<p>I recall flying commercially from Hyannis/Cape Cod to Boston and noticing 3 husky, strong men in their 30’s (well, what else should I look at?) looking absolutely terrified and chatting loudly about those feelings. The entire plane held only 6 passengers, so I heard a lot. And they were so huge they had to scrunch their bodies to fit under the roof of the plane as they sat.</p>
<p>Wondering if they knew something I should know about the plane, I began to speak to them. I soon learned they were fishing captains whose boats had to be repaired unexpectedly, so they had to leave them and fly home. “Why are you so scared?” I asked them. “What YOU do is really dangerous!” These are the guys out on the open ocean for weeks at a time over the shoals of the Georges Banks in every kind of disastrous weather.</p>
<p>Their answer, as in Mootmom’s posting, was all about the fact that in their boats, they were in charge but in a plane they had to give it all over to a stranger. “We know about us, but who the h— is he?” said one guy. We got through the flight but I did see the whites of all 30 of their knuckles.</p>
<p>The ancient Greeks believed there were but four elements: earth, water, fire and air. These men were indeed “out of their element.”</p>
<p>I literally don’t have the stomach for really small planes anymore (not that I had much to begin with.) Too noisy & bumpy for me. Probably related to aging and the inner ear losing its ability to adjust–I can’t do somersaults underwater anymore without getting dizzy either!</p>
<p>Worst flight I took was Air Czech from Prague to Hamburg. Old old old Russian prop plane. Bad thunderstorms. Somehow in truly dangerous conditions I wasn’t scared. I mean, at that point, clearly my fear wouldn’t keep us in the air if we were due to auger in:).</p>
<p>For regular flights I am SURE it is my terror that keeps us up there.</p>
<p>Worst flight is a tie between flying a prop plane to Mammoth Mountain while six months pregnant, during a snow storm, and flying to London after a suspicious “item” was found in the back of the plane just as we passed the East Coast. The seats were all stripped to cover the item (which turned out to be an unclaimed cell phone) and we doubled up on our metal frames (so those sitting in the back could move up front) because, of course, cushions can smother a bomb and when the back of a plane explodes, the front is still safe.</p>
<p>For my 30th, my two best friends (male) picked me up to take me to Destination Unknown. DU turned out to be a private flying lesson. I lived through it.</p>
<p>Promise not to tell that it wasn’t the Highlight of My Life? :p</p>
<p>Mark your cosmic record books, folks. DS#2 is downstairs vacuuming HIS basement bedroom and bath, b/c the GF is coming to visit this weekend! He probably isn’t doing as thorough a job as I would have, but do I care? :D</p>
<p>I thought I noticed a shift in the heavens, moms.</p>
<p>My grandfather used to take commercial propeller plane flights to Tokyo for business–in the 1950’s. They flew to LA, stopped for gas; Hawaii, stopped for gas, Guam, stopped for gas and finally in to Tokyo.</p>
<p>He said he heard propeller planes whirring in his ears for weeks and weeks.</p>
<p>I flew on a mainland Chinese domestic flight in 1981 when I visited there for three weeks. The attendants brought around teapots filled with boiling water which you were welcome to pour into the teacup-with-tea-leaves which, surely, you’d brought with you, right? (No one seemed to travel on any train or plane without theirs… except us.) There was no noticeable airflow on the plane, and nothing to read in the seat pockets. The attendants brought around a little basket from which we were allowed to take one wrapped hard candy, and a little plastic comb in the shape of a blue airplane. Except the few women on board, who were given a lipstick. (!) There were no announcements of anything, and no warning when we were descending or landing. (I think it was Orville Schell who remarked on a similar trip, saying he’d gotten up to go to the restroom and as he was walking down the center aisle felt a “THUMP!!” as the plane landed.) It was a long several-hour flight.</p>
<p>jm,
Yes. The preceding sentence mentioned the cushions coming off the seats (“the seats were all stripped”). Under the cushions are metal frames. Try Diet Coke for a week.</p>
<p>It’s happy hour here in Eastern Daylight Savings Time. Barkeep!</p>
<p>We saw Pirates of Penzance last night on a small but authentic 1923-era showboat (riverboat). Great fun, and the tunes are still running through my head.</p>
<p>And the best part (for this mom) was before the show started. The “pirates” went through the audience teaching the chorus to “I Am a Pirate King” so we could all sing along. When they figured out my S#2 knew the song and has a nice voice, they invited him up on stage! (for the pre-show warmup). In his cargo shorts, long dark hair, and beard, he looked as scrufty as any of the real pirates. Maybe more. Where’s a camera when you need one?</p>
<p>mootmom and slugg especially,
Just returned from SF (and Yosemite) with my family. A family vacation enjoyed by all. I must tell you that I absolutely LOVED SF. It has moved to the top of my list of great U.S. cities. I’ve always been partial to Boston, but SF may have moved ahead. We did all the touristy things, and some not so touristy ones. The weather was apparently, very unusual, sunny and warm. Ate dinner in North Beach, Chinatown and in Ghiardelli’s (hot fudge sundae’s for dinner-who’s complaining?) among other places. Walked the Golden Gate Bridge, although I did lose my hat to a gust of wind and took a tour of the Chinatown Alleyways with a couple of UC Davis students. Even went to the Wax Museum because kids have never been to one.</p>
<p>And to carry on the theme, I am a horrible white knuckle flyer. Didn’t use to be. When I was in college in Boston, I used to fly home to NY like it was a walk around the corner. Having kids does change things. We were very lucky that our coast to coast flights were virtually free of turbulence so I didn’t have to have my usual conversation with DH en route that the trip just wasn’t worth the aggravation of flying.</p>
and took a tour of the Chinatown Alleyways with a couple of UC Davis students. Even went to the Wax Museum because kids have never been to one.</p>![http://www.france-etatsunis.com/toulon/editeur/images/hotel.jpg[/url]](http://www.france-etatsunis.com/toulon/editeur/images/hotel.jpg%5B/url%5D){kind=link}
