’re all too blase about the amazing technology we live with and what a big, rugged country we live in. Whenever I fly to the Pacific coast, I always look down and think about the pioneers walking over those mountains on foot, pulling their carts for four months, a lot of them pregnant and looking after toddlers…what would they think of us zooming overhead in four hours, with most of us not even bothering to look out the window?</p>
<p>I’ve lived in Chicagoland for over 30 years so have flown in from every possible direction - coming up from the south along the lakefront is the best view. Although picking out the high school a few blocks from our house was pretty exciting too.</p>
<p>I once took a pocket atlas on a flight to the west coast and spent half the time trying to figure out where we were - most of the good sights were on the other side of the plane but it was still fascinating to work out where we were by major cities and rivers. In the winter it’s fun to pick out ski resorts. Once I used Google maps to compare to the pictures I took out the window. My favorite mystery is a high mountain lake shaped like a dragon - this was coming back from Seattle - never did figure out where it was. But my very very favorite picture from a plane window was coming into Seattle and seeing Mt. Ranier floating over a solid cloud cover.</p>
<p>Maybe I’ll just ask the flight attendant when I board - although I guess the route could vary enough to make each trip different.</p>